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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

bf dd not gaining weight

17 replies

kbaby · 19/10/2004 22:32

I know this may sound like a daft question but here goes..

DD is 20 weeks. From 10 weeks her weight gain has decreased. From birth to 10 weeks she gained on average 5ozs per week but from 10 weeks she has only been gaining 0-1oz per week. She started on the 50th centile and has now dropped to below the 25th. My HV isnt worried and has said they will only look at it when she has dropped another centile.
My diet isnt what it could be e.g I dont eat a lunch but do eat ok at tea time etc. Could this be the reason that she isnt gaining weight. Could it be that my milk is not of good enough quality?
Or does anyone have any other reasons.

Im trying not to worry but cant work out why she isnt gaining weight over such a long time.

OP posts:

MummyToSteven · 19/10/2004 23:00

hi kbaby - bit of a failed breastfeeder here, so you'll want to wait for someone who's a bit more expert at this, but please don't worry at all that your milk isn't good enough quality because of your diet - that is a bit of a myth. it's a bit like PG - the good bits from your diet will go to the baby first, giving you what's left over. you will feel pretty rough tho if you're not eating or drinking enough, particularly when bfing but that's a separate issue. Don't really know very much about the weight gain issue; but certainly when my DS dropped a centile the HVs weren't bothered - and just said if it was a sudden drop of a few centiles that they would be worried.

HTH for now

hunkermunker · 19/10/2004 23:03

The charts are largely for bottlefed babies - my HV says she can't get hold of a breastfed from birth chart and points to where DS is on the growth line. I tend to ignore her since it's about as much use as plotting him on the girls' chart...!

If she's healthy and happy, sleeping, feeding well and alert then I wouldn't worry. But for your sake, do try to eat lunch and make sure you drink plenty.

pixiefish · 19/10/2004 23:04

don't worry if ur hv is happy and ur dd is happy and looks ok. bf babies have different patterns to bottlefed babies as regards putting weight on. They put a lot on in the beginning and then it slows right down...
Your diet needs to be ok for you- as MTS says the baby will take the good before you but you need to look after yourself to be fit and well.
I have ready brek for breakfast, a sensible lunch (sandwich, pasta, fish fingers and jack pot etc) and a nice tea- wrong way round I know but i do try and eat properly as should you- how come you're not starving hungry at lunchtime?

MummyToSteven · 19/10/2004 23:07

what i used to do in the very early days when I had very little time or energy for lunch was to get a tub of homous or vegetable pate and gobble that down - something like that or peanut butter would be quite good or nutritious, especially if you could manage a slice of bread with it.

pixiefish · 19/10/2004 23:21

HMMMM- MTS_ Hummus and pita bread....

pixiefish · 19/10/2004 23:23

Be careful with the peanut butter though if you're bfing- isn't there something about that??? someone'l correct me if I'm wrong but I think you should stay away from it while pg and bfing...

Original poster

kbaby · 20/10/2004 11:20

pixiefish, im never hungry. i think i got so used to not eating when dd was little that i now never feel hungry at lunch. I start back to work next week so will probably start having lunch again. On the plus side ive lost all my pg weight

OP posts:

tiktok · 20/10/2004 11:27

pixiefish, only if there is peanut allergy in the close family and only if you have not eaten it in pg.

kbaby, your baby sounds just fine.

Your diet won't impact on quaity or quantity of breastmilk - see other threads on MN

motherinferior · 20/10/2004 11:29

Kbaby, my dd2 zoomed down the centiles. She is absolutely fine now.

frogs · 20/10/2004 11:40

My dd2 was 9lb 5oz at birth (ie. 90-somethingth centile) and at 10 months is now below 9th centile. She's perfectly healthy, she's just petite. This is odd as dh and I are both 6 ft, but that's how she is.

As long as the baby is not losing weight, is pleasingly plump and juicy around the thighs and isn't constantly miserable, there's very unlikely to be a problem.

LIZS · 20/10/2004 11:41

Mine both did this at around that age. With dd her weight gain which was not huge to start with tailed off at 8 weeks. She had an ear infection and undiagnosed reflux, had picked up a little on the weight gain front a week later, but has always hovered at the bottom of the charts. I think she has now fallen right off now as at 3 she is less than 11kg although she was born on 25th line ! She is really quite healthy , energetic and bright so noone is concerned, she is just petite. With ds he just naturally tailed off from around 3 months. His height has caught up to average for his age but he is skinny!

Please try not to worry, it most likely is n't anything to do with your milk as long as you are feeding to her demands but eating better and more regularly might help you feel better. I'm sure your dd is fine and their growth really does fluctuate rather than follow the nice curve in the wretched Red Book. Having very regular weighings is not always helpful as they tend to make you fret more rather than less. It is the general trend and your dd's behaviour and health which are more important. Take comfort from having such a supportive HV, you are doing well and all the best for when you go back to work.

motherinferior · 20/10/2004 20:14

LOL frogs - yes, as long as there's something to bite on

Yorkiegirl · 20/10/2004 20:19

Message withdrawn

NotQuiteCockney · 20/10/2004 21:12

Ds1 also failed to follow those horrible curves. In fact, he started out on the 75th centile, and dropped down to the 3rd, around five or six months. He didn't have fat thighs, he didn't have much fat on him at all. He was skinny. He's three years old now, and still skinny, although reasonably tall.

I breastfed him exclusively to 16 weeks, when I started giving solids on the advice of the health visitors. Made no difference.

He was always happy and healthy. He slept reasonably well. He's just a skinny kid. Trust your instincts, if your baby seems well, she's fine. Get her weighed less often, stay away from the health visitors.

jamiesam · 20/10/2004 21:23

Probably repeating what others have said, but the centile charts do seem to be set aside if baby is happy, healthy, alert, progressing normally developmentally. My ds2 was big and tall at birth but since 6 months has put on virtually no weight. Now at 15mths, he weighs only 1.5kg more than he did at 6mths. Last month, hv weigh in showed he'd lost weight over the course of a month, so I got paediatrician referal. Saw paed two days ago who said that I had nothing to worry about (happy, healthy stuff as above) and advised that many babies are born fatter in proportion to their height than they will naturally become. Hope that makes sense - if your dd is on the same height centile at birth and not losing weight, I believe she's fine.

As for your diet - I only recollect failing to eat or drink for most of the day as having (or seeming to have) any affect on milk.

Well done so far with bf and weight (you clever girl) and good luck with work.

Original poster

kbaby · 21/10/2004 12:22

Thank you everyone for the support. At least I can now safely assume that DD is ok. She is a very happy alert little girl with bags of energy. I know that I was a skinny child so maybe she is just going to take after me.
Thanks again

OP posts:

bakedpotato · 21/10/2004 12:42

kbaby, just another voice to say it happened in our case, too!

my bf dd plummetted from the middle to the bottom of the charts in first 4-5 months. one horrid friend of DH's actually asked, in shocked tones, 'Which centile is she on?' It was depressing, demoralising and worrying but nearly 3 yrs later she towers over all the children who were chubby babies when she was skin and bone

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