Help, formula fed one week old not gaining weight

[BQ91]

Hi all,

this is my second baby, she is a week old and she is formula fed. I wake her every 3 hours and she barely takes more than 40mls at a time. I strip her and wind her to wake her up and take more but she doesn’t want any. The midwife says she has lost 7% of her birth weight but hasn’t gained this back over the week. They are coming back on Monday to weigh her again but I’m so stressed that I can’t get her to drink more And that it will affect her developement. Does anyone have any experience with this and any tips or reassurance? Thank you

I don't have much experience with formula feeding but for breastfeeding it's normal for them to lose up to 10% by day 5 and to regain to birth weight between 10 and 14 days so I may be that your baby is right on track. At 1 week old stomach capacity is only 45-60ml so if you want baby to gain faster I wouldn't worry about getting more in per feed but considering increasing frequency of feeds.

Ok thank you very much I will try that! :)

My DS2 was born at 38 weeks . He lost 9.1% of his birth weight at 7 days old . It took him until he was 16 days old to regain his birth weight. He is formula fed.

He was suffering from jaundice and was in hospital for 2 days which affected his feeding . We got told to feed little and often.

Speak to your midwife! Don't force feed your baby!
Babies can lose up to 10% body weight in their first week and that is normal.
Don't wake a sleeping baby!

My baby was born on the 1st centile he was so tiny. From birth he would only take 1/2 an ounce t a time. He also lost weight initially as most babies do but very quickly gained it. Long story short he has always been very difficult to feed and he rarely is interested in milk and fusses with most feeds, however turns out he has CMPA and since changing formula has been feeding much better.

There is so much pressure and expectation around feeding and weight. Try not to worry and go by what your baby wants. I have a very long story around this, I won’t bore you lol but no matter what I did I could never get my baby to drink more. I was feeding 1oz every hour (recommended by the doc) then I tried waiting till he was really hungry, Iv set my alarm throughout the night to get more feeds in but he would always drink the same amount when I totalled it all up. If their happy and healthy don’t let healthcare professionals or your own expectations make you worry. Babies are incredibly good at regulating themselves and taking what they want and need. If things posit and other symptoms present themselves reflux or a CMPA are common in feeding problems so they maybe worth considering it the future. Go with your instincts and what your baby wants and remember they are all different.