Preemie weight loss - really worried

[new_mummy]

My daughter was born at 32+6 weighing 4lb 7oz. She is now 9 days old and doing well, but at her weigh-in this morning she had dropped to 3lb 9oz, losing almost 20% of her body weight already. The nurses told me that they shouldn't really lose much more than 10%, and that the doctors will discuss what to do about it today. She is also incredibly refluxy and brings a lot of her feeds back up, so I know that can't be helping.

Does anyone have any knowledge/experiences/similar stories that they could share? I'm so worried about her.

 

[Fleur29]

I don't have any advice but just wanted to send huge,huge hugs. My dd (now a strapping 2.5 year old) was a 34 weeker and I can so clearly remember how utterly terrifying it is to have a baby in the nicu.

It sounds like your daughter maybe just needs to be put on a special milk or meds for the reflux and that's why she has lost more weight than they would ideally see.

Sending huge hugs to you - I hope they can get her weight to go up soon. My dd was actually discharged when her weight plateaued rather than waiting to see it increase as they could see she was doing so well with everything else.

Having a preemie is a crazy roller coaster but it doesn't last forever. Take care xx

 

[kirstybumx3]

Rio was 32 weeks and born 5lb 8.5 but dropped to 4lb 4 so lost way more than he should have. He also had reflux too. He has always had thickened milk and medication for it. I am sure that's what they'll look into. Try not to worry too much (easier said than done I know) x

 

[jandksmommy]

My gal was 23 1/2 weeks, dropped from 1lb 6 oz to 1 lb in a 48 hour period. My thoughts are with you as I know how terrifying it is to see such a drastic drop. There were other weight loses along the way to health but none as drastic as that one. Our little preemies have so much more going on in there little bodies that sometimes they can't eat enough calories to maintain their weight. In my LOs case, they couldn't do much as she was still too premature for them to increase her intake or to add fortifier to the breastmilk. They increased the lipids she was getting intravenously and waited it out. When she was older (passed 28 weeks gestation) they added fortifier to the breastmilk, she made huge gains once they started the fortifier! She is now a 20lb 19 month old. Hugs to you and your little one. Keep us updated... we will be thinking of you.

 

[new_mummy]

Thank you so much for your replies. It is very scary to see such a tiny baby lose weight, when all my instincts are screaming for her to put weight on!

The doctors on their ward rounds yesterday said they were not too concerned just yet, and they are going to wait and see if she gains by Sunday. I can't help being worried out of my mind though.

It's difficult to gain perspective on how serious or not serious this is, as I have no experience with preemies. Is is possible for her organs/brain development to be damaged by this initial loss, or if she doesn't gain it back quickly enough? Do some preemies just lose more and more weight until their body gives up completely?

 

[BabyMaybe917]

My little one lost 18% after starting at only 1lb 15oz. The drs told us it's normal to lose up to 20% but I don't know at what gestation that changes. I know it's hard but if the drs aren't worried I wouldn't be yet either. That's a phrase one of our lo's primary nurses told us all the time.

 

[kit10grl]

Not sure of percentages but when DD was born she wieghed 6lbs 11 (shes wasnt really a prem but was in nicu for serious health issues) at her lowest she had dropped to 4lbs. Its so scary to watch them lose so much weight. It was impossible for us to get her to gain weight as well as she was kept nil by mouth and on IV fluids for a really long time due to surgeries.

Not to scare you but just to let you see that there are always ways i wanted to share how we got her wieght moving again. She was tube feeding as she had no suck reflex at all. We couldnt do bolus feeds as even with just 30mls at 4-5 months old she would still projectile vomit the whole lot out in one go. We ended up pump feeding so the 30mls was just dripped down her NG tube a drop at a time to give her 30mls over the course of an hour. This ran 24 hours a days. It still resulted in her having massive projectile vomits every 4-5 hours and she wasnt gaining very well. They changed us to a very high calorie prescription formula. I was really upset about the pump feeding and high calorie milk at the time as it just felt so against what my instincts were telling me we should eb doing (DS was breastfed on demand) but i had to trust the doctors and very quickly she turned a corner in a month she put on 2 whole pounds. I was amazed and had to admit they had been right. It took us a long time to get her off this system of feeding more than a year but mostly that was due to other complications of her condition. Like a PP said if they arent worried yet try not to worry too much. They will still have plan B, C and D to try if what they are doing so far isnt working just keep strong

 

[PinkPeony]

Try not to worry. Doctors won't let anything happen to her. There are lots of things they can do to help her gain weight and to help the reflux. My LO has been on a couple different reflux meds that work really well as well as hypercaloric formula, formula thickened with rice cereal, and fortified breastmilk.