Slow weight gain 11 week old baby

[MangoWeetabix]

I’m combi feeding my baby. She was 7oz at birth and at her last weigh in was 9oz 6. This doesn’t seem like much. However she is producing plenty of wet nappies and is bright end alert.
I just feel like she should be putting on more weight.

Just to add she has two bottles a day of 6oz and then breastfeeds the rest. Usually every 3.5 hours in the day and she goes longer at night.

Are HVs weighing babies at the moment? If you're concerned you could ask for her to be weighed and to check her centile. My first was a slow gainer but she's just a skinny whippet!

I got her weighed the last two weeks and the two weeks before that because she had a late diagnosed tongue tie and I was concerned.

What's her percentile? The important thing is not the weight, but whether she's following her curve.

It's also worth knowing that weight gain can ebb and flow a bit in the early weeks. At 11 weeks she's coming into a growth spurt which might mean she loses a bit of weight, she'll put it back on and more when the spurt finishes.

Really you shouldn't weigh baby too often (unless you have been told to by a health care professional) once a month is enough.

Those were arranged by the health visitor due to the issues at the start with tongue tie. She’s between 2 abs 9 but seems like she’s slowly dropping down nearer to 2.

Moving around a percentile is ok, it's when they drop more than 2 that you start to worry.

It's also ok if they are on a low percentile (someone has to be) and she's just finding her natural level.

Keep what your doing and look out for other signs of growth.

I know it's hard, my son had horrific weight issues and fell from the 91st to below the chart. He's allergic to milk though so the formula they kept pushing on us was actually making him worse.

He didn't catch up until we weaned and we did that early.

Thank you. I feel like she wouldn’t be sleeping for longer at night if she were hungry!

Hi, I have a 15 week old who is a slow weight gainer and is very similar sounding to yours, combi fed, she was 10lb at last weigh a couple of weeks ago. She is my third child, all 3 have been exactly the same, and have combi fed and breast fed both the others till past a year. My eldest was the slowest to gain weight but at 6 is bang on the 50th centile and my 4 year old is at the 91st centile now! I worried so much about them but found when we hit weaning with solid food they started to put weight on and all the worries I had disappeared. This time I am trusting in the process a lot more, I obviously don't have great breast milk but enjoy feeding them so I have persisted with all 3 with the mixed feeding and they have had no health problems, some babies are just slow starters I think.

@seaduck has your HV said anything? Mine said she isn’t concerned at the moment because the weight gain is consistent and based on her nappies she isn’t dehydrated. Why do you think you have an issue with your breast milk?

My DS will be 11 weeks on Monday he was 7lb8oz at birth and is now over 13lb but he is fully formula fed I'm not sure if that's normal or not but I'm sure your little one is fine unless doctor or health visitor says otherwise. X

@MangoWeetabix I've never been able to get babies to gain weight on my milk alone, I've had latch and technique assessed and have all been fine, followed all the advice from bf support workers, pumped all day etc. nothing seems to make a difference. HV has said similar to above about the 2 percentile lines and we haven't crossed that so far with my 15 week old, however she is keeping an eye on her and requesting regular weighs etc. We are similar in that regular wet and dirty nappies, very bright and alert, meeting all milestones so not too worried at the moment, she's just little I think.

@seaduck this is my first so I have no idea what’s normal. My breast feels very flaccid/empty after a feed so I assume she is having plenty and plus don’t babies make it very obvious when they are hungry. It’s nice to hear from someone in the same boat.

Hi OP, I think there's a typing error in your post - what was LO's weight at birth?
Which centile did she start on?
A few more details would help here
When you say she's going longer at night - how long is this?
When did you introduce the formula and when does she have these bottles? Do you pump to replace those feeds at all?

DD was like this. Started on 50th centile and had dropped to between 9th and 2nd by 12 weeks. She was happy and alert though and by 16 weeks was sleeping 8 hours at night.
At 12 months she still wore 3-6 month clothes and when she started school (4.5) we had to order an age 2-3 cardigan.

She was just meant to be small.

@Chickchickadee555

Hi OP, I think there's a typing error in your post - what was LO's weight at birth? Which centile did she start on? A few more details would help here When you say she's going longer at night - how long is this? When did you introduce the formula and when does she have these bottles? Do you pump to replace those feeds at all?

Oops, mixed up lbs and oz in my OP. 7lbs 2oz at birth! 50th centile. Wouldn’t latch at the start so after two days in hospital of hand expressing colostrum and numerous midwives sitting and trying to help me I asked them for some formula because baby was clearly hungry. Nobody thought to suggest tongue tie. So I had really wanted to breastfeed so I pumped and it nearly broke me but did it for six weeks so she could have expressed breast milk. Then paid for tongue tie privately after reading about it. When I say longer some nights now she will go five hours between feeds. If my husband gives her a bottle in the day I pump to replace that. I don’t pump for one night feed he does. She only has the formula if there isn’t any expressed milk.

@cautiouscovidity

DD was like this. Started on 50th centile and had dropped to between 9th and 2nd by 12 weeks. She was happy and alert though and by 16 weeks was sleeping 8 hours at night. At 12 months she still wore 3-6 month clothes and when she started school (4.5) we had to order an age 2-3 cardigan.

She was just meant to be small.

Thanks for sharing your story. To be honest if she wasn’t being weighed I wouldn’t be worried about her at all! I was very petite as a child too, usually the second smallest in the class etc.

Hey just wanted to share that I’m in a similar situation with my little boy! He was on 50%ile when born at 8lb but has dropped to 9%ile and is 10lb at 9 weeks! He has posterior tongue tie which we had done privately and now we think he has silent reflux 😫 since we started him on probiotics he seems a lot more settled in himself! He’s always had plenty of wet and dirty nappies and is meeting his developmental milestones. HV is coming again next week to weigh him and she said if he hasn’t gained then we need to think of a plan moving forward! He’s always gained but just a little, never lost weight! Just wondering whether this is his normal development- he is a long baby so could be tall and thin (most of the males in both sides of family are over 6foot and lean) or whether there is something concerning going on?! I really don’t want to end our BF journey! I managed to EBF my first until he was just over 2 years old and I really hope I can get to that point again with this baby!