big baby not regained birth wt at 3 wks- is it that critical?

[GYoIsReallyHavingABaby]

Dd was nearly 11lbs at birth 22 days ago. She lost over 10% of her wt and is regaing now but v slowly. She is otherwise healthy. Lots of wet nappies, infrequent pooing but the MW aren't worried about that.

I'm under pressure to get her wt up which is stressful and I think has resulted in poor b/feeding as my let down reflex is random and not coordinated well with feeding. I think I'm tense which is making things worse.

After feeding exactly every 3 hrs day and night for last 2 wks, I've moved to demand feeding to see what happens (ie more relaxed, so better results)

Should I be less concerned about wt and go by instinct?

Really don't want to top up but maybe that is next step.

Anyone got experience of this ?

Thanks

worth mentioning that dd was very swollen in face at birth and possibly carrying a lot of fluid but hard to know. Her face is much slimmer and normal now than at birth.

Were you induced or did you have an epidural by chance? Did you require an IV for any reason? This can sometimes be a cause for increased fluid levels in baby and hence a great than average weight loss.

If you are getting a good deal of wet and soiled nappies, and the weight is coming on, albeit slowly, odds are things are fine.

What was the gain in length? Sometimes that will be where more of the growth is seen as well.

Did she gain some in the beginning? When did your mature milk come in? Were there any concerns with early feeds in the first week?

Do you feel as though you have a good supply going? Does she wake on her own to be fed on a pretty regular basis...having an adequate number of feeds in a 24 hour period?
If you think your supply might be iffy and/or she is going several hours between most of her feeds, you may want to revert back to waking her on a very regular basis for awhile longer so that you can be sure to have ample feeds to help build supply and know that she is taking in what she should be.

There are a number of things that may account for a slower than average weight gain, and that in itself is important to remember. For there to be an average, there will naturally be some babies that fall a bit below and some that are a bit above.

If there becomes a true concern, you might consider having a lactation counselor visit with you to help determine whether or not there is a reason why she may not be taking in as much as it would appear.

hi
she hasnt been measured yet but I think she seems bigger maybe. It was a natural home water birth so no drugs or drips. Milk came in on day 3 and took a few days to establish. She will take both breasts at each feed and feed for an hour. Possibly had some latching issues early on but I'm not so sure now as the change in posiition didn't make any huge weight increase. Think supply is ok though she does want everything most times.

The soiled nappies aren't that frequent 5 day gap then two then nothing etc.

Im getting signed off by the MW this coming Friday. I think I will contact my local bf nct counsellor too.

Hi,
Wow, a homebirth with an 11lb baby! I'm not an expert by any means, but a friend of mine had a similar experience to this. Her baby was quite overdue and large at birth, the baby then lost quite a bit of weight and regained very slowly. A few people (midwives etc) freaked her out by making a large issue of this (making her feel that FF top ups were the only way forward etc)until a very helpful midwife pointed out that almost 10lbs was large, especially given that my friend and her DH were actually quite small people and their DC was probably just establishing her "true weight" and that my friend possibly had some kind of uber placenta that had done a fantastic job of feeding her DC before birth.
The outcome of this was that my friend relaxed and everything went alot more smoothly, her DC continued to gain slowly but surely and she is now a v healthy 1 yr old.
However, very good idea to get in touch with a bf councillor to check everything is ok.
Good luck.

As Katiei said, it could be just her natural pattern emerging....some babies just gain more slowly without it being a problem. How far off is she from her birth weight?

When she does have a bowel movement, are they pretty good ones? She's a bit early for not having them more frequently (generally it is seen several weeks in) and that would be something the counselor will want to take note of just to be sure. Might still be fine, but can be an indication she is not taking in as much as it appears.

Since there is a possible question with her weight gain and output, the counselor will watch her latch and sucking pattern. She may suggest weighing her before and after a feed. She may also suggest keeping a record for several days of her feeding schedule and output along with a weight check after a week's time.

Increase feedings for a time would be a better alternative than supplementing just yet. If you do end up needing to top her off, you can use cup feeding, syringe feeding, or get a finger feeder. An even better alternative would be a supplemental nursing system. You really don't need bottles at all, especially for just supplementing, but if you chose to, there are ways to make nipple preference less of a possibility.

She is now back to 460g under her b/wt.

yesterday i got in touch with a private lactation consultant who is coming to see me later this morning. She is concerned with the history, lack of poo etc and has asked me to see the gp too. Hope we can get this sorted now.

will report back

That's a good idea, GYo. This is a situation where someone really needs to see what is going on and assess the whole baby. Talkboards are great, but they are limited in scope when it comes to a situation like yours.

Your baby and your bf may be fine, but there are enough question marks about poo, weight and feeding frequency to make a personal visit essential.

Hope all goes well.

Thanks everyone.

The lactation consultant came yesterday and didnt see anything wrong with my supply or baby's desire to feed. She is getting lots of volume as she is weeing loads but probably not the calories from the fat rich hind milk.

She thinks its probably an issue with how deep the attachment is too. She showed me how to do the biological nuturing position which will allow me to rest in bed and feed her little and often. She also suggested some cranial osteopathy.

Im also seeing my GP today to get the baby assessed there.

The baby seems so healthy but who knows.

Will keep updating- thanks again.

GYo - the other issue is that as a huge baby she is just adjusting onto the centile line she will follow. Just as underweight babies when born gain weight rapidly and jump up the centile lines so big babies will have weights which remain static or which drop, they literally catch down instead of up.

JollyPirate has it exactly right.

Your dd's weight will head down across the centiles until she reaches the centile she is ging to follow.

Don't panic too much about regaining birthweight - many years ago my dd was born at 9lb 12oz and didn't regain her birthweight until 3-4 weeks - and she was a fantastic feeder!

Get her checked over and when all is found to be well try and relax and wait and see what centile she is going to settle on.

Good luck

As an update, DD is doing well.

She was weighed today and has put on nearly 6oz/ 130g in the last week. She seems to be following the 75th centile now. though the HV told me that the charts in the red books are based on caucasian, FF babies so not relevant to many people it seems.

Her height is on the 91st centile, so im hoping she will inherit my height genes!

The lactation consultant was a bit disappointing in the end. She helped me gain confidence with feeding, but when I tried to talk to her about the bigger picture, ie stress of wt gain issues causing probs with DH wanting to help and perhaps i need to be more open minded regarding solutions (like odd bottle to top up, although I didnt want to do that but willing to do it if absolutely necessary) she didnt want to know at all.

Big lesson learnt for next time is to follow my instincts and avoid conflicting advice!!

Glad things are going better, GYo!

You could avoid your HV, too, as she has the provenance of UK charts wrong, and there is no excuse for this

Look up charts and my nickname for details of this - I have posted about this many, many times!