Doctor said baby is low weight

[Rnm62]

Hi,

I went for my baby’s 8 week check/immunisations today. The doctor checked him over. Said everything was fine, all good etc. He then weighed him and said to get him reweighed in 2 weeks. He weighed 10 pounds 9 today. When he was last weighed in November when I got discharged from the midwives, he was 8 pounds 4. Does this sound like slow weight gain to anyone? He’s on 8oz bottles, and has been draining them the last few times so we will be moving on to 9oz which seems quite a lot to me. He sleeps a lot longer during the night now so I’m wondering whether this is the issue, that he’s going so long without a bottle during the night? Not sure whether to start waking him up if it gets past 4 hours and he hasn’t woken up for a feed?

Any advice/help would be appreciated. The doctors got me worried.

Thanks.

How many feeds does he have a day of 8oz? That sounds like a lot, but all babies are different and need different amounts. I wouldn't wake him for feeds unless your doctor advises it.

If he's draining every bottle definitely increase the quantity or make more regular feeds.

Every 3/4 hours, but during the night he sleeps through mostly which is making me think he’s going too long during the night without a bottle, but also if he was hungry he wouldn’t sleep so I don’t know what to do. Definitely going to increase to 9oz now that he’s been draining 8oz bottles.

Is he following his percentile line?

How much did he weigh when he was born?

Took more than 8 weeks for my baby to get back to his birth weight, so personally I wouldn't worry. I certainly would not wake baby up if he's sleeping well.
Does he seem happy? He is putting on weight. I think doctors say throwaway comments not realising that they can make alarm bells ring in a new mum. If worried speak to your health visitor (or clinic or wherever you go). To be honest they may have more experience with babies and variations on how they grow.

When in November did he weigh that? 8/9oz bottles is a massive amount, how many oz does he have a day?

Where is he on the centiles?

Did the doctor recommend waking him?

Personally, I wouldn't. Both of my DS slept through from early on and they never had 9oz bottles. I didn't actually get DS2 weighed frequently. I didn't need to, I was happy with how he ate, his general health and his nappies.

@Rnm62 to be honest it sounds like he's having a lot of milk each day already so I wouldn't wake him unless your doc advises it. My LO slept through from 8 weeks; and was having a lot less milk than yours is!

If he's healthy, growing and having plenty of wet nappies try not to worry too much. Like you say he will wake at night and let you know if he's hungry 😊

Your doc would have said more if he was concerned about the weight. Is he following his percentile line?

@Vicky1989x

How much did he weigh when he was born?

8 pounds 2 x

@onedayoranother

Took more than 8 weeks for my baby to get back to his birth weight, so personally I wouldn't worry. I certainly would not wake baby up if he's sleeping well. Does he seem happy? He is putting on weight. I think doctors say throwaway comments not realising that they can make alarm bells ring in a new mum. If worried speak to your health visitor (or clinic or wherever you go). To be honest they may have more experience with babies and variations on how they grow.

His birth weight was 8 pounds 2 and he got back to that in 2 weeks. I do agree doctors can say things not realising the worry it can cause. It was just the fact he wrote in the red book to get him reweighed in 2 weeks time as if he’s not gaining enough weight x

Did he plot the weight on the centile chart in the red book? Is your baby following a centile line or dropping down to the one below?

@UltraVividLament

Did he plot the weight on the centile chart in the red book? Is your baby following a centile line or dropping down to the one below?

He did yes. When he was last weighed at the end of November, no one actually plotted the weight on the centile chart so I only have the doctors from today so far, which is just below the 25th centile line x

You could plot the Nov weigh in yourself in pencil, so you can easily see if his weight then was roughly the same centile as now or not.

@Bendyandthestinkmachine

Where is he on the centiles?

Did the doctor recommend waking him?

Personally, I wouldn't. Both of my DS slept through from early on and they never had 9oz bottles. I didn't actually get DS2 weighed frequently. I didn't need to, I was happy with how he ate, his general health and his nappies.

Just below the 25th line based on the chart in the red book. When he was last weighed in November though when i was discharged, no one actually plotted the weight on the chart x

Did he actually say that the baby was "low weight"?

As I recall, his birth weight would put him above 25th centile, and it is good practice to follow up on things if baby crosses two centile lines quickly. Most likely nothing is wrong, especially since he seems to be feeding fine, but if he has crossed two centile lines since birth the doctor was right to flag it.

Just plot November one yourself and then you'll have an idea of how the current weight compares. The red book isn't some sacred legal document, parents are perfectly entitled to plot weights. What was his head circumference? If this was 2 centile lines above the weight line, that will be why the doctor wants it checked again. One off measurements aren't that useful.

What I should also have said is not to worry about this at all. Asking for another weight in two weeks is simply to get another measurement to be able to be confident that baby is gaining weight as expected. If the doctor was in any way worried about anything major there's no way they'd wait 2 weeks before acting further.

@HiCandles

Just plot November one yourself and then you'll have an idea of how the current weight compares. The red book isn't some sacred legal document, parents are perfectly entitled to plot weights. What was his head circumference? If this was 2 centile lines above the weight line, that will be why the doctor wants it checked again. One off measurements aren't that useful.

His head circumference was 38cm x

@UltraVividLament

What I should also have said is not to worry about this at all. Asking for another weight in two weeks is simply to get another measurement to be able to be confident that baby is gaining weight as expected. If the doctor was in any way worried about anything major there's no way they'd wait 2 weeks before acting further.

Thank you for your reassurance x

So looking at the red book chart, his head is on 25th. Birth weight would put him as born on the 50th. Obviously your GP has noticed the drop of centiles in weight which is why he wants him weighed again so soon. Head being similar is reassuring though as it suggests even weight gain. It's a good idea to go up to 9oz bottles as he's draining the 8oz and you'll be able to tell in 2 weeks whether it's making a difference. Don't wake up him at this age but offer the bottle when he's awake whenever he wants it, don't worry about sticking to set feed times. It's sometimes hard to tell what's really going on when you've only got very early weights and one 8 weeks later.