She lost weight :(

[MummaSue]

DD has lost 250g in the last month.
I'm gutted. It's really upset me. My baby should be growing, not shrinking and while that isn't a huge amount, it's a lot when she should have probably also GAINED that much in the last month.

She's getting over a nasty chesty cold, could it have been that?

We're doing BLW and she's still not really getting a lot of food - it varies and due to the cold she's not had much the past 2 weeks.

She still breast feeds 10+ per day and 3-4 times overnight at the moment.

Why would she have lost weight?

I feel so upset that I could be starving my baby.

Developmentally she is great. She's more a cognitive baby than a physical one. Is saying mummy, daddy, ta, hiya, and started saying "two" the other day when we pointed to 2 snails in her numbers book. She points to what she wants, waves to people, claps her hands....... she's not all that interested in crawling, she's kind of making moves like she might do it. She seems quite happy sitting watching the world go by.

I don't know if I'm looking for advice or just a bit of reassurance.
Thanks for reading.
Sue x

[thepixie]

I wouldn't worry too much, she has been sick and I remember you posted the other day that she was off her milk due to the cold. If she was hungry you would know all about it!
I'm sure she will be fine.

[onthefly]

She's been sick. You said yourself she's doing well otherwise. Try not to worry too much She'll make it back once she's better.

[Lily Dust]

Awww sweetie, Im sure she is just fine like you said she was sick and quite sick so thats bound to take a bit of weight off. Once shes back on the go she will stack it on. Its hard not to worry with BLS but rest assure DD goes days on end without food, much to my absolute horror and dont forget that all that booby does much more then food ever could at her age. Sounds to me that you have one clever little chicky there with all that chatting and body gestures! Dont fret honey, you're so darn great with your little miss

[Barb Glare]

Hi, there,

What would/could you do differently? You know from your own experience what it's like when you are sick. You don't want to eat much - you just pick at your food. Is that a time you would really want people shovelling food into you? You are an attentive and sensitive mum - you've responded so well to her needs, and overall she is beautiful, healthy growing and developing. You can't make a person eat when they just can't. It's a truism that we spend the first year of their lives trying to fatten them up - and the rest of their life trying to thin them down! Most mums don't even bother to weigh their babies at this age.
Motherhood is a long, hard road - you can worry yourself sick (literally) if you really want to. You know you are a great mum - relax and enjoy it.

[Early Kids]

I wouldn't worry either, it probably was the sickness

[mummy of 3 boys]

i so could have written this myself

my little man is 18 days old and im attempting to BF this one and he lost 20g in a couple days, im also questioning WHY when he eats sooooo much, dr is wanting to maybe get me to BF and FF but i dont want too

anyone ever been told their milk doesnt have enough calories??

[HotI]

i so could have written this myself

my little man is 18 days old and im attempting to BF this one and he lost 20g in a couple days, im also questioning WHY when he eats sooooo much, dr is wanting to maybe get me to BF and FF but i dont want too

anyone ever been told their milk doesnt have enough calories??

Mizqtie, whoever told you that doesn't know much about breastmilk. Your milk is perfect for your bub.

Was bub weighed using the same set of scales each time? 20g is not a big loss at all, i wouldn't be starting formula based just on that. Maybe start your own thread so you can get some input from Barb or Marsella or give the ABA a call on 1800 686 2 686.

How often does your baby feed? Does he take both sides? How many wet/dirty nappies each day?

[Snacks]

anyone ever been told their milk doesnt have enough calories??

Nope, and if they did I'd reply, "Prove it"... and then never listen to another word they say. Your milk is the PERFECT food for your baby. There is NOTHING else your baby needs. Just your milk, and as much as he wants.

