Has anyone heard of this before? I had never until the last week and I've heard it about 4 or 5 times in as many days. My DD was born 3700gms and we had her weighed at 4 months and she was 6kgs exactly. However, she was 5.6kg at 13 weeks so it didn't seem like that big of a gain to me? I just can't see how DD is going to be 7.4kg in 1 month time. She is on breast milk only, I BF morning and night and she has EBM from the bottle during the day. She drinks about 500mls of milk during the day plus her 2 BF's. Sometimes she will drink 600mls but sometimes only 450mls.
We have an appointment next week to get her weighed again which will be 5 months. I just checked and the red book says at 6 months the average weight is 7.2kg. My biggest concern is that she isn't drinking enough milk - when DH offers it to her during the day and she drinks all he always heats up and offers more but often she is over milk by then and ready for play or sleep.
Does that amount of milk seem right for a baby at 5 months?
My DS took closer to 12 months to double his birth weight. He was big at birth, but is actually a fairly slight little thing.
Never mind about the numbers - she's gaining, right? And gains will slow after 3 months, that's normal. If she's otherwise happy and growing and still getting plenty of wet nappies then she's getting plenty of milk.
That's just a general guide. My DD didn't double her birth weight until after 8 months and at almost 10 months she's only just over 7kg.
They start to move around more and therefore use up more energy so their gains slow down a little bit. As long as your DD has the wet and dirty and nappies and is generally content, then she's getting enough.
It's funny you know I only just heard that for the first time yesterday, at an ABA meeting. DD has only just doubled her birthweight at 7 months (now 7.2kg), and her gains have really slowed down. I'm trying not to let it worry me but it does when everyone comments how tiny she is compared to all their younger bigger bubs.
Like PP have said, if the output is good and bub is happy and alert and content, then they are usually getting enough. It's hard not to worry and over analyse though, I know cause I do it myself. Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job with your lil one
Thanks so much everyone, that makes me feel heaps better to remind me that as long as she is happy and getting lots of wet nappies it is all okay. She does have the delayed poos these days though - can go quite a few days without them but they appear nonetheless.
I've always known that. In DH's baby book they suggested that good growth was a doubling by 6 months and tripling by 12 months. I've heard of it from elsewhere too - usually from older people so I guess they used that as a general rule of thumb for gauging baby's health because they wouldn't have had clinics etc? Anyway, DS1 was the only one of ours that ever did that. He'd doubled his birth weight by 3.5months old and DD1 nearly did it, but the other two didn't even come close. I think it's an unrealistic goal to set - some babies will reach it quicker if they are smaller and others who were larger will need to gain more etc.
Last edited by Trillian; October 30th, 2010 at 06:07 PM.
All these guidelines are great. They can tell us what the baby should be doing at any particular point in their life. Unfortunately there is also a major problem with these guidelines.
My CHN said that that style of thing was an old rule of thumb and had been entirely replaced in their practices by the height and weight charts many years ago.
Like the weight charts, it is a useful guide in most cases to know what to expect. Sometimes when babies don't aren't double their birth weight by 6 months it is because there is a problem. Just like sometimes when babies are below the 3rd percentile on the weight charts it is because there is a problem. But 3% of babies will be below the 3rd percentile line without a problem. It is not always a problem. Just a guide that if you are not already seeing a medical professional (which I know you are), it would be a good idea to see one to rule any problem out. In your case when your child health nurse is happy with everything, it can be best just to ignore the numbers and watch the baby.
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Double birth weight by 6 months?
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