We could do with some slow weight gain support...

[ilovegreenbeans]

...seems there's a few people going through this right now including me!

A bit of my history: DD1 was born at 8lb9 and I was very anaemic after her birth. She lost weight continuously until 4 weeks when we started top ups. She then gained well, but unfortunately stopped bf by 13 weeks. She's now 2 and happy and healthy.

DD2 is 9wks, breastfed and her weight gain has been very slow so far. She was much bigger at 10lb14, but went to 9lb12 at 10 days and basically stayed static until 6 weeks. She then gained 2 oz, 4oz and 4oz again this past week. So she's around 10lb6 now. I've had great support and feel really good to still be bfing her but it's such a struggle. She fed constantly for the first 7 weeks and it's calmed down a bit now, but she's still feeding every 2.5ish hours. She always takes 4 sides at every feed. I think it's a bit of a combination of a low milk supply in me (given my history), and some catch-down growth due to her being so big to start. She's lovely, smiley and alert, lots of wet and dirty nappies, long but not very chubby.

So there's me. Is anyone else in a similar boat wrt weight gain? Want to come join me for some support?

humble indeed! I'm on 40mgx3 so 12 pills a day. Hoping to drop to 11 this week, then 10, etc... but bit nervous as it seems to be helping. Here's hoping for a good night!

Oh I know it is a homeopathic dose and at this point I think my 'low supply' is all in my head and nothing to do with my boobs. I just find I cannot reduce any further for fear of causing a problem when it seems to be going ok just know IYKWIM.

DS4 feels chunkier FWIW and the 3 month magic seems to be kicking in - some daytime sleeps and less crying, yeah!

He'll get weighed sometime this week prior to his paeds appointment at the end of the month.

How is everybody else?

ddd4 weighed today 3 weeks post last weigh in up to 10lbs 10oz so from 9lbs 9oz so about 6oz per week . thought she looked chunkier with chubbier legs and arms .
she has moved slightly closer to the 9th centile where as previously she was nearer the 2nd .
her bowel habits have changed from having 3or 4 dirty nappies per day to now one every 2or 3 days. wondering if maybe her bowels have matured and she is now absorbing more of the nutrients in her milk and thus gaining weight better

yes my little girl has put on 14oz's in 3 weeks! Which for her is back to the norm - after putting on 3ozs a week which worried the health visitor of course.....

She now weights 11lb 5 and is 24 weeks old!
Course HV then asked was I starting to think about weaning her - I said I was going by her corrected age (20 weeks). HV was no help there saing there were 2 schools of thought about whether i should wean according to chronological age or corrected and then saying she needed the calories from food - I decided not to point out that food is merely for tasting until she's a year old. Think the HV was feeling sorry for me as she asked had she ever slept through the night which of course she hasn't.

Wow Liskey and mumof that is impressive weight gain! Erin too looks like she is getting bigger and has chubbier legs and arms.. interesting thought about the absorption of nutrients..

really good news liskey and mumofeight!

I am struggling massively this week, dd has gone from sleeping realitvely well (1-2 wakings)at night to waking numerous times and not settling well at all. Feel like a zombie. Of course I'm questioning my supply and whether bf is working or not. I thought it might be a growth spurt, but her days are the same, she'd easily go 3h+ bw feeds if I didn't wake her to feed sometimes. Also, feeds have been creeping up in length again, like 45 min+ and she doesn't seem to finish them again, I have to take her off and distract her once she's not been drinking for a while and breast compressions don't work anymore. I feel like this may be our bf journey stretched to the limit, perhaps she needs more milk than I can give her and I might think about mix feeding even more. But am going to give it to the weekend and then make a plan. Sorry for the whinge, just need some hand-holding at the mo!

ilgb ds4 was a great sleeper early on then at about 12 weeks became a light sleeper constantly waking not settling unless co sleeping but his weight gain was good so not a hunger problem just a very cuddly baby he still is . if your lo is settling for 3+hours during day i would suspect/guess she's getting enough and your supply is fine.
one question i think by 10 or 12 weeks it would be ok to let your lo go 4 hours between feeds maybe if when she wakes hungrier she will feed more energetically and quicker .
dd4 often takes along time to complete feeds eg taking one side then a break and then the other often 30+ minutes. the long feeds maybe her way of increasing supply if you can manage hang in there for a liitle
longer it may just be a passing phase and your milk production will catch up with her needs .
all my others have gone through periods of almost constant feeding and then it settles.
your doing brilliantly to have perservered this long .

