Baby not gaining enough weight

[coco111]

I had a baby 13 days ago. At birth she was 6.8lbs and now at day 13 she is 7.3lbs. She is ebf. The midwife has just said she's not gaining weight quick enough. I worked out since her last weigh in she has been gaining 20g a day. Apparently a baby should be gaining 30g a day. Can't help but worry now that im doing something wrong. I feed her every 2 Hrs sometimes even less if she wants it. Has anybody got any advice what I can do to make her gain a bit more?

I don’t understand this. My baby is three weeks old on Monday. She was 5lb 12 at birth and dropped to 5lb 6oz at a week old. She was 5lb 8oz at 10 days old and I’ve been told that’s normal/fine . I always thought small weight gains, even losses at this stage is ok x

I would ignore your midwife for now.

20g a day is fine.

What is she basing her concerns on? Is your baby dropping down the centile lines in her Red Book?

Is your baby having frequent and sufficient wet and dirty nappies?

Is breastfeeding comfortable for both you and baby?

Is your baby feeding for expected time lengths and settled between feeds which would suggest she is transferring enough milk?

Do you have any concerns about the feeding?

Did you have any concerns about your baby before the midwife made her comment?

Please don’t let her worry you and congratulations on your new baby 🎉

I didn't really get it either. I did look on the nhs website and it said newborns are expected to gain 30g a day and I worked she's only been gaining 20g a day. She didn't lose any weight after birth. I thought that was quite a good gain but now they want me to see a breastfeeding specialist.

Well at least she’s not forcing formula and bottles on you, that’s one positive.

Just nod, smile, and see the specialist.

To be fair, seeing the specialist may be really beneficial for lots of reason so I’d probably take advantage of the fact you’re being given the opportunity to see one as not many women sadly get that option.

Im sure all will be fine OP, just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t let the midwife worry you. She’s probably just following procedures alongside being vigilant to make sure no possible problems are being missed.

Just got my book out...
My daughter was a similar size so I thought it might be useful.
Day 5 2940g
Day 10 3020g -16g per day
Day 16 3200 - 30g per day
Day 25 3450 - 27g per day
Day 38 3900 - 35g per day

She did get to 30g a day but it took a bit of time. She was back at birth weight some time between day 10 and 16.

At this point as keep feeding and keep monitoring. Whenever they want to feed. Watch out for cluster feeding. My daughter fed little and order every 45-90 minutes but for 3-5 minutes at a time. It worked for us although different to the other mums I know. Find what is right for you.

I was told they only expected them to be back at birth weight by 14 days old.

My DD was 6lbs 1oz born, dropped to 5lbs 7oz (5% loss was told this was ok). Back up to 6lbs 1oz exactly at 14 days. I think it sounds like she's doing well x

Stop stressing. Make sure you’re eating and drinking enough. You need to drink a glass of water every time you feed.

Is your baby happy? Well as happy as new borns can be.

Do you think you have a good latch yet? It can take a few days/weeks sometimes for you to both get it right.

What the heck? Normally it takes 10-14 days just for them to exceed birth weight again. Most babies lose in the first few days; it's natural and normal. So your calculation was misleading. Tbh I suspect the midwife wasn't thinking very quickly and replied with a random memorised line which doesn't really apply to this situation. Nobody tracks grams per day in the first few weeks; your baby's well over birthweight again and that's what matters.

I’s say you’re doing gold standard levels of well! Most BF babies have only just regained their birth weight. Keep up what you’re doing, I’m sure your supply will continue to build.

It took ds a few weeks to get back to his birth weight as he initially dropped then maintained so it seems early to be worrying about a gain. Are you having any issues with latch/ wind? How many heavy wet/dirty nappies is she having a day?
In ds case he had a tongue tie so that was the cause of his slow weight gain and that resolved when we got it cut.

I'd recommend joining a bf support group in person if you haven't already. My bf support group is the only reason we're still going at a year and were the ones who identified the tt as our issue and why I got it cut. They will have lots of advice and can give you practical manual support with latching and positioning etc. Plus there will be lots of mums with experience of slow gain and different journeys!

Trust your gut op, if she's looking well, lots of wet and dirty nappies and is gaining then go with it. Are you feeding 2hrly at night as well as during the day? And letting baby cluster feed in between as she wants without a dummy?

Thank you for all your messages. She has lots of wet nappies every day and she poos at least four times a day. Even though I'm breastfeeding she is quite a windy baby and I do notice that she has hiccups a lot? She seems very happy and content. Whenever she wants milk or she is showing cues I always feed her straight away. She does fall asleep pretty easily on the boob so normally she's not feeding for longer than 15 to 20 minutes so maybe that's something we could work on?

Hiccups and wind can be indicative of her taking air in during the feed if the latch isn’t quite right but the BF specialist can assess that for you and make any tweaks as needed.

If she falls asleep quite easily at the breast then have a look into using breast compressions as that will encourage her to keep feeding and also increase the volume she gets per feed.

I really wouldn’t worry though OP, as like everyone else has said, establishing feeding can be hard in the first few weeks and it’s very rarely plain sailing. With my second baby I wasn’t getting consistent adequate weight gain until he was almost 3 months old!

It sounds like you’re doing a great job 👍

30g per day is an average. Most babies have a bigger birthweight than yours tbh.

Plus you may just have a small baby/child.

Is she alert etc?

Get her checked thoroughly for tongue tie.

Hicupping is normal. I believe it's to do with the diaphragm not being fully mature at birth.

Gassiness may be a sign her latch isn't deep enough and as an experienced peer supporter I will always recommend getting a specialist opinion on your latch (not a MW) just to double check as it's easier to correct things now than at 12 weeks when issues crop up!

But really just being back at birth weight by 10 days is amazing, let alone being over! And no initial loss?! Take the specialist appointment but honestly I really don't think you need to worry.

(More than) regained birthweight within a fortnight, so I wouldn't be worried yet. It's not quite 30g a day, the old legend is "an ounce a day, with a day off for Sunday"