Let the weight gaining stress begin *sigh*

[{sarah}]

We had Juliette's weigh in today -

Birth = 4485gm
1 Week = 4240gm
2 Weeks = 4320gm

So she has gained 80gm in a week, but the MCHN was concerned that's she's not back up to her birth weight which is supposed to happen by the second week. She's on the 90th percentile, so I personally don't think it's a big issue just yet. She wants to come back in a week to check on her again & said she needs to be up to her birth weight by then (so put on 165gm), I asked what happens if she's not & she didn't answer. So does anyone know what will happen if she's not up to her birth weight by then? Is it really a big deal?

[Trillian]

It is not a big deal AT ALL hun! Paige took 3 wks to get back to her birth weight and she was a nice big bub at birth too and fully BF at that stage. Take your cue from Miss J - she is calm, sleeps well, feeds well and does all the things that a healthy baby should be doing. You are doing fantastic at this BF caper, so tell the MCHN to go jump in the lake - Miss J is still above 'average' on the chart anyway.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Is she weeing and pooing frequently?
Is she sleeping?
Is she a contented baby?
NOT A BIG DEAL.

Is your MCHN trying to give you mummy guilt? Yes.

You know what she's going to do... she'll tell you to put Juliette on formula. Which could potentially make little J gain less weight! I'm positive I read that in the first six months BREASTFED babies gain more weight than FF babies... so why would she tell you to change to formula.

Just get your defences going - you're doing a great job! Don't stress about the lack of weight gain. there's gain there - and it matters more so how it equals out over time. In the next three weeks she might gain 200gms a week - when that equals out it's quite a again!

ETA:

so tell the MCHN to go jump in the lake

I wholeheartedly agree!

[christy]

I think it took Matilda 3 weeks to get back to birth weight.

With Jovie... I didn't weigh her until she was 8 weeks.... so no idea. But she was only 200gm over birthweight then. And had just gone through a growth spurt.

HTH!

[Phteven]

If she's happy and she's filling up lots of nappies and seems satisfied after a feed then I would ignore the scales.
I have only had Imran weighed 3 times and he seems to have done ok

ETA - I totally agree with the jump in the lake philosophy. I'll throw her in myself if you want.

[~Raven~]

We went through this too Sarah Be confident in her output and it's proof that she is getting enough!

[Willow]

Yep, Sarah, don't stress! L was gaining about 300g a week from birth but at about 12 weeks he had a few weeks where he only gained 50g and the MCHN started talking about low supply - seriously, how big do they want these babies to get?! L is also a big bub, so I didn't stress about it at all.

[sushee]

Good advice from everyone so I won't repeat most of it but most important aspect is she IS gaining weight. She was born at a weight that was in the 90th percentile. She will likely not remain in that percentile, esp if she's BFed baby, so you might find she's evening out.

For the MCHN to expect her to 'hit' her birthweight in a week seems like so much pressure on you and on J to conform, when babies don't always conform. She's gaining, and gaining a decent amount, and while it might not mean she stays in the 90th percentile, if she is otherwise happy, I'd give both you and her some leeway and she will hit her birthweight sometime before she's 4 weeks. And you know what? She'll still be heavier than Charlie was at that age.

[Rouge]

Grrrrr... you know what I'm going to say hence you not ringing me first

[Matryoshka]

Are they using the breastfeeding chart for GIRLS?

This may sound hugely irresponsible, but just stop going and weighing! Monitor wet nappies, her contentment and vital signs. Thats what mothers did before these silly charts came about.

If you don't have the breastfeeding chart for girls i can post the link?

[fionas]

Oh Sarah. I know what it's like. The midwives in the hospital had me in a COMPLETE panic about weight when DD lost 12% of birthweight by Day Three even though she was 3.9kg when she was born. It took her 3 weeks to get back up to birthweight and that was WITH formula - we had huge problems feeding not helped by the complete panic they'd got me into about her losing too much weight.

Anyhow, she has gone from the 90th percentile at birth to about the 30th percentile pretty much from thereon. For me, there was a pretty logical explanation - I was borderline gestational diabetes and my placenta was apparently huge so she was a big baby. Mind you, it took ages for that penny to drop with me because I was only borderline GD so wasn't being treated for it and I don't think it would have been in my medical notes so no-one would have bothered to ask me IYKWIM. Anyhow, genetically she wasn't really meant to be that big so the percentile drop is just her getting back to where she's meant to be. Luckily, my MCHN has NEVER made me worry about this - she just says that some people grow big babies and then they adjust back when they come out.

