Helo - thought I'd cracked it but now weight gain is slow. What to do?

[rebeccacad]

Hi there

bit of back story, started topping up DD at 6 weeks as she was always cranky, slow-gaining and was staying with my parents who persuaded me (regret it now).

She piled on weight at about 7 Ozs a week from then on, was generally happier until about the 10 week mark when she started breast feeding for shorter and shorter periods - nipple confusion.

After seeing BF supporters I started using a supplemental nursing system and expressing after every feed. Was really hard work but after 4 weeks I had weaned her off it and she has been exclusively BF'd from then apart from a bottle of mised EBM and FF before bed (can't express quite enough).

I had her weighted 2 weeks ago and then again today and she has only put on 3 ozs in 2 weeks which isn't in the normal range.

She is feeding every 3 hours (sometimes a little more often, sometimes a little less). Longest feeds 15 mins - usually more around 10. She is very distractable (but am already feeding her in quiet, dim room wherever possible) and has always been much less interested once the flow slows down. She has both breasts - I offer her the second when she gets fed up with the first (she's very impatient once flow slows) comes off on her own, I offer first breast again until she gets really cross and then I sit her up.

She doesn't ever seem hungry, she wees and poos fine (we've had 1 green poo over last couple of weeks all the rest nice and yellow) is very content and smiley and alert.

She has also started dropping all the night feeds. We were down to 1 at around 4am, but last few weeks she has dropped that 3 nights in a row. The last 3 nights I have soothed her back to sleep without feeding her if she woke (to see if it was habitual or if she needed it) (after first night this has only taken a couple of mins) and she has gone back to sleep and frequently had to be woken at 7am.

I guess what I'm thinking is that her weight gain isn't enough so I'm worried and really don't want to start topping her up again. But she doesn't seem like she wants more food and surely wouldn't be so content in day and sleeping through often at night if she was hungry?

So any BF experts can you help? I plan to start expressing again after each feed to try and get supply up, try and feed her as much as I can during the day and keep her on as long as I can.

But, should I start messing with the nights? Obviously if she seems hungry at night I'll feed her, but if she doesn't I confess that I am enjoying the extra sleep and would love not to have to force night feeds on her if she isn't really asking for them.

I wondered about doing all I can in the day for the next 2 weeks, having her weighed again and if it hasn't gone up enough then introducing more night feeds.

Any advice really appreciated.

looking over my broods red books all of them slowed down in weight gain around 4 months .probably a combination of being more active and sleeping longer at night and between feeds .
weight at birth is not nescessarily an indication of a childs true size . some big babies remain big babies and adults just as some small babies are meant to be small. ther are many small babies who are small because they grew less inside . they then grow rapidly to become bruisers while some large babies are big because they were very well fed in utero. they then gain more slowly and fall back to their natural level
if your lo is happy contented and doing all the right things which she certainly sounds like she's doing then everything sounds more than ok .if she were hungry she would be distressed not settled.
again looking at dcs books all weighed about 8lbs at birth but their weights at 4 months varied from 12lbs to 16lbs all healthy babies just different rates of weight gain. the 16lber is now the skinnest of all his siblings .
your doing a great job ,trust your instincts and believe in yourself. try to minimise weigh ins easier said than done.i've managed to cut back to every 3 to 4 weeks and feel so much more relaxed than when she was being weighed every 2 weeks.
my lo sounds very like your's in that she never seems hungry quite happy to suck herthumb but very contented but settles well between feeds when she makes the effort .

Smac I'd be the same if DS was like Baby G - love the bets

Okay after I posted this I read another thread where tiktok advocates the switching over 3 or 4 times so maybe sticking to one side isn't the answer, all I know is it works for me and I am feeding a big baby. She says volume is more important than hindmilk/foremilk. I don't express that often but when I do you can clearly see the difference between the hindmilk and foremilk as it separates, surely the creamy stuff must give more calories?

Thanks Smac. I started switch nursing at recommendation of BFing counsellor. I know it doesn't work for some but DD's issue is she gets fed up as soon as flow slows and pulls off. By switching sides often I keep her interested and as I keep switching back and forth she should be getting some creamy stuff too. I do look at the expressed milk and think exactly the same thing though, but BF counsellor went to a conference with Dr Jack Newman last month who seems to think that the foremilk/hindmilk thing is more of a myth than a reality. I guess he should know (though there's a part of me like you that can't quite believe it so I do try and keep her on one boob for as long as poss).

ROFL at the thought of betting on BabyG's weight.