3 week old baby weight....

[newmumof2]

okay know i shouldnt worry but dc2 was 8lb at birth (75 centile 9 days early), lost 10% of his body weight by day 3 (he just slept loads and did 6 meconium bowel movements), took him to baby clinic yesterday (3 weeks old) and he is 8lb 3oz and on the 25 centile... should i worry? is this normal, do other people have babies that have dropped weight and centile? health visitor not very helpful saying he is borderline okay and should be 9lb 9oz (so he is 1lb 6oz under) and if he goes any lower on the graph they will need to do something!!

just needing some reasurance please... can't get round the fact that baby is 3 oz heavier than he was when i was pregnant with him 3 weeks ago!!

thanks for reading

Thought all/most babies loose about 10% of their birth body weight. About day 3!

So, your baby was born 9 days early and was 8lbs at birth!

I think you are doing a fantastic job. Don't worry and don't listen to health visitor on this one!

hv is talking rubbish

HV is being policy-led rather than sense-led. In some areas they do, as a matter of policy, get very twitchy about any baby who drops through two centile lines (so from 75th to below 25th).

Dropping down the charts like this can be very normal, either (a) because of "catch-down" growth (i.e. baby is naturally "supposed" to be on a lower centile than his birth centile in this case the baby will generally drop through the centiles until he finds his proper place, then start more-or-less tracking the new line), (b) because the baby actually lost significantly more than 10% of weight in the period when he wasn't being weighed and has only just started to put it back on again in this case the weight will generally start to climb back up the centiles again, (c) because the baby is just one of those whose weight fluctuates a lot -- plenty of babies' "line" on the centile chart goes all over the place over time, or (d) almost certainly something else I'm overlooking.

Saying he "should" be 9lb 9oz is over-reliance on the charts and would be ringing alarm bells for me about this hv.

Still, it can indicate a problem, even though in most cases it doesn't. How does your DS seem to you -- happy, alert? How many wet and dirty nappies does he have a day? How often does he feed and for how long (if breastfed) or how much formula does he take at what intervals (if formula fed)? How long does he sleep for?

thank you all

"PortAndStilton" i hope its b! ds1 was always on the 97 centile hence my worry with ds2. anyway ds2 seems happy and very alert, however past few days he seems to be upset after each feed, we have assumed this to be wind and after a good winding, which has taken up to 45 mins he seems okay, if we dont then he'll be sick.

he has around 6-8 wet nappies a day and around 1-2 dirty ones.

he is feeding every 2 hours or so during the day and twice at night and feeds on each breast sometimes twice around 20-30 minutes total each feed however i would like for him to stay on longer but he just comes off. he seems to be latching on okay and i am expressing as well, getting about 3-4oz in 10 minutes from both breasts when full. if i dont breastfeed i am giving him 4oz ebm or 4oz sma.

if after bf and he is still hungry in terms of going for my nuckle and upset we are topping him up with either expressed milk or sma gold (2-3oz). when he is full he refuses and will spit out.

he sleeps ok, goes down 8-9pm until 1-2am for about an hour for a feed (winding takes time) then up again anytime between 4-5am for another feed until around 7....

does this all sound normal?

thank you so much for taking the time to reply it is very appreciated.x

Ooh I am not in an hv loving mood as they have refered me to the dr for dd's weight (8mo) as she has fallen off their chart. According to the WHO chart she is fine and we are all small anyway. Your baby shouldn't BE any weight apart from what they are unless you know there. Is something wrong iyswim. Personally I would be too busy to get him weighed for a few weeks and then go back. But if YOU are worried follow your instincts.......mum knows best.

My DS (14 weeks today) lost 23% of his birth weight in 4 days. It took him a month to put it back on and he has followed the 25th centile beautifully ever since. Remember the growth charts are for populations not individuals. What you've described in eating, sleeping, and so on sounds abolutely normal - to me anyway, based on 14 weeks of mothering!

My DS (14 weeks today) lost 23% of his birth weight in 4 days. It took him a month to put it back on and he has followed the 25th centile beautifully ever since. Remember the growth charts are for populations not individuals. What you've described in eating, sleeping, and so on sounds abolutely normal - to me anyway, based on 14 weeks of mothering!

Newmum, he doesn't need 'topping up'.
If you do this often ,it will reduce demand and therefore supply on your breasts and you may then top up more which will mean less milk and so on and so on.

If he seems hungry,put him back to the breast.
Simple as that.

remember also that most of the time, the centile charts are for bottle fed babies and not breast fed babies.

phraed, atm the charts for a 3 week old bottlefed and breastfed baby would be pretty much the same.

my hv said they like to wait till week 6 of baby life, to see where they are on the charts as it gives a better indication of which percentil they are on.

feeding times u have given seem fine to me and similar pattern to dd4 wit regards breastfeeds. am not giving formula so cant remember how much 2-3oz is

Yep - using different charts will make no difference to where he is on them (except on the 'breastfed' charts this baby would look very slightly lighter). HV sounds very hidebound by what she can measure

Having said that....it's sensible to consider if at 3 weeks, a baby only 3 oz above birthweight may be need feeding more often. Clearly your baby is healthy and thriving going on all the other signs, but a slow weight gain can sometimes be a sign to see if feeding could be more frequent and/or effective. He seems to be doing ok with this, but I'd agree - he doesn't need topping up. Just put him back to the breast if he seems hungry or unsettled after a feed

my baby is 3 weeks old and weights 11 lbs i think it is too much i am feeding him every 3hrs and trying now to stretch him to 4hrs but he constantly scream when he reaches the 3hr mark the doctor think it is too much i am feeding him the breast and when i dont have too much i will give him formula at night i do a pack feeding where i dont wait for the 3 hr mark. i put him to bet at 10:30pm and he would sleep until 3:30 or 4:00am