Obviously I agree entirely with what the others have said - trust your instinct, if she's happy, wees, poos etc. etc. I'm SURE all is well.

My friend had a similar experience with an MCHN who banged on about not gaining enough weight, low supply, the usual stuff. Anyway, she was completely wrong - his slow weight gain was nothing to do with a low supply. A lactation consultant diagnosed a tongue tie. It might be worth ruling something like that out , just in case.

Maybe don't go to a weigh-in and see a lactation consultant instead.

MCHNs really carry our heart in their scales sometimes so don't subject yourself to the half-baked theories of people who don't know what they're talking about. It makes me so mad that they don't realise the impact that their bad advice has on us mums. I was distraught by the thought that I couldn't give DD what she needed and my friend was also in tears when there was absolutely nothing wrong with her supply. Grrrrrrrrrr. And they wonder why we google stuff instead of listening to advice!!!

Sorry, rant over now.

[Barb Glare]

Hi, Sarah,

You are doing a fabulous job. I did a little happy dance with you when you said the other day how elated you were at breastfeeding for 2 weeks. But, let's keep a good thing going, eh? The weight gain matters some-what. It's not 'panic stations" but it is a red flag. Most babies have regained their birthweight by 2 weeks. (homebirthed babies generally don't lose the 10% we consider normal these days) And she is a big fabulous girl. But, I think she's a bit "too" good. (when will we learn that a "good" baby is in fact not one who sleeps a lot, but one who is up *yelling* for her tucker every couple of hours). So, to ensure that she continues to go well, would you wake her during the night and feed her - every 3 hours will be great? It will make the world of difference. Is she spending a long, long time on one boob? When you feed her, try giving her 20 mins or so on one boob, burp, change, tickle her toes and then give her a go on the other side. Make sure she has 8-12 feeds in 24hrs. when you take her back you will be amazed at the difference. You will get the health nurse of your case, and pretty soon you will be able to settle back to the longer sleeps if you wanted.

Talk soon
Barb

[meow]

The fact that she's gaining weight sounds good but coming from someone who decided to 'not worry' about the panic from midwives and MCHN's till my poor boy was so weak I had no choice but to comp feed with formula for a week to give him the energy to start feeding properly again I would recommend doing a bit extra now and not just ignoring things till they possibly get to a point you don't want to be at.

Not to panic you even more though- we are now at 10 weeks and BFing is going really well and my little boy is growing amazingly! It does improve

[{sarah}]

Barb she has acually started waking a bit more in the night of her own accord, maybe she was just extra sleepy for the first week & a half She generally feeds 1/2 an hour on each side at a time and around every three hours, the LC from the hospital told me not to let her go for more than 4 hours during the day so if she gets close to that I wake her up. Just thinking about it now, she's had six feeds so far today & she'll have another one around 9pm then probably not another until 2-3am. So that's seven today, unless she decides to cluster feed soon which she does some nights.

Cai, yep I knew what you'd say! I know all is good, she a happy contended little girl, but I like to stress, you know that

And thank you to everyone else. My brain & instincts knows that we're doing the right thing, but she just put that niggly doubt there.

[mrsmac]

Sarah- Jess didn't get back to her birth weight until she was 4 weeks old and she is now a healthy 16 yr old!! My then MIL helpfully told me I was starving her but my MCHN was fabulous and not too concerned, even my obs said she was just big born and was adjusting to be more what he would expect her to be from how big I was etc.

[Cally]

It took DD just over 4 weeks to get back to her birth weight. And today she got called thunder thighs at swimming!

[Willow]

Sarah, was just thinking about this again while bathing the kids (yes, I have no life of my own! LOL!) and Barb has posted what I was thinking too - she seems to sleep a lot at night, so if you wanted to boost her intake a bit, you could always wake her and feed more often during the night?? Totally up to you of course, you seem pretty happy with the way things are, and it seems she might be waking more at night anyway.

[Barb Glare]

Hi,
That's great that she is waking in the night for feeds. She's getting the hang of it. I would change the daytime routine to feeding her every 3 hours.
I have to go against the prevailing thought a little bit. 80g is great,and common enough in the first week or so when baby is sleepy, mum has had a cesarean etc, but as an ongoing thing, 80-g per week for a young baby is usually not enough and will ultimately lead to low supply. (This is different from say a 3mnth old baby - their weight slows down around that point) You will notice a few extra feeds per day sort everything out very quickly
Regards
Barb