Breastfeeding weight gain

[adorableangel]

Hi there,

Quick question my friend is here at the moment and her DD is 2 weeks older than my DD. She is a little concerned about her weight gain, she gained 3kgs at birth and now at 15 weeks is 4.7kgs. She is breastfed and feeds 5/6 times a day, she's not interested in feeding more. She's a little under the 15 percentile on the growth chart. She wasn't worried until she saw a health nurse today that said she should consider formula to help increase weight gain. Is this an overreaction? My friend wants to continue to solely BF... Should she take the nurse's advice or not?

I'm a bit worried now too as my DD is around the same with her weight gain.

I'm unsure whether the nurse meant to fully FF or supplement some feeds.

[Miss_Vicki]

as long as bubs is puttin on at least 100 grams a week i thought that was great for BF babies , if she starts givin bubs formula her breast milk will cut back ,

so how much a week is your bubs puttin on ?

[wocket]

I was told to go on formula to cut back n my bubs food because she's breastfed at the 99 percentile. Sometimes I think CH nurses just want you on formula. if the bub is putting on weight each week that's ok. if they are going backwards then talk to a specialist, not a clinical health nurse, who, lets face it, has only a had a small amount of training compared to a pediatrician. There could be underlying issues. in the meantime good on you both for breastfeeding. it's so hard to stick with for the first few months.

[ardora]

Hi,

I too had this conversation with the nurse and the paed, BUT G was putting very little weight every week. Now he is putting weight ok but he still is in the lower percentiles which does not worry me.

Percentiles are not grades where maximum values are good and minimum are bad... as far as baby puts on reasonable weight steadily, being on the percentile 3 only means that for a given population (for example, all boys his age in your suburb) he will be amongst the 3% thinner ones. So I don't see the problem in that. If he were in the 97 percentile, it would mean that only 3% are fatter than him/her. IF the baby goes out of the charts, then you should probably do something about it... but I would double check before introducing formula.

Here is an explanation for percentile.

Sorry to be a bit pedantic about it, but G is now 12 weeks old and people has been driving me mad about weights and percentiles and

Good luck!!

[Lillynix]

She's doing great! Tell your friend to ignore the CHN and keep breastfeeding.

My breastfed DS wasn't even on the growth charts for a long time, he was still happy, healthy and thriving

So long as there are 6-8wet nappies over 24hours, bub is alert, happy, reaching milestones and growing, what is there to worry about?

Someone has to be in the 15% afterall!

[love4life]

Many health charts are inaccurate anyway where the babies used to plot them were on formula, a formula which is no longer on the market anyway!! Also, I just recently found out that the weights on them were taken every three months and the averages in between were plotted without weighing but rather guess work. So as long as baby is content, has more than 5 disposable nappies per day all is well and your girlfriend is doing a great job. I wish more people had friends like you to ask questions out of concern for them...good on you.
Lorraine.
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[adorableangel]

Thank you everyone. Both our bubs are happy and alert and good eaters just thin boned I say haha

[Nanay]

Here is a website i found listing the average weight gain for bf babies ... BF Gain

[Sheer Bliss]

She's doing great! Tell your friend to ignore the CHN and keep breastfeeding.

My breastfed DS wasn't even on the growth charts for a long time, he was still happy, healthy and thriving

So long as there are 6-8wet nappies over 24hours, bub is alert, happy, reaching milestones and growing, what is there to worry about?

Someone has to be in the 15% afterall!

Both my older kids gained weight at VERY dif rates. DS was 250-300g per week, DD 80-150g per week. Both were perfectlyhealthy and are now too. All babies are just different - it sounds like your friend is doing a great job, and should tell the CHN to go jump.