Itty Bitty Babies Club (Slow Gainers)

[cleckner04]

I must have the smallest baby out of this group. lyre, Max weighs more than Emma already!

 

[catty_smith]

Hi ladies! I have joined this thread now after being reccomended it by the ovely ladies in the bf forum. My little boy Adam is 3 months and has his second lots if injections and check up yesterday. Since his last appointment a month ago he has only put on 4 oz and is now on the 0.4th centile. He only weighs 10 lb and he wax 9 lb 4 when he was born so you can imagine how terrible I feel. I was exclusively bf up until yesterday when i decided to start supplementing his mid mornig with a ff.

The HV didn't put any pressure on me to do so and wasn't worried enough to have him back before next month. He's a very happy little soul and I think our main problem has been that he has never woken at night for a feed.

Anyway I'm delighted that I'm not the only one with this problem. It's such a mixed emotion because by breastfeeding I like to think I'm doing best for him but I'm obviously not because he's so tiny and underweight. I will give it a week of supplementing and if he's not put anything on then I'll wsitch to formula completely.

 

[florabean1981]

catty welcome to the group. Don't feel bad about supplementing; if it's best for your LO, then it can't be a bad thing IMO. So long as your LO seems happy & healthy, regardless of his weight, then you are probably doing all the right things. My son used to sleep through, but at around 3 1/2 months started waking more often & seemed hungrier, now every night is different, sometimes he sleeps through, sometimes he wakes up to 6 times! I figure if he is hungry, he will make it known!
If you're concerened about slow gaining, you could try giving him a dream feed in the middle of the early hours (like 3/4am?) & see how he takes to it & if it makes any difference. But dont worry if it doesn't!!! Some babies are just meant to be small & use their calories well for doing other things during the day. It takes crazy amounts of calories for babies to concentrate & develop as fast as they do, so they use every little bit they get, which sometimes can present in slower gains in otherwise perfectly healthy babies... Sometimes I swear they just like to keep us on our toes, lol!
Is your LO growing well in length & head circ? If so, try not to worry... which can be difficult, I know, but length & head measurements are actually a far better representation of whether babies are growing well that just weight alone.


Clerkner; how long now till hubby is home?

 

[cleckner04]

Welcome catty!! :wave:

Flora- I think we are at 37 days now until DH is home. Not that I'm counting or anything..

 

[diz]

welcome catty... i'm new too x

 

[cutie4evr01]

Hi girls, can I join you over here too? My LO was born Jan 7 weighing 7lb, 11oz. She lost over 10% but had regained most of it by day 4, and after 2 weeks she weighed 8lb, so I thought she was doing fab. Yesterday at her 2 month appt, she only weighed 9lb, 6oz, so she's only gained 1lb, 11oz in 2 months. This is less than 1lb per month (avg 3-4oz per week). Is that low enough to qualify me for the itty bitty gainers? She dropped from 39%ile to 14%ile for weight. She is exclusively BF, feeds at least every 3 hours during the day, and wakes twice at night for a feed. I think my supply may be low though, because when I pump even if she hasn't eaten in 3 hours, I only get 2oz out. So even if baby is better than the pump, I imagine she's only getting 3oz per feed or so. She starts daycare on Monday, which I'm kind of glad about because I think once she starts getting bottles she will eat more since it's easier to get from a bottle, but I'm a bit worried I won't be able to pump enough to keep up with her. Anyway, we'll see how it goes, but I'm feeling a bit down that she's gaining so slowly. Her height dropped from 65%ile to 44%ile in those 2 months also, and her head circumference stayed the same at 62%ile. The doctor said I don't need to supplement, and she was pleased with her health, but I just feel like I may have let her down somehow. Thanks for reading!

 

[lyre]

Hi cutie! welcome to the club! i think we have all experienced a similar average gain per week so we know how you feel. sounds like she is quite a tall girl though, so may be she's using the energy to grow lengthways!. dont be silly, you havent let her down, the doctor said she is healthy, all babies grow differently, as we are all finding out. Happy to have another member on board! we're all here to support each other so dont feel bad about having a moan x

 

[florabean1981]

cutie & welcome to the group. Like Lyre said, you totally haven't let your LO down in any way at all.
I know what you mean about pumping... I can only ever get 1-3oz at a time either & it always disappoints & worries me. I started eating porridge every day (oats are meant to help increase your supply) & also take 6 fenugreek tablets everyday about 4 weeks ago. I havent noticed any difference in the amount I can pump, but I feel like my boobs get fuller quicker, so I am making the assumption that's a good thing? lol.

gotta run coz Harrybo's woken up again.

