Weight gain in newborn

[Emmaev]

My daughter is 10 days old today and has been EBF since she was born. My milk didn’t come in until day 5 but she’s been a milk monster ever since.

She lost 5% of her birth weight at day 5, we had her weighed again today and she’s now lost 2%, so shes not been able to be discharged by the midwife as she hasn’t reached her birth weight.

She made it sound like it’s uncommon for newborns to not reach their birth weight by now, so I panicked a bit that I’m not doing enough.

My daughter feeds approx every 2 hours and is cluster feeding throughout the night.

She was born 3250g, she was 3060g at her 5 day appointment and today she is 3180g. 70 grams from birth weight.

It's really common to lose weight at first and it can take 2-3 weeks to regain.

Just keep doing what you're doing. Baby will get there.

You still have another 4 days until she is 2 weeks old, which i believe is the guidance for regaining birth weight. The lactation consultant I saw told me that I should be looking for 20g-30g weight gain per day (averaged over a week) so on that basis, your DD could totally regain birth weight in the next few days. Both of mine had lost a lot more by day 5, took 3 weeks to regain birth weight and had other issues going on with their feeding, so I wouldn't be worrying yet based on what you've said. Congrats on a squishy newborn and hopefully she nails the weigh in at the next check!

Keep doing what you are doing and try not to worry. My second baby took longer to regain birth weight. Maybe 3-4 weeks? They started to make a bit of a fuss about it but she was steadily gaining - it was just because she was slow to start/latch. Not everyone follows the exact prescribed pattern. If they are gaining weight and having plenty of wet and dirty nappies then all is well!

DS took about 4 weeks to regain his birth weight, as long as it's going in the right direction it should be fine!

Thanks so much for your replies girls. I know I’m probably overly anxious and my partner has said she’s obviously happy and healthy.

Our daughter is having lots of wet and dirty nappies and having settled periods between feeds. Plus she has gained weight since last time, all positives.

Our eldest daughter was premature and struggled to gain weight so it put me on guard hearing that our youngest girl hadn’t reached her birth weight when they wanted.

Appreciate all your replies

I also thought it was back to birth weight by 14 days and with both DDs we had a HV visit on day 14.

Sounds like she's doing well x