breastfeeding and growth charts

[Imeg]

I have a 4 week old baby who is mainly breastfed - occasional (eg twice a week) formula top ups. He was 2.8kg at birth and last week was 3kg, but I get the impression they were hoping for him to have put on a bit more. Someone told me the charts they use (in the red book) are based on formula fed babies who grow faster: does anyone know if this is true? Baby is filling lots of nappies and has plenty of energy for demanding food/thrashing about when unhappy so I feel he's doing fine but I have to take him to be weighed again tomorrow and am worried he might not fit the graph...

Hi,

I was told a similar thing about the graphs and generally as long as your baby sticks to whatever curve their on its ok. All babies grow at different rates, so don't fret to much. The hv and doctor was very supportive when I was worried so maybe ask at the weigh-in?

chin up

I think all the newest charts are based on bf babies and that the ones before that were based on a mix of bf/formula fed babies.

If you live in the UK it is not true, the graphs have not been based on formula fed infants for many years now (2009 I believe) and the charts were based on both FF and BF infants since the 70s. We use the WHO charts in the UK.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8035784.stm

www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/News-and-Research/News/WHO-publishes-new-growth-charts/

www.rcpch.ac.uk/child-health/research-projects/uk-who-growth-charts/uk-who-growth-chart-faqs/uk-who-growth-chart-faq - says:

The new charts are based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) Child Growth Standards, which describe the optimal growth for healthy, breast fed children. Previous UK growth charts were based on data from studies on breast and formula fed children so do not reflect normal weight fluctuations of breast fed children in the first few weeks.

That's good to know, thanks very much everyone, I feel happier about going for the weigh-in now :) I think they're keeping a particularly close eye because he was quite small to start with.

DD was born at 6lb 4oz (2.84kg) and at 4 months is now only just over 10lb so on the 0.4 centile. HVs have been a pain over it, constantly saying formula top-ups, etc but cannot give me any good rationale why they are needed as she is happy and healthy. GP and paediatrician (saw as she was jaundiced) have said as long as she puts on something each time and continues to follow the same line they are not worried. Looks like I just just have a long skinny baby.

I had this problem with dd. she was born at 3.3kg and lost just Ov 10% of her weight in the first week so it was a bit worrying. But then she started to put it on but very slowly. Didn't regain her birthweight for longer than they like but followed the same centile and was fine.

Happy, healthy, alert etc but just slow to put on weight. She breastfed a lot as well, so was perhaps not a very effective feeder. I also have an under active thyroid which I think can cause some bf problems like slow flow etc. I got fed up of people telling me to top up - no reason to as she was fine!

As long as baby follows their line and not dropping percentiles they are fine. The graphs are a reflection of a large population of babies and represents small babies, big babies, fast growers, slow growers and every thing in between. This then is made in to a nice neat homogenous looking graph so try and not fret too much! (mother of a baby currently on the 2nd percentile -easier said than done re this fretting)

My baby went from 60% at birth up to 75-91% at 2m and has fluctuated to 25% at about 14m still bf.
She lost very little weight in first week.
I also have thyroid issues but think i went hyper after birth, felt very anxious couldnt sit still lost all baby weight within 10days. I also have pcos. I think i then went hypo at about 7m and started gaining the weight back again but this may have just corresponded with her feeding less

Hopefully they will start to follow the centile line