weight gain???

[jarrahsmumma]

hi all,
just wondering if any other parents out there are having/had the same problem, my son is 6 months and weighs 7.2 kg, at 4 1/2 months he weighed 7.1kg, this is a gain of only 100grams. Up until now his weight has been fine following the curve perfectly. He eats and drinks fine, with 4x200ml bottles of formula a day with three solids too. He does not appear too skinny but he also isn't chubby. He has bronchialitis at the moment but i would not think that this would cause so much weight loss.

Any help would be appriciated

peace
natalie

[sopolicha]

I haven't had a 6 month old baby for 2 years now, but doesn't thier weight normally plateau sometime around there? At least it is a gain and not a loss.

One thing I always notice with my two lovlies is how quickly they lose weight if they are sick. I guess because they are little anyway you just tend to notice it more. Still not nice to see. They always seem to put it back on eventually.

[rebecca]

Hi there,

It is no wonder we as adults (especially girls) have such weight issues...since my little angel has been born I have constantly worried about his weight gain, only because I was induced 2 weeks early as he had stopped growing and was seen to be extremly small..he was born at 2.96kg and 49cm...his length has grown 1cm a week since birth..however his weight has not gained hugely..he is 5 months this weekend and he weighs 6.475kg....as he is a very happy baby and seems to be reaching the developmental milestones for his age I am trying to not worry too much about it...Clinic, GP advised that at 6 months babies should have doubled their birth weight....he has done this already...Also at 6 months they do not seem to put on as much weight..( i do not get that as they are eating solids you would think that they would put on more weight)
Anyways, I am sure your little one is just fine and it is just us mothers being paranoid about it.....

[LoniVV]

I wonder whether we parents put too much faith into the weight gain chart.

My eight month old son is a happy, relatively healthy baby who eats well and weighs 7.4kg (which is at the bottom percentile on the chart) and is 68cm in length, he has only gained 200g in weight and grown 1cm in length since his 6 month checkup. A lot of the 00 sized clothes are still too big for him especially around the waist. Whereas he was born at an average 3.2kg and 51.5cm in length.

His weight seemed to stabilise at about 4.5 months when he started teething and got his first two teeth (he now has 6 teeth). He is also crawling, trying to stand and walk while holding onto my hands and generally a very active baby so I assume that he is burning off a lot of the calories that he eats.

I checked his weight with the GP when he had a middle ear infection over the last 3 weeks and she indicated that he does not look undernourished.

So as long as your baby seems contented and is feeding and sleeping well I would not worry too much about the chart, well that is the philosophy that I am adopting when people ask me if my son is 5-6 months old and I have to say no he is 8 months old.

Leonie and Dominic (2-12-2004)

[jarrahsmumma]

thanks everyone, his weight is now fine back to normal, my CHN said maybe scales got it wrong or human error...what ever, i agree we worry too much about weight and statistics...maybe we should just relax :)

[WeThree]

hi, matilda is 8 mths and weighs 7.5kgs, she is beautiful wiht little rolls etc. this method of checking our babies weight is so outdated and goes back 20 yrs or so when everyone was told to start their babies on solids at 8 wks old or something and bf was discouraged. matilda is also in the bottom percentile for her age and height, but cooper was in the top and they were both fed exactly the same etc, its just that they are 2 seperate little people. matilda was born alot smaller, she is daintier and smaller boned. i tend to not weigh my babies to much as everytime i do i get a different opinion from the baby health care nurse and i end up all worried when there is no reason to be. as long as bubs is not losing weight and is happy and eating/drinking/pooing/weeing fine, i wouldnt worry to much about it :)