EBF baby not gaining enough weight

[muzmum]

My DS is now 12 weeks old. He was 8lb 12 at birth and on 91st centile. He dropped to 75th centile after 6 weeks or so and then levelled out around 85th until this week - he has dropped to 40th.

I am stumped. I have no supply issues. He feeds until he's satisfied. He goes for up to 3 hours between feeds and has one long stretch of about 4-5 hours sleep at night. He is a happy little soul but apparently too skinny.

No idea what to do and have very little faith in the health visitors here. Anyone had any experience of this?

Thanks ladies, feel better about it now! It's amazing how much conflicting info there is put there - true experience cuts through that!

I'm a bit worried now about my baby's weight, aged 1 weeks.

According to the scales he's only put on 8oz in 2 weeks!! He has been on the 50th percentile since birth (after his initial birth weight loss) but now he's halfway between the 25th-50th.

At previous weigh-ins he's put on about 6-8oz every week.

When he was weighed at 10 weeks and again at 11weeks he'd put on 11oz in just that 1 week.

This lower weight gain does seem to coincide with him now sleeping through the night so he is obviously having less feeds in a 24 hour period. I offer both breasts at each feed, is having lots of wet nappies and has a dirty nappy every 2-3 days.

I'm seeing the HV next week so I'll see what she makes of it...

Congratulations on your baby! I had a very similar experience with mine last year. She was born on 50yh percentile and initially gained well but then dropped eventually to the 2nd percentile. I fed her on demand, until satisfied, often for hours at a time and she was very happy in between feeds and slept like a champ. We took her to see every hv, doctor, allergy doctor etc. They all disagreed with each other and the hv said to wake her up to feed her more often, whereas the gp wasn't sure whether there was a problem, and the allergy doctor said since me and my husband are petite and were tiny babies she was just finding her level. But you know I did sort of think that she was very very scrawny and something wasn't quite right - and it turned out that I had some placenta still in my womb which I think was interfering with my milk production so she probably wasn't getting the best quality milk. Before we discovered this we made the hard decision to wake my daughter up for a dream feed from the bottle (we used formula because I couldn't express anything - we later discovered it was probably because of the placenta and we thought it would be a nice bonding thing for my husband to do). We did it for 3 months and my daughter barely woke, guzzled it down then went straight back to sleep and dropped it when we started solids and is now following the line between 9-25%. So no real moral of the story except to follow your instinct and keep an eye on your baby's weight but don't obsess about it. Good luck. Xxxx

Writer that sounds like entirely normal weight gain to me. Plenty of babies fluctuate in the amounts they gain each week. HCPs tend to take notice when a baby crosses two centile lines. Your baby has only crossed one, and only at one weigh in.

Imagine if he put on 8oz every week long term - he'd be huge and jumping up the centiles!

Writer, that weight gain and pattern is well within normal :)

Green poo can mean too much fore milk and not enough hind milk, and that can mean they're not getting enough calories. Might be worth trying keeping them on the same boob longer to make sure they get the fatty hind milk.

Not really correct, sorry, Cornish. And if there is any question mark about a baby's growth or intake then the last thing you should be doing is deliberately one sided feeding. Lots of confusion about this in the world and on mumsnet.

OP, I having the same issue and it's a mystery! My baby started off in the 91st centile at birth and has gradually dropped to 75th to 50th to 25th and now 9th. He is 17 weeks old and is EBF. I have no supply issues and he eats often, had lots of wet and dirty nappies. He does have a few diarreah type nappies in the week, in amongst the normal but they don't seen to bother him or cause him dehydration. Does your LO have these? The HV I saw thought my baby looked very chubby and healthy and was surprised. I'm at a loss! Have you made any progress on reasons behind slow weight gain?

Can I ask how often your baby feeds in a 24 hour period??

DS usually only has about 6 feeds but the other day he only had 5.

My 10 week old has between 8 and 10 feeds a day, ranging from 10 -30 mins per feed. Taking her to be weighed again on Wednesday so hope she's put some more weight on... Are you feeding on demand or following a schedule? I basically feed mine whenever she asks which is about every 2.5 hours.

My DS was born at 98.6th but had dropped to 75th at 8 weeks and then to below 25th by 20something weeks. He went back up to 50th when he started solids at 6 months. He's completely fine and never showed any signs of being ill - just slow weight gain. I agree with pp who said too much weight is given to being on the 'right curve'. Is the baby otherwise healthy, meeting milestones, producing wet and dirty nappies? Would you be worried otherwise?

I demand feed him - he typically goes 2.5-3hourly. If he has a daytime 'nap' he will sometimes sleep 4-5 hours so will skip a feed in that period. DS is a happy and contented little man - I have no reason to worry about him at all but when you see the little dots getting lower on the chart it's hard not to feel a little disheartened. If his weight on Wednesday is still a bit iffy then I think I'll try and find a way to get an extra feed into him each day.

I was reading a book last night and the author was talking about BF and ensuring babies get enough calories and she kept referring to empty breasts and we need to make sure the baby empties the breast at each feed. However, I thought milk just kept on being produced so the breast was never empty?

She said: "Never ever let the baby suckle on an empty breast."

I don't understand?? Or am I missing something???

No, you're not missing anything. The author of the book has misunderstood how breastfeeding works. Who is the author, and when was it published out of interest?

It's a Gina Ford book - my neighbour leant it to me.
Published in 2006.

Why would Gina Ford know anything about breastfeeding?

Ah, not surprised at all. That book is on the Kellymom list of books to avoid as the advice given can negatively affect breastfeeding.

I personally wouldn't take any advice from GF on breastfeeding, as I don't believe she has any specific expertise/qualifications in that area.

I was really confident in my breast feeding at the start (despite having attachment issues) but I find that the older DS gets the more I start to doubt myself and question whether everything is going as it should be.

Just to add my story as this all sounds normal and v common. My dd was born on 98th percentile and over first 4 months dropped down to just below 50th percentile. At nearly 2 she is in the same place! I think sometimes they are born and one weight and the settle at the right point as long as they are happy, alert, meeting mile stones, wet and dirty nappies.

McBaby, this is right - there is a school of thought that says the birthweight is really not relevant, because of this natural individuality. The actual data the charts are based on starts at 2 weeks.

Writer, I hope your confidence does not go :( My recollection of your earlier weeks is that you were very unsure if it was all working out for you, though - you sound better now :)

McBaby - I have experienced similar. My baby with the heaviest birthweight actually dropped to a fairly low centile and is still on exactly the same line at 4 years old. My slightly lighter birthweight baby is now on a much higher centile and has stayed there.

We'll I went for the weigh-in today and he has only put on 9oz in 3 weeks

She wants me to go back in 4 weeks to be checked again.

So now I have 4 weeks to fret about it all.

Writer - I still think that's within normal range.

Writer - I obviously haven't seen your baby, or his chart, but can I ask why you are fretting if the HV isn't worried? Weight is only one aspect of a baby's wellbeing. Plenty start off on one line and stablise on another, gain weight erratically, etc. Could this be what is happening here? Are there other signs of a problem that are concerning you?

No penguin - DS is perfectly well and happy, I have no concerns about him at all. It's only because I'm used to him putting on more weight so the fact the last few weeks it has been less and now he has dropped that I'm being paranoid

I asked the HV if I should start waking him at night to get another feed into him and she smiled at me in a 'don't be silly' way I probably have an aura of 'First time paranoid mother' about me