Reassurance needed - EBF 10 week old low weight gain

[lenak]

DD is 10 weeks old tomorrow and EBF which I am massively proud of as I didn't think I'd be able to do it after failing miserably with DD1.

She's only a little dot measuring between the 3rd and 9th centile at her six week check. She's been putting on between 4 and 5 ouces a week which means she's been slowly slipping from almost the 9th to closer to the 2nd. However, SIL weighed her last night and she has only put 3 ounces on in 9 days.

She has however had a cold for the past few days, so I guess hasn't been feeding as efficiently - although frequency and length of feeds has increased - at least during the day.

She's also started sleeping more / longer which I think is natural settling rather than illness or insufficient nurishment as she is still very alert and smiley when awake and will still get plenty of wet and dirty nappies. However, she does vpoo 4 or 5 times and day and over the past couple of weeks these have sometimes been green and mucusy - which I have been putting down to the cold. I know she is getting hind milk as her other poos are mustardy and full of kernals although they can be very watery.

She has been sleeping six hours at night, but last night slept for 7.5 hours, half woke up and had a sort of dream feed and then slept again for another 2.5 hours with another half asleep dream feed in between which was more comfort than a proper feed.

Normally I would reduce at this much sleep but with the low weight gain and the green nappies it has me a little freaked.

I know I'm being daft and Health Visitor SIL has told me not to worry as DD is doing great, but I find myself in need of a little more reassurance or advice.

Thanks ladies

*normally I would rejoice at this much sleep!

Excuse the one handed typing!

Weight alone means nothing, but that doesn't stop it being something that worries a lot of mothers :(

The green nappies almost certainly reflect her recent cold.

Her weight gain is within normal limits, so nothing to be concerned about there.

However, looking at the situation longer-term, she is not feeding very often and those long gaps at night are unusual - though the two mini-dream feeds are good.

One option would be to discuss (with your SIL if you feel she knows her stuff) making really sure she gets plenty of opportunity to get as much milk as she needs - that might mean taking the initiative and offering more feeds in the day when she is not actually asleep, and offering at least two if not three or four sides each time. At night, you could offer more, too, but without actually waking her - just responding to her lighter wakings as you are doing now.

This would ensure a consolidation of your milk supply as well as making sure she was getting every opp. to take what milk she needs - some laid-back babies take enough to be healthy and basically ok, but would benefit from a bit more :)

Thanks TikTok - she does have loads of feeds during the day - averaging every two hours - these typically last 20 - 40 minutes but can last up to an hour and she usually falls asleep (but continues to suck and swallow quit vigorously). She is quite vocal in asking food and does get offered lots of extra as it tends to be my first course of action when she starts to grumble.

I have been one side feeding - swapping for the next feed, but have, in the last couple of days started to offer a second side.

She clusters in the mornings - making up for her long sleep I guess and then goes to a rough 2 hour eat, play, sleep schedule. She'll occasionally nap for 2 hours in the day but usually more like 40 minutes - an hour although as I've said she does tend to cat nap on the boob as well.

We come up to bed at around 10:30 where she'll feed for about an hour and then has started to go till about 5 (only in the past 10 days or so with a blip when we had the cold). I then bring her into bed with me and feed her lying down while I doze and she again for a feed at about 6:00 - 6:30. The mega sleep last night was the first time she'd gone 7.5 hours.

Hmmm - so yesterday she fed and slept most of the day with no real pattern. He had a 2.5 hour gap between 4 and 6:30, fed for 20 minutes, fed again at 8 for 50 minutes, at 9:20 for 15 minutes and then at 10:15 for 30 minutes when we came to bed.

She then slept until 6:00 when I fed her although she wasn't properly awake - she had a good 'solid' feed for about 20 minutes and has been snacking on and off since then but hasn't really woken up.

She stirred once at about 4:00, but that was just wind as she did three enormous trumps and went back to sleep.

I think we are heading into a growth spurt which would account for the increased sleeping and feeding, so hopefully she will gain a little more this week. I also think the bedroom being a bit cooler now the temperature has dropped is helping her sleep better (her little hands and face are freezing - bless)

I have always followed her cues where possible - feeding, cuddling and sleeping when she wanted and following my instincts, so I think I am going to carry on doing that this week and try not to let the slow weight gain freak me out (DD1 was ff and followed the 25th like a dream, so I am not used to the unpredictability of BF).

I will get SIL to weigh her again next week and see how it goes from there.