weight gain slowed in EBF baby

[Focusfocus]

My baby is 8.5 weeks old. He's been a fab breastfeeder from get go and I have taken to it really well, no probs.

Now,every week since birth he's been gaining 8-10 ounces. This week though he's only gained 3 ounces. I know that I shouldn't go to weigh him weekly but I confess, his growing weight has been a teensy reward to a first time new mum and I've allowed myself the sense of achievement on Tuesday mornings.

Of course I know weight is one of several indicators of well being and nobody is worried. And yes that they fluctuate. But I wonder why the big drop in the gain.... And if that's the rTe he's going to do now on? He's started sleeping through the night I mean 6 hours or so and I've tried to dream feed him in the middle but believe me he won't take it.

Meanwhile is there anything else I could do to get more milk into him? He's demand fed and I don't bother expressing etc. all advice welcome! Oh his current weight is 10 lbs 11 oz at 8 weeks and 3 days. Weekly gain has been steady on 25th centile line till today's weigh in.

Bump!

He's still gaining, if he seems happy in himself and is doing lots of wet nappies then really don't worry and don't change what you're doing. If scales didn't exist would you be happy with how he was doing?

I would....I guess.... Just unsure why this week showed such a drop in the gain!

Step away from the scales!

Babies do not gain weight at a standard amount. It varies.

They also don't gain 8 ounces every week. They'd be giant by one if they did! !

Weigh less often. See what the curve is like. Speak to a professional if he seems y be dropping centiles.

Unless there are problems suspected, you really shouldn't weight more often than 3-4 weeks. You can get a difference of 3-4oz in weight depending whether the baby just had a big feed, poo, etc. Don't medicalise your baby, and don't try to fix what is not broken, please. Centiles are straight lines because they are averaged among many children. Babies and children don't grow like that - they have growth spurts and slower growth times. It would be more weird if he was always on the line!

Btw, if you want dreamfeed (not to get more milk into him, but to shift his longest sleep to more convenient time - i.e. starting when you go to bed), try to wait until he shuffles in sleep, i.e. changes sleep cycles, and tryvto latch then. My DS2 wouldn't take it if he is in a deep sleep, but does a nice long sleepy feed when I latch him after he shuffles. Since babies change between deep and shallow sleep every 20 minutes, you'll never need to wait more than 20 min for the right time to offer the feed.

focusfocus, you are describing a perfectly normal weight and growth. Your baby has adjusted his intake perfectly physiologically - you would absolutely not expect continued eight to ten ounces a week weight gain.

Weekly weighing is too often for a normal healthy baby :)

It gives you no useful info at all, and can be misleading.

He may remain on the 25th centile or he may go up or down a couple. In a healthy baby it does not matter. Please don't allow your sense of achievement to rest in the numbers on the scale. You have a healthy baby and an effective happy feeding regime - that's worth celebrating, not what the scales say week by week:)

Thanks everyone. You've all said things I already know, but can't still mange to accept I guess.

I think, the issue is that I'm (despite a very active/assertive professional career person) immensely non-confrontational and easily backed down in personal life. And my in laws, lovely as they are a family of huge babies (think off the percentile charts), three generations almost of formula feeders, and a bunch of enormously sceptical people with regard to BF. The only exception is my steadfastly loyal and informed DH. after the weighing today DH was the only thing that stood between me and my temporary decision to move to formula because I was convinced I wasn't making enough milk. He convinced me to ring the NCT helpline and speak to a counsellor because I wasn't believing him and well, that worked.

So my in laws look down on BF, are full of stories of BF babies not thriving and all the babies there are very big, the thinnest one is 90th centile. I think I'm al,oat a bit on the edge as though he is on test of some sort.

I shouldn't care. In my profession, I research, evaluate empirical evidence from large scale and small scale studies, publish papers in peer reviewed journals and lecture groups of 300 plus students. Yet, in my personal life I'm now married to baby scales, and scared of any encounters with them, and trying hard just so I have a satisfying answer to them because they are so enormously sceptical of my feeding method.

Why should I care? Why can I not apply the same research, evidence, lecturing to them? Yup. No . Clue. Not. One.

But thanks all! He's had a feeding fest in bed this evening, all of us, DH, Ddog, I and baby upstairs snuggled around Netflix with food, water and loads of breastfeeding and now off to sleep. :-)

And to add this is the stuff I already know but cannot apply or assert to them -

1. Babies come in all shapes and sizes
2. Weight gain is one of am entire spectrum of indicators of well being
3. Breastfeeding operates on demand and supply
4. There is no point asking me why he isn't sleeping 12 hour nights yet because that wouldn't work with breastfeeding a 8 week old
5. I need to top up with formula. It will kill of my milk supply gradually.
6. If he needs more milk, there is milk. In my breasts. I simply offer him more sides. That is all. I do not need formula or EBM unless I wish to slowly but steadily wean him off the breast.
7. If he refuses night feeds, my supply adjusts. No cause to panic.
8. I need not fret over whether he is getting fore ill or not enough hind milk. Because there is no such thing as "this is the fore milk" and "that there is the hind milk".
9. No my diet is not perfect at the moment, but it isn't rubbish and either way breastmilk is not affected by diet on a knife edge that way.

