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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

grrrr... bl**dy size & weight charts

48 replies

berolina · 11/07/2005 19:11

ds is rather unsettled and screaming/crying a lot atm. he is still feeding loads and loads, with his usual longer couple of stretches (up to 5 hrs) at night/in the morning, and often hourly late afternoon/early eve. he does seem pretty hungry right now - and he seems to be a poor sleeper - in the day he hardly naps. . anyway, we suspected some type of trapped wind/colic, so have popped to the paediatrician (not our usual one as we are staying with sil and family for a couple of weeks). anyway, he weighed him, averaged the gain over the last three weeks since his check-up and declared it wasn't enough. on the size to weight chart he's still nearly on 50th centile and has actually moved up a bit, but he's dropped just below the third on size to age (now measures 53cm). we have been given lefax and told to go back in a week and if the gain hasn't improved he wants me to supplement with formula. of course i'm adamantly against it because of all the hard work i did to establish exclusive bf. also something he said puzzled me - i asked him if the charts were based on bf or bottlefed babies and he didn't answer the question but just said bf babies tend to be bigger! than bottlefed! thought it was the other way round?! anyway, i'm 5'1 and weighed 49kg pre-pg and dh is 5'2 and was very small as a child, how can he expect us to have an averagely big baby!
he is 7w 5d, born at 38+0, weighed 3850g today with nappy, 2820 at birth, lost over 10%, released from hosp with 2650, weighed 3480g just under 3 weeks ago without nappy, 3770 on scales borrowed from chemist on fri without nappy. he is weeing fine, pooing loads with mustard yellow poo, has good skin etc - just rather a lot of crying atm. he is feeding now - just now was really gulping it down desperately and then it looked like he burped/spit a bit up mid feed.
this is part rant, part plea for reassurance - how i hate these damn charts!

OP posts:
berolina · 11/07/2005 19:11

that is: longer couple of stretches without feeding.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 11/07/2005 19:15

Ignore the charts - your baby can't read them. Both DSs were heavy bf babies but I don't think that's usually the case at all - I honestly don't hink you can generalise in that way. He's pooing mustard and weeing well so he's OK.

Have you tried stopping his feed and winding him before letting him carry on?

SoupDragon · 11/07/2005 19:15

Oh, and feeding him more isn't going to make him grow longer!!

starlover · 11/07/2005 19:19

ditto everything SD said!

ALL babies are different. b/f babies "tend" to be longer and leaner... but not all are!
as long as he is gaining weight, weeing, pooing and is generally happy in himself then please don't worry!!!

as some very wise person on here said before... SOMEONE has to be on the bottom of the charts!
I seriously wouldn't worry about him not being long enough... ffs... how is giving him formula going to help that???????

if he's around the 50th for weight then that's ABSOLUTELY FINE!

is it warm where you are? if so then that'll be why he wants feeding lots... he's thirsty!

lockets · 11/07/2005 19:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

berolina · 11/07/2005 19:27

dr reckons he needs to be gaining 150g a week at very least.
yes sl, it's hot, but he was still feeding quite a bit when it was cool last week.
has been farting/pooing away during this feed. he's not easy to burp - we'll lie him down thinking nothing is coming and he'll look at you then posset up...
sd, at babies can't read the charts!
this chart (in his notes book) is so small you can only see 3rd, 50th and 97th centiles - but still looks like he's not far off 50th.

OP posts:
starlover · 11/07/2005 19:28

well the more he feeds the more weight he'll put on... so keep him on the boob! lol

he will be fine berolina!

stop worrying and enjoy your baby!

berolina · 11/07/2005 19:31

my mw says 100g a week is fine.
she has suggested giving one bottle only - before visiting docs next week

OP posts:
starlover · 11/07/2005 19:36

berolina... just tell them you're giving bottles if they're that persistant!

Katemum · 11/07/2005 19:39

Or just tell them to get lost

Tinker · 11/07/2005 19:44

berolina - check out these Growth charts for breast fed babies

I know it's more charts but at least they might be more accurate.

berolina · 11/07/2005 19:47

oh i dunno, just feel so frustrated at the suggestion, after all the initial bf probs. was and am so chuffed at fully bf, now it feels a bit like having been hit on the head... with the thought 'what if i don't have enough milk? what if he's screaming cos he's hungry?' going round my head. and he really does more or less nonstop feed in the afternoons, but i don't know whether he's always hungry when i put him on the breast, or just comfort sucking... don't they feed/suck to help with tummy troubles? think i do need to try and get him to nap more often. he really is awake a lot and might be burning off more calories than he should that way... and i suppose screaming uses energy too. dh thinks he's getting enough milk but not able to 'keep enough of it in' to use for growth/weight gain - does that make some kind of sense?

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 11/07/2005 19:50

I have heard that babys' guts mature and keep more of the nutrients.

Just let him feed lots, and stay away from the paed. If babies aren't weighed nude and on the same (electronic) scales every time, the weighing is worth nothing, anyway.

