Baby not gaining weight

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My DS is 3 weeks old. He was 8lb3oz at birth then dropped to 7lb9oz at his 5 day weigh in. By the following week he was 7lb2oz and since then has only gone up to 7lb2.7oz. If he hasn’t gained by Monday we’re back at the hospital. I’m beside myself. I feel like I’m failing. I’m terrified something is really wrong with him even though he seems completely healthy. I need him to have gained by Monday, I already feel so out of control of the situation.
We’re doing a mix of formula and breastfeeding but I’m ready to quit breastfeeding to be honest.
Has anyone else been through this? Does it get better?

I had similar with DD. She was 7lbs 12oz at birth, dropped 7% when we came home but then took 3 weeks to regain her birth weight when midwife said it should only take a week. I was ebf but ended up supplementing with formula and was at breaking point with the bf. I was an emotional wreck and felt like a massive failure. I went to a clinic and they gave me some tips (most useful was to start a feed on the breast I finished with R R L L etc) so baby got more of the fatty milk. Eventually she got there, and midwife said that some babies are just slow starters and take their time. Everything will seem worse than it is because you're tired and still recovering so be kind to yourself. If stopping bf is the right choice for you go for it and don't feel guilty, do what is best for you (physically and mentally) and for your baby. When I was at that point DH told me I could do whatever I wanted but to not make thay choice tired. Sometimes you just need a bit of sleep to make things feel a bit better.

Oh btw, DD is now just a little baby, 9th centile but gaining weight as she should be.

Was he early / late? Are you / DP big or small? Sometimes babies start a bit too big and find their line - DD was enormous!! 4 days late at 9lb 10 90 percentile but neither me nor DH is particularly big so she dropped to 50 percentile quickly then stayed tracking that line.

That said, DS was 2.5 weeks early and small so I was always terrified about weight gain.

My amazing BF councillor said If you are feeding at least 10 times in 24 hrs then that's all you can do - would you say he's feeding that frequently? I often had to wake DS to keep him on track.

Has he been checked for tongue tie?

My Dd did not start to gain until 3 weeks old, it was incredibly difficult and upsetting but once she started, she regained quickly and never looked back.
I went to a breast feeding dropin clinic, and she gradually became less sleepy.
Hang in there, you are not starving him

My baby dropped 9% of birth weight. I was bf exclusively and trying to pump. The public health nurse was very supportive. But coming up to 4 weeks he still wasn't back up to birth weight - he was close but still below. I was referred to the hospital. They told us to breastfeed him and supplement him with 60ml of formula at each feed (or 6 times a day). He has gained consistently ever since.

Now he breastfeeds all day until 6/7 pm, we give him one bottle of formula 120ml and he breastfeeds all night (as in, no formula, not non stop!) He's 4 months now.

Would you like to share your routine with your baby? Is he having wet and dirty nappies?

Oh and often when the mother has been given IV during labour the fluid artificially inflate the baby's weight so what seems like a huge loss actually isn't. A weight taken on day 2 is apparently more accurate. (this wasn't the case for me, my baby just gained slowly)

No real experience but don't feel like a failure! Your doing really well! Both my daughter's were up and down.. my youngest lost a lot of weight and it took time to gain back.. she was breastfeeding very well but after 7 weeks I did chabged to formula only and that's when she became the little chubby bundle if love she is now.

Your doing a great job try not to get down about it xx

I went through this with my daughter. We just made it up to birth weight again to avoid being readmitted at 26 days. But she did have to spend 5 days in hospital at a week old because of weight loss. It was a nightmare with trying to bf, expressing for top ups, plus offering formula and constantly stressing about weigh ins. First thing I would recommend is just having someone make sure she is latching well and getting plenty of milk. Mine had a terrible latch (unfortunately, not something that could be easily fixed as it was down to the structure of her mouth) and I know now she wasn't able to get much. I was also stressing with expressing between feeds to offer top ups.

I just had my 2nd (he's 2 weeks) and what I've done differently this time is make sure he is feeding loads. Every 2-3 hours 24 hours a day, 20-30 minutes per feed. It's a bit just luck because his latch is good and that's meant he gets plenty of milk without much trouble (unlike my dd). But if he falls asleep, I wake him and put him back on. It's painful still, but I take lots of ibuprofen and paracetamol and just muscle through. What I was told in terms of top ups this time is to not offer top ups at every feed (this is what they had me do with my dd), but to feed as much as I could each feed from the breast and then offer a whole feed as a top up. Either of formula or expressed milk. But if you can, get a breast pump and express in place of this feed as well so you are keeping your supply going even though he isn't feeding from you. I've literally done nothing but sit in front of the tv and feed him for 2 weeks. My dh takes him between feeds when necessary and I got have a nap and he wakes me when it's time to feed him. He was back to birth weight at 10 days doing that. So what I found worked was just a bit of luck unfortunately (a baby that eats well), but also being really methodical about it. I would say don't be afraid to do formula top ups either (or expressed milk). If you can feed loads from the breast, then do that. But if you need to just to get his weight up, do whatever it takes. My dd did so much better once we got her weight up (unfortunately, then I developed some health issues that meant I had to stop, but I think we would have been able to keep going otherwise).

My daughter was born on 11th Feb after a cat 1 emergency c section due to placenta praevia. She was born at 37 weeks and weighed 6lb14oz. She then dropped to 6lb and as of yesterday was still 1oz short of her birth weight.

I am formula feeding and she just seems to prefer sleeping to eating. When she's in the mood she'll take 4oz but often through the night she'll just have less than 30ml. I too feel like a failure and am terrified there's something wrong with her that I'm not seeing. I have nightmares about her being dehydrated even though my logical head says she has loads of wet and dirty nappies and is gaining weight, albeit slowly.

