NO weight gain in a month - is this normal?

[hoochymama]

dd is 5 mths, ebf. She was 5.6kg a month ago, and when she was weighed yesterday, she was the same!

I didn't really realise until I got home, have left a message asking the HV to call me.

She's been sleeping really well over the last month, so thought she might have put on a bit of weight.

I am partly in denial thinking 'the scales are out', but know that as soon as my Mum asks about her weight, I'm going to start stressing about her not getting enough milk and feel that she should be getting some formula....

The HV should be charting the weight in the red book. Didn't she notice?

it was a new woman, hadn't seen her before, and looking back, I'm quite surprised she didn't say anything! I was very hot and bothered and just wanted to get out of there, even though there was a nagging voice in my head, "that number looks familiar..."
The scales looked different to the usual ones, I'm hoping that they were wrong....think I'm still in denial!

When dd was a lot younger I got her weighed every 2 weeks. From 10-12 weeks she put on 2oz, then she had a fortnight where she stayed the same, then only 4oz the next 2 weeks, so an average of 1oz per week for 6 weeks. I think as long as she's well, pooing and weeing plenty etc it's fine. She may have been burning up extra calories if she's moving around a lot.

The charts are just an average. Next time you go see how it pans out and if you're still worried you can talk to the HV.

thanks pinkspottywellies, that is reassuring. dd definitely moves around a lot, she never stops lunging, rolling, kicking, grabbing etc etc!

not sure where she is on the chart now, she used to be between the 9th and 25th centile. It's just a bit of a blow, particularly as she's ebf, feels like I'm doing a rubbish job of feeding her!

I know how horrible it is at the time. My HV (and mum) were telling me I had to give dd formula or wean at 16 weeks () if she didn't put more on! It's very stressful at the time but she's getting exactly what she needs from you and as long as she's feeding and seems fine I wouldn't worry yet.

I didn't do anything else by the way, just carried on ex bf and she soon caught back up again

Just keep doing what you're doing.

it's common for ebf babies to plateau at 5 months - search the archives here. Mine did (and she could ill afford to, annoyingly)

Her weight took off at 26 weeks with the introduction of solids. Remember that those lovely smooth centile lines are averages of many babies. In real life weight gain is often very choppy. HVs never seem to understand this. If you weighed every few months (or not at all), would you have any reason to worry?