Corrin · 11/07/2005 19:50

Hi berolina
DS is now 11 weeks old...I remember thinking at 7/8 weeks that the 6 week growth spurt was going on for quite a long time...! Could just be that, mine was unsettled for a couple of weeks and then settled down again.
Other thing is baby's can get viruses and and bugs and we don't know about it..,he could just be a little off colour...?
From what you've said sounds like you're happy he's healthy go with your instincts...

NotQuiteCockney · 11/07/2005 19:50

babies' babies' babies'

Sheesh, whatever happened to my brain?

Tinker · 11/07/2005 19:52

How often are you winding him? My daughter (same age as your son) used to bring back a lot of her milk. I really have to burp her now after initial feed (the fast let down bit) then let her continue on that side. Otherise, the whole feed could come back. If I've burped her and she brings back some milk some time after teh feed, I just assume she has had enough and that was excess.

hunkermunker · 11/07/2005 19:54

Berolina, you have done such an amazing job of getting bfeeding established - please stay away from health professionals who will undermine this with ridiculous adherence to charts.

If you are worried about him - ie he's not weeing, he looks listless, etc - then take him to the doctor. But you say he's weeing and pooing (though don't worry about pooing being more erratic as he gets bigger - breastfed babies can go a week without pooing, though obviously some go far more regularly than that - both ends of the spectrum is normal!), so I would say don't worry.

And if they want you to give formula, tell them you're giving it

Lizita · 11/07/2005 19:58

Haven't read all the replies so sorry if i repeat. I feel quite strongly about those charts etc. I think they are based on all babies, but it's an unfair average because as far as I know breast fed babies ARE lighter, or gain weight slower. Both I and my friend had hvs concerned about our babies' weight. My friend's had a worse problem and she did supplement - he was off the chart and not gaining any weight at all. Whereas my dd was just gaining weight too slowly. I am v p'd off now she's nearly 2 because it was around weaning age and because i was panicking about her weight i only gave her veg mixed with baby rice to stuff her full of food, instead of persisting with developing her taste buds (she doesn't like veg or fruit at all now). Um, sorry too much waffle, basically i'd say don't worry about it unless the weight problem becomes chronic, i think those people talk out their arse sometimes! He sounds absolutely fine to me! I think they've got too used to bottle fed babies who gain weight quicker...

LIZS · 11/07/2005 19:59

iirc 150g a week is the toppier end of weight gain. Funnily I actually found the charts in Switzerland rather more forgiving than in UK.dd actually platueaued at 8 weeks - at which point she was diagnosed with ear infection and reflux -oput some on but still hit the bottom and noone was particularly worried. Your ds sounds fine. Do you have to keep getting him weighed ? I only did the Paed scheduled check ups/injections for dd - 4, 8 , 12 and 16 weeks, 6 months etc. Your midwife at least sounds more sane !

Lizita · 11/07/2005 20:00

PS two or three times i got home & checked the charts and the stupid women had marked the wrong line on the chart anyway. grrrr

moondog · 11/07/2005 20:03

Why should you tell them you're giving him formula? HM, surprised at you of all people! It perpetuates the myth that it 'builds them up'. Dismiss all their bullshit with a benign and patronising wave of the hand.

moondog · 11/07/2005 20:07

Also berolina,they do go through these 'challenging' stages. Mine certainly did and today was talking to a girl I know whose b/fed baby was very challenging for thre months. He is now a jolly,healthy,independent 10 mth old and she said wistfully 'It was hard at the time but it was over so fast and now he's nearly walking. '

Her emoticon btw.

Not literally but I'm sure you get my drift.

whimsicaltrifle · 11/07/2005 20:08

MD, obviously after he gains enough weight and they nod sagely and say it was the formula wot done it, you tell them that you never gave it and they ought to rethink their breastfeeding prejudices.

(Am Hunker with a whimsical namechange )

moondog · 11/07/2005 20:10

I can't keep up with you fast set!!

frogs · 11/07/2005 20:15

Second what others have said, ignore the charts!

My first two were big at birth (well over 4kg) and followed their centile lines up like good little porkers. So I was somewhat banjaxed when my dd3 who was also no lightweight with a birthweight of 4.25kg (98th centile) took 7 weeks to regain her birthweight despite feeding like a trooper. She kept dropping down the centile lines, and finally settled somewhere between the 9th and 2nd centiles, where she has remained.

This caused quite a bit of medical headscratching, tho' amazingly no-one mentioned formula at any stage. Despite all the extra paeds appointments, bloodtests etc no-one ever really got to the bottom of the disparity between her birthweight and her current weight, except to say that some babies are so well-nourished in the womb that they are born above their 'natural' birthweight, if that makes sense, and then drop down to settle to where nature intended them to be.

dd3 is now 18 months and still tiny, wearing 9-12 month clothes. She's full of energy, sharp as a bag of snakes and funny with it. We don't know why she's so much smaller than the others (and dh and I are both 6 foot tall) but that seems to be the way she is.

If he's feeding well, pooing and weeing, and not obviously ill there can't be too much wrong. But you knew that anyway. Just keep clear of those medics!

All the best.