10. I have scrunched up every book and all literature available on BF from evidence based sources aimed at the public and at HCPs and I really need to relax. Now. Really. And not give a sh*t about the inlaws. gets scared of the upcoming Boxing Day meet up with massive cousin of baby

See? I know this. And yet.......the mind returns to the bloody 3 ounces gain this week.

Clearly I need to sort out my own head.

EBF babies tend to gain weight quicker in the first 3 months then FF babies, then it slows off and they grow at a slower weight then FF babies.
WHO have released growth charts for EBF babies to reflect this.
Funnily enough I was looking this up tonight as I was worried about DS.

No 5 was meant to say DONT need to. Goodnight!

I think it souns like you are doing frigging awesome.....tell your in laws to sod off or buy this babygro www.babymoos.com/shop/mum-doesnt-want-advice-baby-grow/

Great that you have insight into this - it is not a 'head' problem with you, because you certainly know how breastfeeding works, it is a 'heart' problem with your confidence and your self-assertion. If it is your in-laws undermining you, here are my suggestions:

• ask your dh to tell them comments about your feeding are off limits
• if they persist, ask them 'why are my breasts of such a concern to you?' :)
• stop weighing your baby every week - every month is fine, and this is written in your red book
• think about what the bfc you called said to you, and which bit of it helped you, and write it down *accept your in-laws are not going to respond to evidence and scientific argument - their response to the whole thing is emotional (as is yours!)

Do also try to bear in mind that it's not inherently a good thing that your husband's family have big babies. The family seem to see 'bigger as better'. That is a very old fashioned, and incorrect, view.

Now, there are a couple of reasons why a family who values big babies might have big babies. It might be a genetic tendency towards large babies. In which case, what does it matter what size your baby is as they may have different tendencies and are only half his side? If it is 'natural', then the size of your baby is also 'natural'. It's as bonkers as thinking it's good if the baby has lots of hair.

OR it is perfectly possible that, in a family that sees big babies as a "good thing", those babies have been routinely encouraged to finish the bottle, pushed to have a bit more etc and are therefore bigger than they 'should' be. Overfeeding a child is categorically NOT a good thing, for their current or future health.

I agree that it's a heart thing. But as part of your 'head' thing I think you need to consciously realise that their view that big babies are better, healthier babies is WRONG. Your statement no. 2 and your fear of being around the chubby cousin speak to you having absorbed their incorrect, and potentially damaging to health, obsession of 'big is better' at an emotional level, even if not a rational one.

My experience with pfb was the same- gained weight in "steps", fast gain, slow for a few months, another bit gain, slow for a few months.

They seem to slow down co-inciding with developmental spurts- so 8 weeks, as they get more mobile, start smiling and interacting, is classic. The next one will be when they start rolling and moving :)

Stop weighing and go on clinical presentation. The numbers on the scale are meaningless unless you have other symptoms to go with them.

Yes the view really is bigger is better there. One of their two year old is in 4 year old clothing and bigger than his younger brother and that is always always always celebrated.

Mine is not only obviously half their side, but also half Asian and I'm sure he carries racial traits from me (Asian).

In their eyes another things that's playing tricks is length/height. Ours is tall and on a much higher percentile height wise than weight. We are already barely fitting into the feet of baby gros for his age group. Consequently all his weight looks "thinner" to them. They haven't said a word yet but they have great form for criticising breastfeeding out of the blue from ever since I met them.

Any chance you are imagining they think he is too small, focus? If they haven't actually said anything.......:)

They might be making daft remarks about breastfeeding, but they are only showing how little they know.

What have they actually said?

They've compared his weight to his other four cousins at similar ages bad have said he's got a long way to go till he catches up with Cousin Z.

Every time we meet one of them says he's still so tiny (still) followed by X was 13 lbs by now.

Misinterpreting? Who knows. This thread has reassured me fine and has, now, run it's course perhaps! :)

Glad you're feeling better about it all, focus. I think you might be over-sensitive to the relatives' remarks - they sound a tad stupid ('catching up', FFS :) ) but babies are always being compared in some way {eye roll}

You don't need to tell them his weight, do you? Just say you don't know, he is healthy and was not weighted for X weeks, and does not need to be weighted. Turn the conversation into more exciting developmental milestones - first smiles, overall alertedness, possibly reaching for toys - whatever new you notice. Forget the weight, length. If you don't think about it, you'll be less sensitive to any comments.

Just to add... My DS put on more weight when he was on bm than formula.

I have read a few of your threads op you really are an over-thinker. Relax

Thanks......