Baby not gaining enough weight

[outnumbered4]

My 8 week old girl is exclusively breastfed, she has gained weight very slowly and has only gone from 7lb 3 at birth to 8lb 13 today she has dropped nearly 2 centiles on her growth chart.

The health visitor has been today and is happy with her development and that she is healthy and not lethargic or dehydrated. She is pooing and weeing normally and is very smiley and happy. We don't know why this is happening as there seems to be no problem with her feeding, she is fed on demand and the latch is good. No pain for me and she is clearly swallowing through every feed so definitely drinking.

There was mention of a need to top her up from a bottle if her weight gain doesn't improve. Has anyone got any experience of this? And is there a bottle that is good for mimicking the breast if I have to do this? I would ideally want to top up with expressed milk.

I'd ring the out of hours docs (111) - that kind of bleeding sounds unusual so would be best to make sure there is no infection.

The health visitor has been today and is happy with her development and that she is healthy and not lethargic or dehydrated. She is pooing and weeing normally and is very smiley and happy.

Mine went from 91st born to 50th at 4 weeks and 25th at 8 weeks. She followed the 25th till she was 6 months, then gradually stayed there till 10 months, when she was at the 50th. She’s pretty much followed that ever since. No health professional was ever concerned about it. Not all babies grow at the same rate.

She’s now 7 and it’s only since she was about 6 that she’s started filling out.

I went to the out of hours gp this afternoon, they weren't concerned about the bleeding as it's slowed, they think it's likely my period as there's no pain or smell apparently it just happens sometimes and I've been lucky enough to have it happen to me!

On the plus side because I've been feeling so rough all day I've spent the best part of it snuggled up with my baby feeding almost constantly

It sounds ok to me to be honest - if you discount the first couple of weeks where they get back up to birthweight she's gaining about 3oz per week which combined with a happy, non dehydrated, development all on track baby, is just the lower end of normal. My DS1 only ever gained at that rate, and dropped 3 centiles from birth but there was nothing wrong. It's just that it can be an indicator that something might be wrong.

Yes I'm much less worried now after putting up this thread I think she's probably just going to be little like her brothers and sisters. She's definitely not acting like a baby that isn't thriving

Hi OP. I have been having the same
Problem too. My little girl only put 3 ounces on in 3 weeks, then 9 ounces on in a fortnight, then nothing this week. I've been really worried but have a lot of support from
My GP and breast feeding nurse. I just wanted to say thank you to everybody for this post as it's really boosted me. I've been so worried all morning but my little girl is doing so well in other ways so I know she's doing ok but this is my first and it's been making me anxious .

It is so worrying isn't it, they never get any less of a worry as they get older either! I am due to have my little girl weighed Thursday and if she's gained enough for me to not panic I think I will step away from the scales for a bit, too much pressure and i think it's caused unnecessary worry over here.

I think I am probably doing a good enough job of breastfeeding looking at the bigger picture, and it sounds like you are too

Yes I know exactly what you mean. Also they are getting all the goodness they need. I am lucky as my area runs a support group and they are fantastic :) mum now says can you see why I worry about you still! (I'm 29!!)

@outnumbered4 hello, I commented when you put this thread up as similar slow gain with my DD. How are you getting on? Just to update that she had posterior tongue-tie which was only picked up by breastfeeding counsellor last week! She had it snipped today. Definitely worth getting someone to have w look!

Hi, oh I hope she’s ok has the feeding improved? I hadn’t really thought of tongue tie as she doesn’t show any signs of it as far as I know! what were the signs with your dd?

My girl was 9lb 3 on Saturday so a gain of roughly 3oz a week again. She’s still happy and sociable and sleeping great. Wees and poos still as they should be as well! I have had her latch checked again and it appears to be perfect so I’ve decided to just go with it and try not to stress (and not get obsessed with her weight!)