My baby is just on 5 weeks. He has been for his measure and weigh today and it seems he has put on 3lb since birth! he was 7lb (3210g) now is 10lb (4628g). He has grown 5cm length since birth too.
Dosent this sound like alot of very fast wieght gain?
I have heard that quick weight gain when very young is not nessacarly a good thing...
Hmm, it does sound like a fast gain, but then DD was a really slow grower so I'm probably not the best person to answer. Did the nurse/doctor make any comment? You would imagine they would if they were concerned. Maybe a follow-up appointment to ask about it would ease your mind?
Just remembered the MCHN sticky in this forum. You could compare a bit there, but I would keep in mind how very different babies can be or you might get yourself all worried for nothing.
Did you have him weighed and measured by a MCHN, or GP? Were they concerned at all by his rapid growth?
To me it sounds like he is thriving. Yes his gains are above average, but as he gets older they will plateau out.
My DS was similar - going from 25th percentile in weight at 2 weeks to 75th by 8 weeks. He put on 1045g in his first 4 weeks... and by 8 weeks had gained 2465g since birth (7lb 7oz) - and no-one has ever said this is a problem - neither MHCN, GP nor paediatrician (who he is seeing for a different reason). Plus he'd already doubled his birthweight by just over 3 months (which seemed early to me). I figure some bubbas are just meant to be chubbers
DS was pretty similar. He was always in the top percentiles for height but only 50 percentile for weight at birth which quickly went up to match his height. Sounds like he is going well.
I had a scare once when the MCHN took DS' measurements at 6 months. All was good until they measured his head and it was waaaaay off they charts. They shot concerned looks at each other and measured again, then again. All the while trying to act like nothing was wrong making it really obvious something was. Finally I checked the charts and saw the massive head measurements on his growth chart. OMG! Till I pointed out they were marking him on the 6 week chart not the 6 months chart. Phew!
If you work that out over the 5 weeks though, it's just under 300gms per week - which is a great gain and is normal for a baby his age. Don't forget too, that at 3wks he would have gone through a growth spurt and gained a little more than usual too. He will have another growth spurt shortly too, so expect that the next time you get him weighed that he will possibly have had another significant gain. My youngest was like that - he stacked it on for the first 8wks and then he tapered off and had smaller gains each week. He (and you) are doing great!
Just a heads up, you can check the percentiles in the back of your blue books or ask your MCHCN, also they are not expected to all line up until they are about 2 years old. So if height is low and weight is high etc, don't be concerned.
My friends little girl (5.5 weeks) put on over 300g one week but still weighs less than my little one (6 weeks) who is putting on an average of 250g a week. My sisters little boy was putting on 500g a week at this age!! He's now almost one and is still a little chubba but so gorgeous!
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My little 'big' baby?
go the boobies!
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