slowish weight gain

[Liz79]

my nearly 8wo dd only gained 7oz in 2 weeks. they say the minimum is 8oz. she has gone from 50th centile to 25th. obviously this is only very slightly slow weight gain, only 1oz out but it has upset and worried me. I am exclusively bf, she's never had anything else. I know she is a well baby, alert, feeding well, lots of wet and dirty nappies etc but I am worrying now, what if it doesn't improve and they say i must top up??? she didn't say to do anything special this week and is happy to leave her 2 weeks to be weighed again (but think i'll go in 1). It has knocked my confidence and I keep thinking of ff her but i know that is silly. She has been miserable, unsettled and SCREAMING this week, she was obviously starving. But when I offered her the boob she wasn't interested, I think too upset, so checked nappy, patted her rocked her, tried controlled crying and back to boob at which point she feeds. why doesn't she just feed in the first place if that is the matter? I am just offering her it every 2 hours now so she doesn't get chance to get upset. I know I am panicking and going OTT but it has knocked my confidence in my breastfeeding. sorry for the long moan

Gosh, hold your horses.
You are doing fine!
Your milk is the best thing for your baby,you know that don't you?

Everything you say suggests that things are going well. Just keep on offering and have faith in yourself. Maybe forget about constantly weighing too-source of much unnecessary grief.

Oh my goodness, Liz....who has told you your baby must gain at least 8 oz a week???? This is so wrong.....the window is much, much wider, and no one would or should judge a baby on one week's weight gain alone.

No need to go back again and weigh your baby, especially if you are likely to be upset.

You are doing fine...but do share where you have heard this rubbish '8 oz min'. You can't be in the UK, surely - mothers do hear rubbish here, it's true, but not usually that particular rubbish

Even if your baby had gained zero it would not indicate a definite problem anyway

it should be 8oz in 2 weeks. and she is actually gaining isn't she!! I do wish i hadn't bothered weighing her but now i can't wait to have ger weighed on friday in the hope it will be better. but would cry if it wasn't. would cry my heart out if i had to give her any formula. it was bad enough seeing her with a bottle of ebm in her mouth. i felt guilty - a silicone teat just isn't a nice booby is it? I am being pathetic and well ott here. there are babies who only gain 2oz a week and mums have to do lots of expressing which must be really hard, and the babies are fine. needless to say she is pfb. yes i am in the uk and i am a midwife

Sorry, misread your post - did not understand that the min was supposed to be 8 oz in 2 weeks....and it is still rubbish of the first order!!!

Babies grow at diferent rates.

If you look in your red book, you may see some guidance on this.

The average weekly weight gain of a young baby is something like 4-8 oz a week....the average. Babies will fall below average and still be healthy and thriving. We can't all be average. Many, many healthy, thriving babies gain less than this - and many, many gain more.

You know all this in your head, but someone, or something, has made you disbelieve it in your heart. As a midwife, maybe you have seen mothers have a bad experience at bf, often because of lack of confidence, and maybe you are worried this will be the same for you.

There is not one scrap of evidence in your post that your baby needs formula, now or next week.

Give one of the helplines a call - they will listen and support you, and boost you

Thanks for all your advice!

We went for the 8 week check and immunisations today and the nurse weighed dd even though it was only 4 days since she was last weighed , she had gained 3oz in those 4 days so silly mummy panic over! All happy now