Slow weight gain

[chrissie1982]

My 3 week old ds2 is gaining weight really slowly and I was hoping that you experienced ladies could have a look at his weight gain and see if it is anything I should be worried about. I know bf babies do gain less weight than ff babies (my ds1 was ff so this is all new to me) but it just seems a little too slow for me. I have got both the midwives and hv's keeping an eye on his weight and their opinion on his weight gain differs depending on who I am talking to at the time. Some midwives and HV's think it is a major issue while others aren't concerned at all. I just don't know what to think  .

So here is a list of all the weigh ins we have had:
22/4/10 (date of birth) - 7lb 6oz (3350g)
24/4/10 - 6lb 10oz (3020g)
27/4/10 - 6lb 10oz (3020g)
29/4/10 - 6lb 11oz (3080g)
3/5/10 - 6lb 12oz (3130g)
5/5/10 - 7lb (3170g)
7/5/10 - 7lb (3170g)
11/5/10 - 7lb 1.5oz (3220g)

I am worried that he isn't anywhere near his birthweight yet. Is it normal for it to take this long?

Thanks,
Chrissie x

[*Ali*]

Hi Chrissie, I know when DS was born I was told it was normal for babies to lose up to 10% of their weight but that they should gain it back by 2 weeks. The growth chart in my red book shows that a "typical baby" would have regained lost weight from his birth weight and increased some by 3 weeks. While of course all babies are different I would suggest your DS would need monitoring and for you to have a look at why he might be gaining weight so slowly. Since you mention other problems with his feeding I am wondering if he is getting enough. Does he have plenty of wet and dirty nappies? Are his poos mustard seedy yellow or green? If you are experiencing problems with his latch (if it hurts and he is feeding for hours he is almost certainly having trouble latching correctly). Are your nipples pinched to one side like new lipstick or even like a cue tip after he has finished feeding? It may be that you and he need extra help to get the latch right. Are there any breast feeding groups near you where you can go for support and advice? I believe most BF "teething" issues are resolved by about 6 weeks so it may take up to that long to iron out your issues but only with the right support. You say some of the midwives and HVs thing it's a major issue - what are they doing about it?
My DS did cluster feed but it was more that he fed for 30 mins then had a 30 min break then was hungry again. If your DS will take a bottl ebut rejects the breast maybe there is a problem with him BFing or he is confused and it's easier for him to take the bottle than do the work himself to get milk from the breast. Has he been checked for tongue tie?
If all is well and he just takes ages to feed have you considered wearing him in a sling to feed while you prep the dinner>
I hope you can get the support you need to persevere with the BFing, assuming this is what you want.

[chrissie1982]

Hi Cadie's Mum, thanks for such a great reply!

Ok so to answer your questions. Re the latch: I have always believed that he has not been latching on properly. But I went to a bf'ing group yesterday and the bf'ing consultant that I saw seems to think that he is latching on ok so now I don't know what to think. Sometimes when he latches on I can tell straight away that he is not on right because of the pain and so I take him off and help him to latch back on again and then it doesn't feel too bad when he feeds. But then my nipples are very sore at the moment because of thrush so I am not sure if any pain I feel is because of bad latch or thrush. My nipples do not look how you described after he has finished feeding.

He is having plenty of wet and dirty nappies and his poos are yellow/green with mustard seeds.

The midwives and HV's who think it is an issue are just making sure that he is getting weighed regularly but they aren't doing much else, other than making me feel bad about the weight gain 

He has got a tongue tie but everybody who has looked at it says that it is tiny and that it shouldn't affect his feeding.

As for the breast refusal thing, I don't think it is nipple confusion or not wanting to work for the milk. If that was the case wouldn't he be refusing the breast for more than just the one feed? At the moment it is only the one feed (the one after all the cluster feeding) that he refuses. The rest of the time he goes on the breast fine. If anything I get the feeling that he actually prefers the breast as it can take a long time to get him to start feeding from the bottle.

I hope that answers all of your questions 

Chrissie x

[*Ali*]

Good they are monitoring him closely. You should not let them make you feel bad about the lack of weight gain. You are doing everything you can and they should be helping you or refering you to someone else who can help you if they can't.
Re the appearance of the nipples the cue tip one is normal but maybe I didn't describe it well.
Re the tongue tie could you ask drs to have another look at it since he seems not to be feeding well? The poos would ideally not be green as this can mean he is only getting the foremilk and not much of the fatty hind milk which contains most of tha calories. They should be bright yellow like Chicken Korma (not having a curry tonight I hope LOL). Have you discussed the poos with the HVs?
Fingers crossed he starts gaining more weight soon.

[Courtney L]

Hi!
I just want to offer a bit of support. I had my first Lo last summer and he also had a hard time gaining weight. It took the full 2 weeks for him to be back up and in that time my Dr had me feeling like a horrible person telling me that he wasn't getting enough but then the HN said he was fine. I finally went and got another opinion from a completely different doctor/nurse.

They say that a baby should gain anywhere from 4-6oz a week or 1-2 lbs a month. Sometimes babies just have slow weight gain like mine did. I started to supplement after every feed and he would take 1-2oz from a bottle, have you tried to offer after he's done on the breast? My former Dr told me that my supply was low and to do this. I did for a while and when is weight was up we went to just BFding again.

These are some of the links that the fab MODs posted for me, maybe they can help!

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=94121.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65905.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64627.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63598.0

This is the link for the growth chart for BF babies, they say most Drs go off of a GC for FF babies which isn't fair as there is a difference. There are alot of good links and post and people on these boards who will help you! Sending vibes~~~~~~~ I'm sure you are doing fine!