20 week old has only gained 1oz in 2 weeks - really worried!

[Gangle]

DS is 20 weeks tomorrow - got him weighed today and really upset to find he has only gained 1 oz in the last 2 weeks, going from 16 lbs 4 oz to 16 lbs 5 oz (7.42 to 7.48k) and has slipped from 75th centile to between 50th and 75th. HV at the baby clinic said not to worry as he is still a good weight but am now trying to work out where I have gone wrong. He is exclusively breast fed and, although he has the same 5 or 6 feeds per day, spends less time feeding and only ever has one breast, or one and a bit( this has always been the case). I put the lack of time down to him being a more efficient feeder but maybe he isn't taking enough. He is still having one feed a night, usually around 4.30/5 am although last week he did have a few days where he was waking 2 to 3 times a night when I fed him at the first feed but then tried to settle him by other means when he woke the second and third times (first waking was midnight, second 3am and 3rd 5am) but was this his way of telling me he was hungry? He wasn't crying and didn't seem to be hungry, just awake and playful! The last few nights he has slept from 8.30/9 to 5am when he has his feed. He doesn't seem hungry in general, apart from the 5am feed but is happy afterwards, ie not looking for more food, so I really don't think he is ready for weaning. Could the quality of my milk be slipping? Really don't want to give him formula if I can help it. Can anyone advise?

my ds2 is nearly 11 months old and weighes 17lb 3. Your son is doing ok. he hasn't slipped down over 2 lines (which is when the HCPs worry)

Try not to worry too much, I think those charts are very much to show averages. They grow in peaks, some times gaining weight and other times less so.
My DS weight also plateued (sp?) at a similar time. They tend to have a growth spurt at 6 months, so I would wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.
Just keep offering him milk - nature has a way of working out what is needed!
PS a lot of mums disagree with those weight gain lines for this very reason. If he is still pooing/weeing and generally happy (even if at night!), then I think he is fine.
Try not to stress (easier said than done I know!), you are doing fab x

All three of mine have done this - DS is 11wo and just starting it now.

IME it coincides with finding out about the world around them - then feeding becomes less exciting. I'm pretty sure before they discover these things they feel there is nothing better to do so they might as well BF (even though they aren't really hungry). Each time mine have discovered something new they have fed less.

I'm sure if he was hungry he'd let you know. If you hadn't had him weighed would you have been concerned about him in any way?

My DD2 carried on putting on 1/2 -2oz a fortnight for a long time. I only used to go to get her weighed just for an excuse to get out of the house in the end!

I got dd weighed today. She is nearly 14 wks and has slipped a bit and is putting on 4oz per wk which doesnt seem that much to me. Anyway, the hv assured me it was perectly fine and she also said that at times of developmental change, e.g learning a new skill, or teething, babies often dont put on much weight. Could your ds be going through a developmental change or teething?

thanks all. Am hoping he's just in a slow phase for a week or so and will pick up again. At one point he was gaining weight so rapidly I did think it would have to slow at some point. Do need to look at my diet though as have not been eating that well at (no time) so maybe the quality of my milk has deteriorated. What a lovely excuse though to sit around and breast feed all day! Had previously worried that I was overfeeding him!

Look at the weight charts more closely.

The incline (how steep it rises) is an indication of how fast a baby might be putting on weight.

If you look birth to 16 weeks it is very steep which equals fast weight gain expected.

Look at 18-25 weeks - much flatter. Normal for weight gain to slow down.

No baby carries on putting on weight at the same rate as when they are first born - or they'd all be monsterously huge!

Sounds fine to me.

Remember as well that thechartsinthe red booksare based on forumula fed babies. FF babies do tend to put on weight more than b/f babies, there is a wholearguement that this weight gain/expectation is too muchandleads to obesity problems later on. A lot of people want different charts to be produced for b/f babies, charts which better represent a steadier and more natural weight gain.

The red book charts are based on a mix of FF and BF babies though and as others have said BF babies gain weight at different rates than FF babies.

If you want to scheck on charts for excl BF babies though, they are available on the WHO website, but it sounds as though it's just one of those blips. He is coming up to a pretty major growth spurt so I'm sure he'll either catch back up to where he was or else this will be his new line. As lomng as he is happy, healthy and alert and weeing and pooing etc, try not to worry about it.

I was having DD weighed fortnightly at one point around the 26 week mark and she had a bit of a drop. The HV referred me to the GP who said I was having her weighed too often and to come back in five weeks. five weeks later her weight was back where it had been previously.

It is very common for exclusively BF babies to plateau at this point. DD did the same and gained no wieght between 20 and 26 weeks. However I would recommend you keep feeding on demand. LO is growing rapidly and if they wake that means they are hungry (especially at this age and have previously been sleeping well).

Try to feed at night when LO wants it. It should not last long if he has slept well in the past.

Good Luck and well done for keeping going so long!

My dd did this. From 10-16 weeks she put on 6 oz (in total, whereas they like it to be that much a week!). Unfortunately my HV wasn't like yours and told me to top-up with formula, which I said no to and she said oh well we'll just wean at 16 weeks

I spent the next 2 weeks agonising over which option I had to take until I phoned a bf counsellor, who asked me what I wanted to do. 'Neither, she's fine' was all I could come up with. Which of course was absolutely right! We carried on ex bf and she started putting more weight on.

The thing that really made me though was that at her 1 year check the HV looked at her chart and said it's funny how so many of them drop through the centiles like that but then are back up at thier original centile by a year. So why the hell was she telling me to top-up/wean when it was perfectly normal??!!

Gangle, I think tiktok always says that your diet has no effect on the quality of your milk (sorry if that's not right tiktok). Perhaps search the archives to find a bit more but just wanted to point it out!

you're right PSW. No effect between diet and BFing, at least unless the mother is on the point of starvation.

Some information on kellymom

Thanks Daisy! Too lazy to find a link myself!

this is great! I can carry on eating biscuits and breastfeeding DS as much as possible! Will definitely get him weighed next week though to check he hasn't lost any weight. Another thing that occured to me as that in recent weeks DS has discovered his thumb and constantly sucks it whereas he used to suck my breast for comfort and general entertainment! Could that be why he is feeding less?

biscuits are absolutely mandatory fare for BFing

thumb sucking might be a factor, but not sure really. It would make sense to me though.

Just biscuits? I think you should introduce cake at alternate feeds

the answer is to stop getting him weighed weekly. The ONLY thing wrong here is the amount of anxiety that a 1oz weight gain is causing you. It's completely disproportionate to the non existent problem.

There is nothing wrong with his weight, there is nothing wrong with his weight gain, there is nothing wrong with your breast milk, his feeding pattern, his thumb sucking or your parenting. There is nothing wrong with him, there is nothing wrong with you, now please please stop worrying about nothing.

Ahh Gangle you are doing excellent as everyone has said. Do I remember you posting early days with some problems? If it is so then congratulations for doing so well so far. You have more than cracked it.

Thumb sucking also came along for DD at the same point.

really no need to get him weighed again next week so long as he seems happy and healthy to you.
weighing every 6 months or so from now on (if that often!) more than adequate if you are otherwise happy with how he is doing (imo)

thanks all. Got DS weighed again on Thursday and he had gained a huge 10oz in a week although he had had a big feed just before weigh in time. Massively relieved and so proud of my lovely big boy! xx

That's good news. Even when you know there is nothing wrong and that the apparently low weight gain doesn't really matter too much it's always nice to have a bumper week to keep the spirits up IME.