Low Weight Gain

[hypergirl76]

I need serious help.

I went to my Maternal and Health Care Nurse yesterday for my DS's 3.5 month checkup. DS was weighed and he had only put on 135grams in a month!!!!!!! He is a happy and healthy looking baby so I was extremely surprised. He is fully breastfed, he feeds 6-7 times in a 24 hour period and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies. He normally only feeds from one breast per feed and only feeds for about 15 minutes. I need advise on how to help him get his weight gain back up. What could have caused such a small weight gain, could there be something wrong with my milk???? Does anyone else have similar experiences??????????

Desperate Mum.

[Sarie]

Two of my friends have had this problem. It wasn't taken into consideration that both they and their husbands are small in stature. If you are really concerned, have him checked by a doctor, but so long as he's feeding well and the back end is working, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

[JanetF]

Hugs to you. Your baby sounds perfectly normal and healthy, and is obvciously being optimally nourished. Weight gain is a really poor indicator of baby health. If your MCHN is trying to tell you there's a problem she should have far better evidence than that! The charts they use in the clinics are based on ff babies from the 1970s. Bf babies grow at a different rate and are, on average, lighter. You're taking the best possible care of your baby and his weight is no problem at all! Your post describes a normal, healthy baby who may well put on 300gms next month anyway. Your nurse is supposed to look at several weigh ins over several months before trying to panic you. This stuff makes me really cross! You're a great mum, with a perfect baby, and your nurse is full of crap. If I were you, I'd stop going because if she's this ignorant about weight, who knows what else she doesn't know?! This is the stuff that makes women feel like they're not doing a good job and their body is somehow failing their baby. This is simply NOT TRUE!

Keep doing what you're doing and may you have a beautiful breastfeeding relationship for a long time yet!

[Manxie]

Hi

I can totally sympathise. At my little girls 6 week checkup she had lost weight. She too looks ok & produces plenty of wet & pooey nappies.

I've been busy feeding feeding and as a result I'm now buggered!! I too was worried about my supply.

However, I took her to the hospital tday to feed in fron of the lactation consultant who I know is not one to be obssessed with charts etc. She checked out our feeding and it was nice to be reassured that my supply is fine and that Lucy is attaching properly.

She reweighed Lucy and her weight has gone up but she is now following a lower percentile and the consultant says that she thinks this is the line she is more likely to follow.

Importantly she said that weight is the last thing she looks at to make sure that baby is thriving. First off you look at general appearance skin tone, if baby is happy. Then no of wet & pooey nappys. Secondly head circumference, then length and then lastly weight.

Basically she said try not to get too hung up on the no's - I know how hard that is though. I would certainly recommend seeing a lactation consultant just for their reassurance re supply.

Good luck

[channy]

I had the exact same problem. It is very stressful. As the others have said look for a combination of things. Bubs will let you know if he is not getting enough with a combination of things not just weight gain. My little guy became very lethargic and lost muscle tone (couldn't hold himself up as well) and was not wetting as much. I knew something was wrong and I took him to get weighed and he had lost weight. As long as bubs is still putting on weight and you don't see any other signs I would'nt worry but having gone through this I know you will! Even when my little guy started putting weight on I stressed and could hardly last 2wks before getting him weighed again. If it is going to put your mind at ease just go and get him weighed. For me it ended up being a milk supply issue. What I did was go and stay with my sister so I did not have to cook etc and just fed bubs as often as possible and kept him in bed with me and fed him whenever he woke at all. This and taking Blessed Thistle (from health food stores only) worked well for me at the time. If you ever want to talk about it my email is bcstoner@bigpond.net.au or msn b_c_stoner9@hotmail.com. I know what this feels like. HUGS

[ThomasMum]

Hey,

If your bub is healthy and happy, try not to worry too much, when my brother was a wee baby, his weight, length etc was always below the chart, but guess how tall he is now? He’s 6’4! Smart one too; he’s an Ob/Gyn...need I say more? :D

Whenever Thomas’s teething he doesn’t gain any weight either or sometimes even none. But I tried to worry too much, because I know he’s “using” his resource for other things if you know what I mean. As long as bub is happy/healthy don’t to worry too much about it.

:)

[Rainbowbrite]

We're having that problem at the moment too :rolleyes: MJ put on very little weight when she was 3months, then she put on 150g in week, go figure. As my husband just said to me while reading my response - "the clinic is ****." :p

You sound just like us, MJ only feeds from 1 side 90% of the time, feeds for no more than 15mins, usually only 5-10 honestly. As "the oracle" - JanetF (always there with the best advice :D) has stated, You're a great mum, with a perfect baby, and your nurse is full of crap.

Good luck with everything, PM me if you'd like and we can compare our apparently little bubs progress :D

RB

[Sarie]

Hugs to you. Your baby sounds perfectly normal and healthy, and is obvciously being optimally nourished. Weight gain is a really poor indicator of baby health. If your MCHN is trying to tell you there's a problem she should have far better evidence than that! The charts they use in the clinics are based on ff babies from the 1970s. Bf babies grow at a different rate and are, on average, lighter. You're taking the best possible care of your baby and his weight is no problem at all! Your post describes a normal, healthy baby who may well put on 300gms next month anyway. Your nurse is supposed to look at several weigh ins over several months before trying to panic you. This stuff makes me really cross! You're a great mum, with a perfect baby, and your nurse is full of crap. If I were you, I'd stop going because if she's this ignorant about weight, who knows what else she doesn't know?! This is the stuff that makes women feel like they're not doing a good job and their body is somehow failing their baby. This is simply NOT TRUE!

Keep doing what you're doing and may you have a beautiful breastfeeding relationship for a long time yet!

Yes on this I agree with you. My friend had such a hard time her bub is still so small, actually not much bigger than my 6 month old baby. But the fact that she is breast fed and her parents are both small statured aren't taken into account. She is only going to be small, she has small genes.
Where both my husband and I are quite tall, and PJ was very long, as well as being bottle fed. He's going to be a bigger baby.

[Artemis]

I agree with everyone.. my daughter is also breastfed and I don't believe that weightgain is the sole best indicator of a child/infant flourishing. The graphs are also very outdated..

It sounds like you are doing a marvelous job of nourishing your baby :D

[Kassiasmum]

hi there,
As everyone else has said, try not to worry too much, you are giving your baby the best possible nourishment. My dd had such a poor weight gain that I stoped weighing her, she would only put on about 100grms p/m at the most. I had to take her to my gp every month to be wighed and now at 19months is only 8kgs. After all the tests that the so called specialists performed on her to find out why, they finally agreed with us that there was nothing wrong with her and that she is just going to be little, both sides of the family are small. If your baby is thriving, thats all that matters and as hard as it is, do try not to worry too much. by the way she is breastfed.

Tracey

[cobysmummy]

im also having the same problem... Coby has been around 7kgs for 3 months and has been either putting on a tiny amount or losing some... i have tried to feed him as much as i can but i cant force him to feed...(breast feed) he is having 4 feeds and 3 soilds and plenty of wet and pooey nappies.. i was told to put him on one bottle a day but maybe i wont... he is always happy and forever rolling and up on all fours trying to crawl... maybe hes just burning too much energy for the amount of food he eats?