Newborn not putting a lot of weight on

[poppy]

My baby is 11 days old and just got weighed. He weighed 7 pounds and 12 ounces at birth, was weighed at day 6 and weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces. At his weigh in today, he only weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces - so only a gain of one ounce!

I was wondering if anyone had any advice to increase my baby's weight as I really don't want to go on to formula feeding.

I had no problems at all with my first son as he was big when born (9 pounds and 12 ounces) and put on weight fast.

I have found that my let down is not as strong this time around and my flow is not as fast.

Any advice is much welcome.

 

[Fraggles]

Hi my son is a slow gainer as was my last baby. Not currently at birth weight yet and we are 3 1/2 weeks. I was advised go no longer than 4 hours between feeds and you can even increase to 2 hourly if you need to. Dont supplement just keep getting baby on the boob. Some babies do just gain slower than others.

 

[lynnikins]

try to make sure baby is feeding at least every 3 hours id say and otherwise so long as there are wet nappies then your baby will get there

 

[AmeliePoulain]

My little girl was similar - 6lb7oz at birth, 6lb 2oz on day 5. Day 10 6lb 3oz but by day 15 she was back to her birth weight, i offered her feeds whenever she was awake etc but her feeding didnt really change, she just gained in a spurt rather than steadily

 

[Blah11]

Congrats! That sounds fine tbh, remember babies lose quite a bit to start with and BF babies lose more than FF ones Amelie was born at 6lb4 and dropped to 5lb11 at one point.

 

[Cattie]

My daughter was 6lb 8oz at birth, day 14 and she's still only 6lb 5oz. Some just fatten up more quickly than others. Don't panic - as long as he's feeding and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies he should be fine. Your health visitor/midwife will soon say if there's a problem. Persevere hun xxx

 

[jeanettekaren]

Finn took 5 weeks to regain his birth weight (8 lb 3), and even now he is only 9 lb 7 (8 weeks). He is following the 9th centile line so the hv is happy with him, he is just a little on the small side. He tends to put on weight every couple of weeks, like one week he only put on an oz but the next put on a whopping 9 oz. We are getting weighed weekly as a precaution but he's doing fine.

Keep breastfeeding on demand and he'll get there in the end, you're doing the best thing for him so have faith in what you're doing. I know I kept wondering whether to switch Finn to formula but I'm glad I didn't

 

[summer rain]

Some babies are just slow gainers and there isn't much difference between FF and BF babies in this regard, I know some of my husband's EFF siblings did lose quite a bit of weight after birth, took about 3 weeks to be back to their birthweight and gained quite slowly until they were quite a bit older. BM actually has more calories and fat than formula. My eldest was a slow gainer as is this baby, my son now took about 16 days to fully regain his birthweight as when weighed late on day 15 he was a few grams short. He has consistently gained 10-11oz a week since though. My two middle boys, the eldest of them didn't lose any weight and gained 3oz by a week old but his weight gain was in fits and starts after that; 6oz one week, over a pound the next. He was nearly 15 pounds by 10 weeks but then after that failed to gain much weight at all, 1-2oz a week and some weeks nothing; until he was 6 months as he had allergy problems. My second youngest took 11 days to regain his birthweight then after that gained 2lbs in 11 days; but after that he gained about 6oz a week; then his weight gain also crashed so massive weight gains in the beginning are not necessarily a good thing. My eldest took 3 weeks to regain his birthweight and while occasionally he did gain 6-8oz a week most weeks it was around 4; but he consistently stayed between the 2nd and 9th percentile (would be the 25th on the newer charts) until he was 1 then he suddenly shot back up to the 50th.

 

[Blah11]

^ BF babies do gain slower in general a mum might give a 2oz bottle (i have no idea what you give a newborn so just go with me LOL) of formula but a BF baby prob wont take anywhere near as much during a feed so although BF is more calorific the amount the baby takes is less. FF babys stomachs stretch quicker too apparently.

 

[summer rain]

Bf babies generally gain weight more quickly than FF at first, after the initial loss and the new charts were designed to reflect this fact. The main difference in weight gain between BF and Ff is after 4 months when BF babies tend to become leaner and FF accumulate more fat. I know of many bf babies who didn't lose any birthweight and gained huge amounts from the get go, the LLL also say bf babies should be starting to gain again from day 4 onwards if feeding is going well. While I wouldn't agree with that always being the case they are obviously basing it on something. While BF babies obviously take less quantity wise in the first three days, a few days later there is little difference. At a week old when it came to EBM mine would take more than average even for formula and I've been told their stomach has to have the capacity there from existing feeds to take x amount. I didnt choose for them to have EBM at that stage but it was my two who were jaundiced in hospital. The doctors/nurses in both cases had to conclude my sons were getting plenty of breastmilk. However some babies even within the same family are just genetically predisposed to take a bit longer to get back to their birthweight, and gain weight more slowly in general no matter how they are fed. I've seen quite a few cases of babies put onto formula to help them gain that bit quicker and they've gained even more slowly. Best thing to do is keep BF.

 

[cleckner04]

Skin to skin such as bathing together, baby massage, etc is really great to help promote weight gain. Fenugreek if you need to improve your supply. Perhaps look into block feeding as well because your LO could be getting more hindmilk than foremilk. Emma was a slow gainer so these are the things I did in the beginning. She only ever gained a pound a month if that. Some months she didn't gain at all. But as long as there are plenty of wet/dirty diapers and as long as LO seems happy and alert, than he should be fine!!