that's really interesting mumof. Still had an awful night last night, although better than the one before. I do question my supply though as she's getting harder to settle/finish feeds at night now as well as the day and I was getting myself so worked up last night at 5am when she was pulling off and fussing for most of the feed. I don't think I can handle to mental anguish much more. I'm so pleased to have made it to almost 13 weeks, and that's more than I gave dd1 so I have promised myself to be proud of all I've overcome, even if more mix-feeding then ff is the way for us.

ilgb definitely be proud of yourself you've battled on when many would have given up long ago .good luck whatever you decide.

ILGB, you poor thing, have nothing useful to add, just sending my sympathies and hugs of solidarity: same here !
Terrible nights, I have blocked boob (again! Get about 1 a week), no daytime sleeps at all etc etc.
DS4 was weighed today, 4 800g, gain of 5 1/2 oz/week which has been his average but still below 2nd centile.
HV was v sympathetic today although did not have magic bullet either. I felt her saying looking after bubs is like 'serving a sentence' was spot on!! Mind, I have always felt like that: looking after v young babies has IME never been fun, but gets better as they get older.
We are seriously considering introducing a bottle of FF/day to see if it makes a difference in terms of weight and settling.
I have paeds appointm. next week.

Hey Pacific, nice to see you back!

Update from me: I have decided to offer topups after every feed. On the weekend it got to such a state that I couldn't finish a feed on my own. My theory is that she finally understood what it was like to be really full. However, I'm using a supplementer because DD2 is a really booby baby and is doing really well with it. Not really more faff than doing bottles and this way I am still breastfeeding. I'll see how far I get, trying to stay positive about the whole thing. I was chuffed to get to 6 weeks, ecstatic to get to 12. On the plus side, she's definitely gained weight this week, and is so much more settled.

I have found this thread really useful. I wonder if anyone can answer a couple of questions for me - I have dd 3wks +5 days. 1st baby. She is feeding well (I think - like I say 1st baby) is alert; looks healthy; lots of nappies of both kinds and the right colour; is sleeping and waking for feeds etc etc but hasn't got back to birthweight (3.48kg now 3.3). Yesterday the midwife sent us to paed A and E - all blood tests normal. I think she is fine just slow to gain weight but the weighing is very stressful for both of us so the questions are:
Can I not attend to have her weighed or decide for myself how often weighings should be as it's turning into a nightmare each time.
The NCT bf counsellor I spoke to this morning recommended feeding from one breast then again from that breast so that she gets more hindmilk - is anyone aware of this as a strategy and has it worked for anyone?
Thanks to anyone who can offer any advice with this I am starting to be so stressed about it and I don't want to spend the first months of her life stressed and anxious.

Unusual advice from the NCT bfc....I would not suggest this. A baby who is not gaining weight as expected and who is fine and normal is indicating that maybe her calorie intake is low. The best way to increase her calorie intake is to increase her volume of milk - and you do this by using at least both sides and probably three or four each time, not by doing double duty on one breast only. That actually reduces the volume of milk.

It's volume of milk taken in that puts weight on. Increasing intake of hindmilk (misleading term...) at the expense of volume will decrease calories - not a good idea.

I agree her weight needs monitoring, though - a baby of nearly 4 weeks not at birthweight is unusual and may need more breastfeeds, day and night, from both breasts (at least) each time. Can you fit in more breastfeeds?? She may be absolutely fine, of course...

She feeds on demand and often more or less constantly (like today) so increasing number of feeds isn't an option.
she was slow to get started - milk only came in properly last week I think so that might explain it. What worries me is that if scales had never been invented I would have a beautiful wonderful little girl to get to know and yet yesterday I spent 4 hrs at A and E watching her scream her head off while having needles stuck in her only for someone to tell me that clinically she's fine. Which I didn't doubt yesterday morning at all. She is gaining weight but very slowly - her dad is very tall and slim so might she not just be the same?

Indeed she might be the same as her dad.

Also possible is faulty scales or faulty personel using them - has she been weighed naked each time on good quality digital scales? No issues with incorrect translations metric/imperial?

Has anyone observed you feed - I mean someone who can check all possibilities, including oral anomalies (like tongue tie)?