 

[catty_smith]

Thanks ladies. I have been a bit worried again today but he's having a formula feed at lunchtimes now and is taking them well. I do feel really guilty but he does seem happy and I suppose if he was starving then he would make it known. It's unknown territory for me just now because I stopped bf my first two at about seven weeks. I do hope I'm not harming him. I feel terrible when I see that most babies have put on about 5lbs at least by 13 weeks but he's not at all.

 

[lyre]

catty, i'm sure he would make it known if he was still hungry, so dont worry about starving him! xxx

 

[diz]

Hi Cutie - welcome along.

Catty, i'l bet my months maternity pay that your not harming your son! Your doing so well with BF. We are all used to seeing such big chubby babies, but thats not necessarily healthy.

Well Noah had a complete check up yesterday and his centiles are

Weight - 15.2 ibs, so he has crept up to the 9th
Length - 62cm, so he is between the 0.4th and the 2nd
Head - 43.5cm, so he is on the 25th

I'm happy with that!

 

[florabean1981]

great news Diz sounds like Noah's doing just fine!

 

[WW1]

Hi ladies. Can I join too?

My LO was 8lb when she was born and is now 9lb 11oz at 2 months. She was born on the 50th percentile and is now on the 9th!

We've had difficulties feeding from day one (she was in SCBU with a feeding tube as she refused to feed for the first couple of days). Since then she's been in hospital with bronchiolitis (which stopped her feeding for several days). She's now finding feeding a challenge and most feeds are accompanied with screams (not fun at all - the docs think it might be silent reflux so she is on meds for this).

I look around me and all other babies seem to be putting on gallons of weight. Even though my lo is formula fed she still seems to be gaining slowly. I keep telling myself that despite her shaky start she is still gaining weight so it should be okay. It's good to know I'm not alone with my little baby though!

 

[lyre]

Welcome WW1! its getting quite busy in here now, which is great!

Great news Diz x

 

[florabean1981]

WW1, welcome to the group. It's nice to have a FF mummy here too, which proves that slow gaining isn't just a BFing thing, which is what many ppl think. Sorry to hear about your LO's feeding problems; that must be so stressful to have to deal with at every feed, I can't even imagine how difficult that must be.

 

[cleckner04]

Welcome to all of the newcomers!! :wave: It's nice to know we aren't alone with these teeny ones!

 

[diz]

Welcome WW1. Sounds like its quite hard going for you? My friends little boy has silent reflux. He would find feed times stressful because it always hurt. She ended up having to give him baby gaviscon, plus another med (can't remember what) she also had to keep him up-right for an hour after each feed day and night. So pretty tough going. He did end up loosing weight at one point, and quite a bit of it. I hope things pick up for your LO. It's good that she is putting on weight albeit slowly x

 

[Logan's Mum]

Hello mummies!! can I join too? Logan is a weeeeennniiieeee baby, bit of background: BF until 4 months as lost weight (think supply just disappeared), now FF and also weaning. Born 6lb 13oz,now is approx 14lb (needs to get weighed this week). Hes putting on weight fast now hes being weaned. Im sooo pleased I found this group, thought it was just me (silly I know but you read all these threads with big babies in and makes me feel like I shouldnt have kept BFing for so long if it wasnt doing him any good). He totally missed the 3-4 month growth spurt too. to all the mummies in this group, slow weight gain feels like you are failing but we just have babies that like being mini for a while longer than most

 

[lyre]

Welcome Logans Mum! He is so cute! x

 

[cleckner04]

Logan's Mum- He is absolutely gorgeous hun! Your avatar piccie is amazing.

The threads on here about big babies can be hard to deal with at time. For me the worst comments are the 'big babies are healthy babies'. It always hurts me every time because I know Emma is healthy and if they actually believe what they are saying than they must think my beautiful girl is unhealthy.