sudden drop in weight gain - should I be worried?

[bodenbetty]

went to get DD weighed today for first time in a fortnight. she was putting on 8oz a week. today she has only put on 5 oz in a fortnight. she is 10 weesk tomorrow & exclusively breastfed. she seesm happy & alert & is having wet/dirty nappies.
she was treated for thrush from 2 wks until about a fortnight ago when they finally did a swab test on her & it came back negative. she still has a white tongue whereas I had no symptoms at all.
I KNOW that these charts are based on bottle fed babaies etc etc but feel that I am failing her somehow. she is till between 75/50 centile.
any thoughts?

they do slow down..I wouldn't worry yet, sounds like you are doing a great job

wow that was a fast response!!! thanks
she seems now to only want 1 boob per feed where it used to be 2. she was also treated for thrush from 2 wks old (poor mite) as she has a constant white tingue. howvere a recent swab test came back negative so I stopped giving her teh daktarin gel. am now wondering whether teh slow down/thrush are related?

If she is still roughly following same line then she sounds fine. How old is she ? They do slow as they become more mobile and alert and around the 4 month mark onwards. The latest charts apparently represent a crossection of babies btw - both bottle fed and b'fed.

mine only ever fed one boob at a time - we alternated each feed - they will get more of the fatty hind milk that way so this shouldn't be a problem

she is 10 weeks tomorrow. soory I kow I am probaly being paranoid (very good at that - LOL) I just want to be sure I'm doimg the righ thing by her.

(Charts are not based on bottle fed babies, BTW, but on babies whose feeding is not differentiated)

But in any case, it is normal for weight gain to slow about now.

It might be an idea not to bother getting your baby weighed - she is clearly thriving and doesn;t need it

My DS was the same at the same age. I wrote on here in a panic as I used to get him weighed weekly and he went from gaining 5-10oz a week to dropping an ounce one week. anyway, on the advice of the ladies here I started weighing him less frequently and the general trend was that although it increased, it was much slower. My DS dropped a lot of centiles since birth (especially height wise) and he was just finding his natural place as about 3 or 4 months he steadied out.

I am still breastfeeding (11 mths) & I can tell you the weight gain does slow.. you go to clinic & get used to the 10ounces a week & then suddenly it slows & you go into panic (I know, I did it!) - Its normal, if your baby carrie don putting on weight at this rate it woul dbe 6ft & 12 stone by the age of 2 !!
The 50th centile is average & my Hv says that as long as baby dosent falls more than 2 centiles, then they are fine- so if your baby is between the 50th & 75th then its actually slighty above average, which means your are doing fantastic with your breastmilk.. the only time you woul dneed to really worry is if your baby lost weight/or didnt gain any- even then, its not always a bad thing, but then it woul dbe worth having a chat to the Hv-
Your baby seems to be thriving on your milk - keep it up... Im still feeding now & it feels so good to see my 11 mth who weighs 22lbs & know I did most of that with my milk.

Hope this helps?

Joanne

boden - have you seen the new (WHO) charts that are available for bf babies ? I haven't seen them yet, but you should be able to get one from your HV. I am surprised she hasn't given you one of these already.

My DS was only ever on the 9th on the NHS charts, but 25th on the old WHO charts, so I never worried . He is very petite even now and was only 3.09 kilos at birth (17 days early). At 2.3 years he looks smaller than other toddlers his age. But his height is genetic, nothing to do with bf !!

Also I stopped taking him to HV and weighed him on baby scales (which you can buy) at home. He gained really well up until he was 5.5 months and then it all slowed down. Also if he had a cold, he would not put any weight on that particular week, which is quite normal.

Also www.kellymom.com has an excellent little table that gives AVERAGE weight gain for excl. bf babies up to 1 year.

Your baby sounds very healthy, well done, keep going and look at the new charts for reassurance

Look a the baby - is he well-looking, alert, thriving, bright eyed and cheerful? Is his skin nice and pink(or whatever colour you would expect your baby to be - mine are pink, so that's why I chose that colour1) and elastic, and is he peeing and pooing reularly? If yes to most of these questions, then he's fine and the answer is to get him weighed less often!