Low weight gain - BF baby

[Posypippin]

Baby lost 7.5% of birth weight (6lb 3oz at birth) dropping down to 5lb something

since then she has gained 20g every day and the midwives in hospital seemed really happy with it.

seen my community midwife today on day 10 and baby has been consistent with 20g a day, however midwife seemed a bit concerned which has made me really anxious and disappointed as I thought all was going well. Loads of dirty and wet nappies so I’m not massively worried just a bit disheartened.

anyone had similar weight gain? Google says average is 20g-35g a day is okay

Sounds like you're doing fine to me OP!

Two articles that might be reassuring are:

How do I increase my baby's weight gain?

And Breastfeeding your newborn, what to expect in the early weeks.

@PolaroidPrincess

Thank you, those links are really helpful and from what I’ve read suggests she is getting enough milk. The fact she’s sleeping long stretches after a feed during the night suggests she is satisfied too.

Sounds fine to me - that’s probably 5-6oz a week overall which will be a ‘slow but steady’ gain. My older son only gained 4oz per week for a while and dropped a few centiles but was fine in every other respect. He’s now an enormous 12 year old in adult men’s clothes and size 9 feet 🤣

We lost 11% and they just wanted 20g weight gain a day
we were monitored for a while and every midwife said they’d be over the moon with 20-30g a day and birth weight by 2-3 weeks
i suppose you’re on the low end of that and maybe that’s what midwife was trying to say, but youre definitely within the ideal range

you’re doing amazing op, she’s happy and content, fed, gaining weight, wet and dirty nappies, that’s all you need

Thanks for the replies, it’s such a worrying thing when you don’t know how much they’re getting. I have phoned the HV and she is coming this afternoon to weigh her. She isn’t due a weigh till next week with the MW but I’ll just be worrying in the mean time.

Don't worry about being able to see how much they're getting. BF babies don't need the huge quantities of milk that a FF needs to survive.

There are much simpler ways if telling if they're getting enough

And don't let one comment from a MW put you off. It sounds as though you're doing absolutely fine and remember that they HV will be weighing LO on different scales at a different time of day.

My DS had quite a tricky start to feeding and 20g a day was the magic number we were looking for him to gain. As PP said, it's slow and steady and they're not going to be piling on the pounds but as long as they're otherwise well and content then it's most definitely enough.

Thanks everyone, she was weighed again and stayed consist with a 20g gain a day so I just dismissed the midwives ‘concerns’ and told her I wasn’t worried. She is back to her birth weight so she reluctantly discharged us.

My 1st daughter had a very bad start with feeding and it’s made me extra anxious

It’s great that you are back to birthweight. Milk intake - if you want to see if you can increase it - is simple and more milk = more gain.

More feeds and more sides per feed = better weight gain. If you can swop sides in a feed twice, three or four times then more milk is taken. Breast compressions can help too. it may well be that your baby is spot on but these things can help sleepy babies or babies who aren’t the most efficient at feeding gain more quickly.

Whilst you can't see the milk going in, you can see what's coming out - if you wanted to you could weigh the nappies (wet and dirty) - just subtract the weight of the nappy and you have a good idea of how they're doing.

It can be useful - more so for hydration, but still.

Sounds like she's getting there steadily.

Back at birth weight is fantastic OP

Tbf I do most of that, she feeds for a really long time, drains both breasts and when she’s finished she won’t re latch. She seems very full and content. During the day she is cluster feeding and seems to be getting plenty.

Interesting, I never thought of that but I think I’ll just go by the amount of wet and dirty nappies, theres a lot!! 😂

She sounds fab - more dirty nappies the better:)