Sue, she could put that back on in no time. If she has been sick, well, there is your answer. Plus, if she has a lot of other things she's working on food may just not be as important to her right now. Perhaps she is lighter than babies who are spoon fed, but that's no drama. She is getting plenty of milk and is being offered meals. That's all you can do! The rest is up to her. I am learning about shared responsibility in child feeding atm because I am having mega troubles with my preschooler. This would've been an easier lesson learned when she was a baby. Some kids just don't grow as quickly as others. But if over time she is growing then she is fine to feed herself - just keep on doing what you're doing, offering her healthy food and drink and she will take care of the rest.
Also, has she grown taller this month? Don't you find they kind of grow out and then up and then out and then up... etc? Maybe this month she grew up a bit instead of out?!?

[Barb Glare]

Hi, Mizqte,

Your circumstance is completely different to MummaSue's. But, for you the short low-down. It's completly, boringly normal for babies to lose at least 10% of their birthweight in the first few days after their birth. so if your baby was 3000g it would be normal to lose 300g. Then they should, by and large, get back to their birthweight by 2-3 weeks and after that put on 150 plus g per week. Babies feed *at least* 8-12 time in 24 hours. This will include one long-ish sleep (at this age 3 hours is as good as it gets.) , and one time of the day or the night where they want to feed *all the time* for several hours (cluster feeding). This is normal. A 20g weightloss is a tablespoon - it's the difference between a wee or a poo or a different set of scales. If a baby is not gaining weight the answer is usually ver simple - wake your baby and feed her more often. Researchers have turned breastfeeding mothers inside out and upside down to find out what makes them tick. And the milk of any woman, anywhere in the world, even from relatively starving mothers is the same in calories and nutrients (and interestingly, ml for ml, higher than formula) You are not any different. Feel welcome to tell us a little more about your situation - but your doctor just doesn't know what he's talking about....

[studymum]

Hey mummasue, I'd reckons its because she has been sick, all the extra energy into her body dealing with and recovering from an illness would generally take away from growing. But be rest assured that her mighty little bod will make up for it in the long run. Nothing is going to stop her from growing to her pre-determined genetic weight. They can also loose weight as they learn to be more active, this might not be necessarily rollling, crawling, or walking but the muscle control they are now developing to do simple things like pick up objects, wave, have a chat, constantly moving their arms and legs, is burning energy. DD2 has lost weight twice now, the first due to the lactose intolerance issues and the second when she started rolling around and using the walker.

Mizqte, a babies weight gain shouldn't be gauged in such a short time span, and such a minuscule amount shouldn't even be looked twice at. Bf babies gain in spits and spurts, so it fluctuates and not is as steady and even as ff babies, it therefore can be teeny tiny amounts for weeks and then a huge gain following. Don't take advice from this dr and definitely do not get forced into introducing formula. Try to think of your babies weight gain over the long term, say a period of a month or 2, it should follow a gradual upward curve, and in saying this it does not matter whether this curve crosses percentiles on a chart either.

[PollyA]

Hey MummaSue,
I had weight gain problems with my DD and my mum got my old Plunket book out from 1979. (New Zealand Child health nurses are called Plunket)
I was sick one month and lost a whole pound (450g)...and no-one was overly concerned, and then I happily kept growing, They're just numbers sometimes, you'd know if there was anything more concerning.
Most likely she'll have a big gain next time,

[mummy of 3 boys]

Kate- he feeds every 3hrs normally but if he wakes in between time he is always offered the boob incase thats what he wants, i always thought my milk was fine no matter what

he has dirty/wet nappies every feed, he generally will take both sides each feed (unless its a little top-up feed)

no he wasnt weighed with the same scales

they are paranoid with my little man as is very small was only 2265g at birth so obviously they are concerned for him to gain weight but i really would prefer him to gain weight off my milk not formula

[MummaSue]

Thanks for all your responses guys, the reassurance is just what I needed.

It was a shock to see the drop though. But she's doing so well developmentally, I should just focus on that, I know I should.

Mizqtie, just keep doing what you're doing hun, your breast milk is fine and your baby is still so young.