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My DD is 6 and a half weeks and in the last 2 weeks she only gained 90 grams is this normal I'm exclusively BFing and the week before that she gained 170 and the week before 20 I'm so confused shouldn't she be gaining more weight she's feeding about 6 times a day and sleeping for 7-8 hours at night having wet and soiled nappies every change seems happy and the nurse doesn't seem worried so why am I?
Hi,
Her number of feeds are a little on the low side. Most babies that age do a whole lot better on 8 or more feeds per day - 12 or more is pretty normal. So the simplest thing to do is feed her a bit more often. Always offer - if she is grizzly or irritable, offer the breast as the first option - avoid dummies or other ways of soothing. You will usually find babies who have a long sleep at night will have a cluster of feeds somewhere during the day - let her feed frequently during that time. 90g per week is a little low - nothing to panic about though. Just try to feed her more often. Does she have both breasts at a feed? If not, it would be good to offer both breasts as well
Sounds like you're pretty close with all those nappies!
I reckon a couple of extra feeds and/or cluster feeding sessions (just as Barb has suggested) and you'd probably have those gains on track too.
your bub will be fine ;) she will prob have a big spurt before u know it! my little one lost a third of his body weight in the first month and still didnt go back to hospital, the fact that she hasnt LOST anything is a good sign.
DD1 only gained about 70-100 a week at that age. She only had about 6-7 feeds a day, we found out they rather big feeds in terms of volume for her age, she was like that every since. DD2 is only now gaining on average about 50g, has dropped from 97th percentile to 50th. I was not worried about either, they were happy, healthy and developing well, just not genetically going to be big babies/toddlers.
Its best to gauge the growth over a longer period and average it out. So look more at a month or twos growth, not week to week. BF babies will grow in spits and spurts, not a regular amount. So one week will be different to the next, one can be very low the next normal, the next huge, etc. Then they have growth spurts which can make up for a few weeks of small increases, all they will want to do is feed. As long as their long term growth curve goes up, it doesn't matter at want angle it does it, or that they cross percentiles up and down. They have their own individual manual on how they shall want to grow.
Your doing awesome! Don't stress, the weight gains each week can vary hugely! It might be 90 this week, but 250 next week!
We're feeding around every hour through the day here atm. Lots of reasons, one being weight gain. We're averaging 100gm a week.
Keep offering like Barb says, at every grizzle.
I'm usually feeding Summer every 20 - 30 minutes, if not continuously from around 5 - 6ish til 8 or 9 every night. Thats her cluster feeding time. She'll usually go down sfter this & sleep til 4 or 5 am, then we're 2 hourly til 8ish, then mostly hourly through the day :)
well i guess she must be going through a growth spurt feeding constantly all day yesterday and 4 hourly overnight and today now from this morning
Good :) Could be the heat too. They get just as thirsty as us, so drinks every 5 minutes can happen too ;)
Keep an eye on her weight gains over a month, rather than weekly. She might have a super-dooper gain over a whole month, but each week will fluctuate. And rely on your instinct and other signs that she's getting enough and relatively contented (for a new baby). ;)
Sounds like you're doing a great job bfing your baby.