Baby weight gain woes

[OhToBeASeahorse]

DD was born on the 50th centile. EBF. Just like her bother she stacked weight on from the beginning - she was born at 7lb 70z, was 7lb 12oz by day 5 and 9lbs by day 12.

At 8 weeks still on 50th.

She was unsettled at night, I thought reflux. Paid for a TT check at 5 weeks, no TT. She never wanted to feed for long but neither did her brother. Her nappy output went from maybe 2 a day to 1 every 2-3 days. Dr told me not to worry. Wanted to see a lactation consultant but was told no face to face appts because of Covid.

By 15 weeks I still wasnt happy and phoned my HV back. Apparently I could see the lactation consultant. In 7 weeks she had only put on 220g. She was now on the 9th. TT diagnosed and inwas put on a pumping schedule to get my supply back.

In the 5 weeks since, I've paid to have the TT cut, did 3 weeks of pumping and domperidone. She's put on a kilo and is now just under the 25th.

But I'm so worried I've caused her damage and so heartbroken to think she was hungry. In 5 weeks we will begin weaning and I am just obsessed with trying to get her to put on weight before then.

Any words of wisdom please?

Give yourself more credit ❤️

You didn’t just sit back and ignore things, you’ve actively tried to pursue lots of avenues.

Maybe part of the stall was actually “catch down” growth as she over fed immediately after birth. Maybe she was naturally supposed to be nearer the 25th (things like GD in pregnancy can make babies be born on a higher percentile than is really genetically them)

You definitely haven’t damaged her ❤️

She’s put on about 7oz per week for the last five and that’s great if she wants it but be careful about letting your desire for her to be heavier cause pressure on her.

If you are obsessed with trying to get her to gain more weight then maybe you’ll end up doing a few things; offering more bottles than she wants, putting more milk in them than she wants and possibly even ignoring her full cues and pressing her to drink just a little more at each feed.

If you don’t trust her to control her own intake (which she is now 100% capable of doing) you may accidentally cause a feeding aversion which would take you right back to having a baby who isn’t gaining weight xxx

Be careful with your perspective right now is my advice x

Sorry forgot to alter the bottles bit for EBF 🤦‍♀️ You might end up jamming your boob in her mouth too much and that will upset her just as much 😅👍

Yes I fear you are right, she is still quite disorganised feeding, it certainly isnt something she loves at the moment.

You won't have harmed her. It is so difficult with little ones in this situation and sketchy in person advice.
We have had a difficult time with reflux, allergies, refusal to feed. Some how I've managed to get enough food in her to grow but I've constantly been stressed about how big she is. My hv is good and comes frequently to weigh her and did her length too when I got stressed that she wasn't outgrowing clothes.

It's really natural to worry about these things but we all need to find a balance otherwise we drive ourselves loopy. I would forget about her previously being on the 50th percentile and focus on her following her current line maybe in time she will go back up to the 50th percentile may she won't.

Imagine if you has an adult got sick and lost a bunch of weight, would you expect yourself to suddenly return to your previous weight or would you expect it to happen gradually and maybe settle slightly lower than before?

For all you know 25th centile may just be her "right" place.

I had 3 whoppers by a year old one was 98th, one 75th one 25th centile for weight all tall and all girls 🤷🏽‍♀️

Oh my goodness you’ve done AMAZINGLY. Please give yourself some credit. She’s putting weight on at a steady rate, that’s fantastic. What does she look like, to you? Does she look well? A good size? If so, then please just stop worrying. Let her feed as and when she wants and you’ll both probably start to enjoy it more. She’s lucky to have you as her mum.