So I'll follow this thread to see how you get on and also for you as this isn't easy

Similar here. Didn't have any issues with DS- but he'd Ben tube fed in scbu for a couple of days so he didn't lose much. DS2 is 8 days and has lost 11%. He was 9lb 13oz so biggish baby, but it's really hard. He's feeding loads, we do one bottle top up a day, loads of wet and dirty nappies, seems happy and content enough etc. But is losing weight.

I struggle being stuck to the sofa all the time anyway, but then when the feeding isn't fully going so well, I'm finding it even harder. Desperate to not end up in hospital etc. Getting re-weighed on Monday.

No advice, just sympathy.

Thanks for all the advice and support I’m feeding every 2 hours alternating breast and bottle and offering a formula top up after each breast feed. Although I hadn’t been offering the top up before today, just alternating.

The doctor who saw him today says he isn’t dehydrated, no thrush etc. He has a tiny tiny tongue tie which we’re being referred for but no one seems to think its a problem.

Lots of wet nappies, slightly less dirty ones since we introduced the formula which I’m told is normal. I’m just frightened that I’m doing something wrong and harming him unintentionally

My ds was the same. He was born 7.14 and went down to 6.12. He was weighed everyday because he just wasn’t putting on enough weight. The midwife spoke about hospital admission which absolutely terrified me. Each day we would have a different midwife round to weigh him with different advice, spent a fortune on every bottle there was going and It was only when the health visitor came round when he was 3 olds and said has anybody thought he probably still wouldn’t be here yet (my son was born was 37 weeks) and straight away we was like finally somebody is saying what we have thought. Straight away I relaxed. And 4 weeks later he was finally st his birth weight. Don’t worry as each midwife told me “don’t worry he’ll get there, every baby does some just slower than others” you stressing yourself out isn’t helping and your baby will pick up on that. Just try and relax, like your doctor said he’s not dehydrated, seems healthy. And if he has to go back into hospital don’t worry, they’ll give your baby a helping hand and will be home in no time. You’re doing a fab job just keep going. X

I’m sorry you are having a stressful time of it. It’s absolutely not your fault. It does get better.

I have 3 dc. All of them had massive failure-to-gain weight issues.

It’s so scary when your baby won’t grow properly (even third time around!). It’s easy to worry that something is wrong but it’s much much more likely that your baby is just a funny grower. My older ones are 5 and 2 and perfectly healthy. And they’ve both been all over the growth charts- for the most part we’ve no idea why, my eldest is very average weight now.

It gets easier because as the days pass and your baby grows you can see they are healthy and developing. Dc3 still being monitored at 4 months (unusual) but it is increasingly hard to feel stressed in appointments when she’s gigging and “chatting” and excitedly waving her arms and legs at the doctors!

I absolutely think mix feeding a newborn was the hardest thing. It’s sooo time consuming and breastfeeding is harder to establish. The first two were breast fed but dc3 just would not grow. I am still mix feeding at 4 months tho and it’s utterly fab now. So if it’s doable I recommend it. Best of both worlds. I know she’s getting my immunity. But she also takes a bottle so I can leave her with OH, get more rest etc. She sleeps better than my other children - which I attribute to the bottle. But if we have an unsettled night I can still pop her on a boob and cosleep which is a luxury.

If he has a tounge tie it may be that he's not transferring milk effectively. Do you want to carry on bf? Be that exclusively or partially? If so give la leche league a call (or if you have a local group contact them) the helpline is open quite late and at weekends and they will help you get the bf journey you want as well has helping your lo gain weight. Often Dr's advice is given firmly with hair eyes on the chart which is obvious fine for your lo but ignores mums feelings when there is almost always a way to achieve both!

In the meantime loads of skin to skin, when my youngest was in nicu I was advised to offer the breast every time she made the slightest noise and to forget about everything except feeding her. Someone else can do the housework I literally just fed and slept for the first few weeks home

Both of mine lost more than 10% of their body weight and then gained very slowly. DD2 took 6 weeks to regain her birth weight! They were both biggish (9lbs+) at birth. In my case, both also had reflux, but aside from the slow weight gain they were healthy. Follow the medical advice you are given but try not to get too anxious if he is alert and producing wet nappies.

Also follow up on the tongue tie. DD2 had a "minor" tongue tie diagnosed at birth. They almost didn't refer her because they thought it wasn't serious enough and I wasn't in pain when feeding. When I had it snipped, the midwife said it was actually 75% connected. She fed much better after the snip and put on 10oz in one week compared to about 2oz a week before the snip.

Both are now healthy, petite-build school children.

Also, I mix-fed DD1 (top-up s)but just BF DD2. The mix feeding was much more stressful although I did express after feeds when I could with DD2 to try to stimulate my supply.

My son who was end till 9 months almost ended up back in hospital due to lots of lost weight in the first couple of weeks. Ds is now 2.5 and over 99th centile height and weight.

Hi, mine was a few years ago now but I had this. In a way the good news is I can't remember all the detail any more but I had daily weighs even over Christmas, consultants, top up feeds with formula. I felt like I was failing to feed my baby and as a mum. I mix fed for a few months, after which dd stopped taking formula and was then breast fed til 1. When she was getting enough milk she started to sleep a lot better and moved into a routine, and I could relax into being a mum. All the best.

I've not RTFT but I wanted to say it took nearly 4 weeks for DD to regain her birth weight, I was a mess. Then at 4 weeks she put on so much they were convinced I was overfeeding her formula when actually I was just bf.

Then at my 6w check our GP explained birth weight was an indication of placenta health, and it could take up to 6w to find their 'natural' weight.

As long as you baby is content, sleeping like a newborn (waking every few hours is normal!) then you're doing ace. Congrats!!!