Poor weight gain in 7wk old. Reassurance/advice please!

[onesock]

DD is 7wks old. Her birth weight was 8lbs but her weight at clinic yesterday was only 8lbs 8oz!
The health visitor asked me what feeding problems I was having but I don't think I'm having any! She feeds every 3hours for about 15mins and comes off happy. I've tried offering her more both straight away and 10mins later but she isn't interested.

I BF her brother too and he made steady weight gain and I'm doing nothing differently and I know she's latched on properly. She doesn't seem distressed or starving so I'm now worrying that something else could be wrong as the HV said she should be much bigger by now. She also suggested mixed feeding but I really don't want to do that yet as we have strong family history of allergies.

I'd be grateful for any advice. Thanks

not quite sure what to add here, with respect to the BF, but if you are happy and baby is happy then I shouldn't worry what are her nappies like? blinking H/V's worry us mums for no reason I can't help but thinking.

she'll take what she's wanting. sounds to me like you're both doing a fab job. do you have any otehr concerns over her health at all?

Thanks Munz!
She has 4/5 mustard yellow BF pooey nappies daily and all are nice and wet!

Just worrying (silly I know) that something else is wrong as the HV seemed concerned.

i'd suggest trying in teh BF/Bottle section as i'm sure someone will be able to help more- specifically tiktok/mears, both have exceleltn knowledge on BF. the poopey sounds fine to me. the important thing to remember (as i'm sure you'll know form your DS) is this is your child, if all is happy then everything's properly fine, is she overly sleepy/unsettled or anything? iycwim. blinking h/v's! some little one's just put on weight slower - a friend of mine her DD was going thru a phase of 1oz p/w and believe me she's a little live wire now perfectly healthy just small. so if you are happy then go with your instinct.

but as I say try to talk to tiktok if you can as she's a BF councillor.

HV doesnt sound very knowledgeable about bfing if she has suggested formula as a first step. I would personally offer the boob more often if there was a problem. Maybe worth a call to one of the bf helplines to check with an expert that everything is ok with the bfing.

My DD was like that, v. slow to put on weight. I even tried mixed feeding after getting grief from the paed but it didn't make the blindest bit of difference to her weight gain so took her off the ff as I was starting to lose my milk. She's now 16mo, eats like a horse but is still tiny, so she obviously has a high metabolism.

8oz in 7 weeks is a bit low but nonetheless a weight gain - how much did she lose after the birth? One person who really helped me get things in perspective was the nurse at the baby clinic who assured me that as long as my DD was putting on weight (even at the rate of 60g a week) and was growing in length, she was growing, so not to worry unduly. I was also told never to compare babies, which was hard at the time as all my friends' babies were extremely chubby and twice the size of mine. My DD had a growth spurt at around 10/12 weeks and put on half a kilo in 2 weeks, then went back to her miserable 80g/100g a week, but she's always been healthy, never got colds or was ill and was and is a very happy baby, so I'm no longer fussed about weight gains or lack of them.

Sounds like you're doing fine. One of mine didn't put on much weight in the beginning. She was active and happy, looked okay to me. So I stopped going to get her weighed as hv had been making me feel bad about the slow weight gain. Dd is now 10 and nothing wrong with her. Don't worry. If you're getting plenty of wet nappies and she's alert and looking well I can't see that anything is wrong.

Sorry got distracted by DS & sent before Id finished. Ignore her birth weight - what was th elowest she went down to after the birth - that should be the base you go from (& that the HV doesnt know this). This link on Kellymom might help reassure you until you get to speak to a bfc. It has loads of good info as well as links to other sites & pages as well:
Is baby getting enough milk

Def worth posting this on the breast & bottle board as well btw.

Thanks everyone. I just don't want to think that there's something wrong. I know she's putting on weight but it just seems such a small amount.

I think I'm more worried because I don't think there is a problem with the BF IYKWIM. Therfore I'm worrying that it's something else.

this is exactely why i stopped taking my dd to be weighed , i never met one mother who had been told that thier childs weight gain was ok,it was either too much or too little. My dd was BF and she gained weight slowly and she is a robust and healthy 4 yr old now. Ask the HV if other than the weight if she thinks there is anything wrong with your daughter as your happy with her feeding