How much has she gained since you feel things were falling into place with milk coming in?

Any chance of more night feeds?

She has only gained 50g in the last 4 days I feed her whenever she wakes in the night and most nights that has been every 2 hrs although the last 2 days she has fed very constantly in the day and hone 3 -4 hrs at night which has made my days more manageable. I just don't want to put in place interventions which could disrupt a process I still have a lot of faith in.

Sorry also scales haven't been perfect at the beginning they were giving incorrect readings as the midwife had put them on carpet. She has been checked for tonguetie and a friend who is ex nct bf counsellor and mum who is ex midwife have looked at latch and said it's fine.

Hi, DialM, congratulations on your little girl !

A friend of mine who is a paediatrician gave me the following 'rule' for adequate weight gain for BF babies: 20g/day and they get Sunday off - ie 120g/week as a minimum gain.

To answer your questions: normal policy now is to weigh baby at birth and 2 weeks, then monthly. Of course babies that gain slowly (or have nto regained thier birthweight by 2 weeks) will be offered more weighings. It is entirely up to you whether you take that offer up.

Well done you, in still having faith in your ability to feed your daughter. In the early weeks I literally did nothing else other than feed - v v time consuming. Always offer both breasts and if babe still awake and keen give 3 or 4 sides IYKWIM.

Here, DS4 did not go down last night until 2 am, woke for a feed at 6 and is still sleeping now !
Clearly he has more of a sleep issue than feed problem. Paeds appointm next week, roll on...!

PacificDogwood, sorry, your paediatrician friend's info is way too rigid 120g as a minimum weekly gain? Absolutely not....some perfectly healthy babies gain less in a week than this, and it is not a big deal. It is far too specific, and it is anxiety causing (as we see every day on these boards) when babies don't 'perform' to these precise figures.

In any case, DialM's baby is not performing anything like this....and it may or may not be an issue, we just don't know.

DialM, your info about scales makes me wonder: when did you start being confident the weight was being recorded correctly?

(What on earth is a midwife doing placing scales on a carpet. Dear me).

Hmmm. Well the first weigh had her down at 3.1 and the second first had her at 2.9 until the student midwife pointed out the carpet thing and when put on a firm surface she was 3.2 so we don't KNOW that she was ever more than 10% below (because 1st weigh was on carpet) but that's where the issue started. I am inclined to think that until a doctor/paediatrician tells me there's a clinical problem I'm going try to keep calm and carry on. Easier said than done though. Thanks so much for taking an interest.

Oh, right, tiktok, thought as a rule-of-thumb thing it wasn't too bad... .

PD - but rules of thumb aren't usually all that rigid and specific, are they....? The worrying thing about rigidity with what babies 'ought' to be doing is that it creates anxiety where anxiety ought not to be

Hi all

Arrghh my little girl is really off her food today - she got weighed again this week and ahs gained 7ozs in 2 weeks which is about average for her - HV who isn't my HV agreed with this. She was meant to speak to a dietician about weaning DD as she's 26 weeks but 22 weeks corrected - however my (interfing old bat) of a HV said no don't do this she'd phone me instead - of course she didn't. My HV came round yesterday and has said I have to see GP (again) as weight gain is still not good and see if referral is needed to paedtrician or dietician before weaning her. Honestly i was fine before yesterday but my HV always make me feel upset and worried.

DialMforMother
You could be me 8 months ago. Just to let you know that I was advised to feed from one boob for several feeds by a HV ('block feeding' I think this is called?) and did so for a month and DD's weight increase really slowed, so I went back to offering both boobs at every feed and DD is still tracking along the 0.4th centile on the old charts, and just over the 2nd centile on the new WHO BF charts.

FYI: she is now nearly 9 months, part BF (FF at childminder) weaned on solids, still hasn't doubled her birthweight (!) and is completely fine, albeit pocket-sized! Paed seen her twice and both times said, yup, she's one of the small ones.

I wish I hadn't been so permanently stressed about every single ml of milk she ingested, seems pointless now

Congratulations by the way

Calypso - deliberate block feeding should only ever be advised when the weight gain is not a problem. It reduces the amount of milk made and reduces the calories going into the baby. The HV who advised this probably had some idea of engineering more 'hindmilk' but it is volume that puts the weight on.

Glad all is well with you and your baby