Feeding too often?

[minties]

I know it seems dumb to worry about weight gain rather than loss, but my worry is combined with the amount of spitting up Emma does.

She loves to nurse as most babies do, I have no clue how often she feeds but can happily nurse every 30-120 minutes. She can also sleep for up to 6 hours at night without nursing but then spends the next 1-2 hours feeding on and off (swallowing milk, not just for comfort). To me it seems like she feeds a lot.

This last 7 days she put on 450g (15.9oz), the week before it was 350g (12.3oz). Previous weigh in was 500g over 11 days and that took her from a below birth weight to almost 400g above.

Now she looks fine, she isn't overly chubby - my previous daughter was much chubbier looking - but I'm worried she has reflux and is nursing a lot for comfort, and if her weight gain keeps going like this surely she will end up rather huge? I got so much hassle for the size of Sophie (all I did was BF on demand! Not sure how I could have stopped her being a chunky baby).

Can frequent nursing and big gains be a sign of reflux? She spits up multiple times a day, probably once an hour during the day and a few times overnight.

She was 3.425kg at birth (about 7lbs 9oz) and was 4.6kg yesterday when she was 4 weeks and 5 days old. She spent some time in the special care unit away from me when she was born so I didn't get to breastfeed her very often till she was a couple of days old, she lost 9.48% of her weight at the start. Thought it was less but just calculated.

I don't want her to be in pain, and also nervous of the health professionals telling me she's obese like with Sophie.

She's above 50th for weight, but below 75th. Her length is 52.6cm so is on the 25th.

 

[happynewmom1]

I don't think breastfed babies can eat too much. This baby also started out constantly eating. I could hear her swallow each time as well. She spit up a lot.. That did go down some when I went off dairy but still more than I thought was normal. By 4 months she was barely spitting up and now it's super rare. She also still loves nursing although is a distracted nurser lol she is 60th percentile for weight and not overly chubby even being solids too now. Try not to worry. Things tend to even out as baby gets older and then mobile.

If you are concerned it's reflux you could talk to her doctor or try some things that are supposed to help with that and see if it helps. Our first was a quick gainer. Always was in the 90-95th percentile. They kept telling me he was huge.. True but he was fine. Now he is 6 and in the 60th percentile and perfect. He really started to thin out when he started walking and went from there. I don't know if weight gain can be a sign of reflux though.

 

[minties]

Thanks! She is getting worse rather than better over the weeks so will take her to the doctor. She was (upright) on my chest last night and covered us both in vomit, it just kept coming and coming .

It's so different to my other kids so I'm not sure what's normal.

 

[noon_child]

Maybe she's got a bit of discomfort and nurses to ease it but then spits up the excess when she's too full.

You can't force a baby to feed at the breast so what's the point of them telling you your DD was obese...what are you supposed to do, NOT feed her? Either they though something was wrong metabolically (which isn't your responsibility to get to the bottom of) or they trust that she'll take what she needs and it'll even out in the end - which it sounds like it did.

If it is discomfort due to acid or wind she may like a pacifier but I know not everyone is comfortable using them. If they start getting on your back about her weight you could ask if something like Ranitidine would help stop her comfort nursing so much, but if its not causing you an issue and Lo seems healthy and happy then I'd keep doing what you're doing.

 

[Mrs. MB]

I've been told numerous times by pediatricians, nurses, midwives and more that you can't over feed if you're exclusively breastfeeding.

 

[marmoset]

I find that really disturbing that healthcare professionals were hassling you about an exclusively breastfed baby being 'obese'. That just sits so wrong with me! We live in a world where people are SO obsessed with weight, that that obsession is filtering down to INFANTS is just gross. Babies are supposed to be all chubby and chunky and cuddleable. Augh.

 

[marmoset]

(That is not to invalidate your worries about Emma spitting up/being uncomfortable/etc, I hope you get some good answers about that when you take her in)

 

[campn]

You can't overfeed a baby especially at this age. She sounds just fine.

 

[minties]

Thanks very much everyone.

I've been trying a few different pacifiers with her since she was born but she scrunched her face up and thrusts them out of her mouth so I can tell she isn't keen. My other daughter loved pacifiers but it was just another thing to have to get rid of so I should be glad Emma isn't keen.

She nursed almost all day from 11:30am till 8pm, yikes, but funnily didn't spit up once and has only spit up once in the last 30ish hours.

She doesn't ever seem to show pain or discomfort when she vomits so I'm unsure if it's something that needs medication or just her immature stomach valve.

My other daughter was about 75th-91st for weight and 9th-25th for length as an infant and is pretty much still along those lines, I don't weigh her often now though as I feel she's old enough to wonder why I'm do concerned with her physical appearance (which I'm not now as I think she's mainly just built this way).

Emma looks just fine to me and I won't worry what health professionals say