Low weight gain at 6 months - help!

[Ice Cold Cube]

Hi all

My preemie is ebf and gained weight really well in the early months - sometimes 10oz in a week. Her growth has really slowed down recently though, and over a couple of months she's dropped a centile. She's now 6 months and weighs 11lb 8oz. She only put on 4oz in the past two weeks.

I'm starting to worry - should I? The HVs don't seem overly concerned but only 4oz in 2 weeks is not great, right? In the 2 weeks period before that it was only a 5oz gain.

She feeds pretty much every 3 hours during the day with longer spells at night. She's a really active baby - loves nothing more than bouncing away in her jumperoo for ages or kicking and rolling around. She doesn't feed for long though - on average just ten mins on one side. I know I have a fast letdown and can get a lot out in that time though, as I expressed for a month for her when she was in hospital. She doesn't take a bottle so I have no idea what she's getting. She's always contented after a feed though. We have lots of wet nappies and a dirty one every day.

I've not introduced solids yet as she's only just over 4 months corrected and I feel it's too early for her.

Can anyone reassure me or give me some advice?

Thanks

Laura x

 

[Nervous_1]

You've hit the nail on your head by describing your baby.....she's active! At about this age they suddenly start to move about a LOT more, so they're burning a lot more calories. Also, a lot of the bm goes into growing at this age rather than just gaining weight.

You've said that baby is contented, happy, still giving plenty of wet/dirty nappies etc, which are the major signs I'd be worried about, not how much weight is gained week on week. You know in your heart that baby is healthy and growing out of their clothes, and that's all you should be concerned about

 

[LegoHouse]

Let me see if my son's red book is in the house then I will write a reply x

 

[LegoHouse]

My son was born at 8lb 5oz. He struggled to regain his birth weight. Gained slowly but steadily for a while, then stopped really gaining much at all. I saw doctors and paediatricians who all said as long as he was hydrated, his stools were "normal", he was meeting milestones, and he had regular checks, then there was nothing wrong with him, and all children are different. Doctors all told me to trust my baby. Even when he looked really skinny. And they were right.


Birth: 8lb 5oz
4 weeks: 8lb 8oz
5 weeks: 8lb 13oz
6 weeks: 9lb 7oz
8 weeks: 9lb 14oz
10 weeks: 10lb 5oz
12 weeks: 10lb 11oz
14 weeks 10lb 13oz
15 weeks: 11lb
16 weeks: 11lb 2oz
18 weeks 11lb 4oz
20 weeks: 11lb 6oz
22 weeks: 12lbs
27 weeks: 14lb 9oz
40 weeks: 18lb 15oz

 

[JessPape]

If your HV isn't concerned don't stress, my daughter never doubled her weight by her expected time, nor did she triple it by a year. Some babies are small, as long as she isn't starving after being fed, and is reaching milestones, has a good diaper out put I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[hello_kitty]

My baby is also a preemie and is now 8 months old (6 months corrected). He was also gaining weight a little slowly at his 6 month check up (4 months) he was 14 lbs 10 oz. The doctor said I should try feeding him solids and just go by his actual age when trying to introduce solids to him. I did try solids but he didnt really like it until the past month. I was really worried about his weight a month ago, but now I am really happy with his weight gained. He gained 26 oz in 3 weeks. Last monday he was 16 lbs 9.6 oz. I really think solids help, and if the doctor recommends it, you should definitely give it a try.

 

[BigAl]

If the HV is not worried, you really don't need to worry. My lo dropped from the 75% to the 50% around that time, and nobody even commented.

Sounds like you are both doing well.

 

[pinksmarties]

My Lo also did that. He gained only 1oz in 2 week and then another 2oz the following 2 weeks. He was bouncing between the 9th and 25th centile. HV unconcerned and he has put a lot more on since then. I wasn't overly concerned either as he still seemed happy and healthy but I did google it, for some reason it does seem a common occurrence for bf babies around this time probably for the reason the above posters have stated. I did notice he had a lot of developmental leaps at that time so maybe that was part of it.

 

[summer rain]

This is one big reason why they completely redrew the baby weight charts in the UK to be based on BF babies only, because BF babies while they often gain above average amounts of weight to start with their weight gain can drop to almost nothing after 4-6 months. I looked at the chart and to stay on the same centile after 6 months they only need to gain about 1.75oz a week, even with that taken into account my second youngest still fell to the 25th centile and then the 9th between 9 and 12 months he then started piling weight on again as a toddler and is now between the 50th and 75th again which was his birth centile. I wouldn't introduce solids early, solids contain less calories and fat than milk so it could make things worse xx

 

[lanaross]

also growing is about height as well, not just the weight. she's probably growing length-wise right now. I can't remember the exact period when Isabella stopped gaining weight but instead she grew to 97 percentile in height. She gained quite a bit in the first 6-8 months and then the weight gain slowed down dramatically and almost stopped. She didn't lose any weight but she became much leaner and much taller.

 

[Ice Cold Cube]

Thanks everyone - feel reassured now

She is such a happy wee thing and I am so pleased with her overall progress. She has seemed quite hungry today and just woke there for a feed, a couple of hours earlier than usual, so maybe she's hitting another growth spurt! She's also quite a long baby so has maybe been building on her length rather than her weight over the past few weeks!

The solids issue is puzzling me. So many HVs have told me to start her at 6 months actual, even though that would make her only a week over 4 months corrected. I instinctively feel she's too small to start solids at the moment (she was 6 months last week), and I waited until 6 months with my son (who was full term) because I wanted to make sure his digestive system could handle it. My thinking is that if she's only just over 4 months corrected just now, then her digestive system is still immature for solids. But then she's been a hungry girl today and that could also be a sign that she's starting to get ready for more than milk? Arghhh! Then there is also the iron issue. I know her iron stores will be low as I give her cytron iron supplements by syringe every day, as prescribed by her doctor, and she spits the drops right back out at me! As she doesn't take a bottle there is no other way of giving it to her, but I may as well not bother because it all ends up on her bib! So although I feel she's still small for solids, I know she needs to start getting the additional nutrition!

Laura x

 

[mia_leacey]

Totally normal. I worried myself silly over this but with hindsight I wish I hadn't. I just don't go and get him weighed any more. That was the only way I could stop myself obsessing!