feel a bit silly but please can you reassure me [blush] as feeling quite crap about my breastfeeding dd

[mumofdjandbabies]

dd is 5 weeks old tomorrow

was 8.14 at birth
went down to 8.7 after 4 days or so
then a weel later went up to 9.3
then to 9.10 the week after
then only to 9.13 the week after

her last weight gain was only 3 ounces in the week

i feed her on demand

which feels like alot!!!!!!!!

she has had a rotten cold since that last weight gain of only 3 ounces and i am not sure she has put anything on if anything she may have lost

my MIL said she "is weight gaining isnt she" so I think its noticeable that she is a slow grower.... why does this make me feel crappy?

also she is very windy espec at night and wont settle till the small hours i feel terrible about this as she seems to be feeding ok, just very often.....

sorry rambling

i just feel this huuuuuuuuuge pressure to have a big weight gaining baby cos she was so big at birth i think !!

My ds was a GIGANTIC baby - and put on weight incredibly slowly, so he plunged down the centiles. But he was gaining, and he was meeting all his milestones and peeing and pooing and all the rest, so, because he was my second I could ignore the tutting health visitors and get on with it. It sounds as if you are doing brilliantly - she's bound to gain a bit more slowly with a cold. And they are still pretty unsettled at 5 weeks - it's usually after 6 that they start settling down. Hang in there - she's doing fine and it will get better.

it's fine! she's gaining, that's good

thanks

wonder why some babies weight gain slowly eh

HI
just remember hoe BIG my dd is .... 17mths and still under 15lbs, I know she was little to start with but I have heard some babies have a catch down iykwim eg big at birth level out , gain slower stick with it unless she looses

The majority of babies lose weight just after birth and it can take a while for them to regain their birth weight.

My dd was a very slow grower too. Just remember though that each baby will gain enough weight that is right for them. The beauty of breastfeeding is that your body produces just enough milk for your baby, and when your baby goes through a grow spurt, your body readjusts and produces more. You can't do that with bottles.

Watch what you eat. If I ate oranges then dd would have a lot of wind. Try to see if there is a pattern between her windiness and what you eat. Avoid acidic and spicy foods if you can.

Hope this helps!

This is almost certainly catch-down growth, mumofdjandbabies...ask your HV about this well-known phenomenon.

aw thanks guys

ooh never heard of catchdown growth

dont know that my hv will know to be honest either!

any good links to catch down growth could obly find thesis type stuff when googled!!

will have a look for you and get a link if i can re the wind is it just on an evening? or constantly like that?

this has catch down chart a few pages down

page 5 shows chart for growth catch down didnt read the site just saw the charts hth

thanks soremummy honey

still dont quite get catch down
she is a windy baby but defo worse in the eve
have got some infacol and colief seeing if that helps!

'Catch down' is simply the observable trend for big babies to head for being more 'average' than 'big'...just as small babies may experience 'catch up' so they become more 'average' than 'small'

There is nothing inherently wonderful about growing quickly, or inherently bad about growing slowly!

My ds was 10lb6 at birth, put on weight incredibly slowly and has been very average since he was about 2ish. If he had stayed on the 99th centile he'd be about 6ft10 by now! He's 7, by the way!

aw thanks guys

hv came today
in the last week she put on another 3 ounces

so she put on 3 last week
3 this week and is the grand total of 10 pounds!

You don't have to have her weighed every week you know. For a lot of mums frequent weighing causes a lot of anxiety and changes nothing - apart from reducing confidence in breastfeeding. To put this in perspective - my dd1 was 9 ounces heavier than dd3 at birth (she was 42 weeks and dd3 was 41) Their birthdays are 2 days (and 9 years) apart so looking at both their weight charts it's easy to make comparisons. Dd1 was weighed every two weeks for the first few months, breast fed till 11 mths and weaned at 4 months plus. Dd3 was weighed three times (ok - maybe four) in her first year, still breastfeeding at a year and weaned at 4 months plus. Dd3 weighed 9 ounce less than dd1 at a year! Your babies grow to the size they grow to

sound advice there

I think I do it to make sure she isnt losing weight incase I need to top her up or something

You don;t need to top her up. She's gaining weight .

If you weren't taking her to the HV, would you still be worried? If all you had to go on was the amount of wet and dirty nappies she had, whether she is alert, sleeping okay (for a newborn!), generally content (wind issues aside) and feeding at frequent intervals would you still be so concerned?

My 3rd dc was 10lbs 2oz at birth, so 99th centile. He dropped to 9lbs 10oz or so within a few days then took over a month to regain his birthweight. He eventually settled around the 25th centile and now, at 21mo is only just into 12-18mo clothes and 24lbs-ish. So his birthweight was not a true reflection of his size. I just obviously nourished him exceptionally well in utero .

I understand your concern (I remember it well)but I think getting her weighed so regularly is making you more stressed. At the end of the day she is gaining, which is what you want. If I were you I'd stop getting her weighed so frequently and perhaps experiment with different positions to see if that alleviates the wind a little.

She doesn't need top ups, she's gaining - you can be proud of that and look at all 10lbs of her and think 'I did that' !

aw thanks guys
youre an encouragement