4 month old lost weight :(

[eclipse_xo]

Has anyones breastfed baby lost weight? My little girl is 4 months and was gaining weight no problem, a pound a month. Now she's a pound and a few oz's over her birth weight!! She lost a few pounds, which I don't understand because I always feed her til she's full. 6+ feedings a day, more than 10min on the breast. I can't help but feel like a failure. I wanted to feed her 100% breast and it makes me feel so bad that I can't provide her with what she needs. The doctor wants her on an ounce of formula a day and to see her in a week to asses her weight.

 

[DaisyDoodles]

I'm in a similar situation so hope someone can help!

 

[kirst1805]

You are not a failure!! Please don't think that. Gemma lost a couple of pounds at some point.. can't remember how old she was, I'll check in a bit though, she piled it back on afterwards though. I'd keep feeding as you are for now and don't panic.

Be back in a bit.

xx

 

[Vixen_17]

The longer I linger around this board the more and more I see this exact same post. Maybe I'm just more attentive to them because we went through the same thing. I think it's actually way more common than we imagine. Some of the girls on here will have some fantastic advice for you (Summer Rain springs to mind, she's a legend!) and will reassure you not to worry so much.

For our particular situation (and yours may well be different) the doc recommended supplementing with formula but I was massively against this. Instead, I took a fenugreek supplement for a couple of weeks and it increased my milk supply, in turn Evie got more to eat and started putting on weight. It was only a tiny bit and she was still dropping down the centiles but for us the mere fact that she wasn't losing weight any more was wonderful.

We started weaning at 6 months and she's a greedy little so and so! I've had her weighed twice since she's been on purees and she's putting on more weight now than she's ever done before.

Keep positive hun, you will find an answer

 

[kirst1805]

Righto, Gemma was almost 6months and she lost 3lbs 3oz from when she was weighed 4/5 weeks before.

xx

ETA: Just changed amount of weight lost.. wasn't paying attention and hit 5 instead of 3.

 

[summer rain]

I can understand that would be quite worrying; two of mine only lost a few oz but one didn't gain really anything between 2 and 7 months (he didn't even double his birthweight by one year) and the other between 2 and 4.5 months. In both cases it was allergies/intolerances causing the problem, and it may be something to look into, sometimes weight loss or failure to gain can be the only manifestation of such an allergy or intolerance

https://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/startingsolids/cowsmilkintoleranceexpert/

another cause can be a urine infection; again in babies these can sometimes be asymptomatic but can cause drastic weight loss, and another cause can be some type of metabolism issue. I don't want to alarm you unnecessarily, and it may just be one of those things; but I would certainly try to avoid giving any formula until you have ruled out any other potential causes xx

 

[Nervous_1]

At around 5 months my LO dropped a centile. My HV wasn't worried though and said it's likely to be because he's becoming more active and is just burning calories like they are going out of fashion.

 

[Rainbowpea]

I have a LO with slow gain - she didn't lose weight but didn't gain fast enough. Now I have started weaning she has put on 12oz in 3 weeks and her weight gain is increased. we did have problems feeding though so that was the explanation for the slow gain.

is it possible there is a latching issue so your LO is not getting enough milk as they should?

just didn't want you to think you were alone with weight worries xx

 

[patch2006uk]

Is your LO sleeping through? If so, it might be worth reintroducing a night feed. Also maybe worth offering more feeds during the day, every couple of hours or so. 6 feeds a day isn't many compared to what I would consider normal for my LO, so I don't think adding another couple in would do any harm. Make sure you're well hydrated too and eating plenty I personally would avoid topping up with formula and would try to express and feed EBM if I did want to supplement. Alot of doctors recommend forumla top-ups cos they don't understand BFing and seem to believe your supply is static rather than supply and demand. Good luck x

 

[goddess25]

I had a somewhat similar issue lately. I went to a BF clinic and my LO had only put on 12oz in 8 weeks, the doctor told me that I must start supplementing with formula she had went from 75% to 50%. At this point she was sleeping through the night and feeding 5-6 times per day fairly short times.

I have been feeding her more often in the day time roughly every 2.5 hours. Once she falls asleep at night I get her up at midnight and do a dream feed, and then feed her again when I hear her starting to stir which is usually about 6. I shift her from side to side when she seems bored just to make sure she is getting more of the hind milk. I am still stressed out about it, but she managed to put on 7oz in 4 days so hopefully it stays that way. I only want to make it to 6 months and whatever after is a bonus.

Good Luck, try extra longer feeds.

 

[goddess25]

I had a somewhat similar issue lately. I went to a BF clinic and my LO had only put on 12oz in 8 weeks, the doctor told me that I must start supplementing with formula she had went from 75% to 50%. At this point she was sleeping through the night and feeding 5-6 times per day fairly short times.

I have been feeding her more often in the day time roughly every 2.5 hours. Once she falls asleep at night I get her up at midnight and do a dream feed, and then feed her again when I hear her starting to stir which is usually about 6. I shift her from side to side when she seems bored just to make sure she is getting more of the hind milk. I am still stressed out about it, but she managed to put on 7oz in 4 days so hopefully it stays that way. I only want to make it to 6 months and whatever after is a bonus.

Good Luck, try extra longer feeds.

 

[summer rain]

^Am so happy to hear that the weight gain has improved in your case hun xx