Short feeds & weight gain

[crazydiamond]

I am a bit worried about my LOs feeding. His weight gain is pretty poor and I am wondering what I can do to help it. I know he has a milk protein allergy and hoped that cutting dairy would help - it has made him happier and less fussy but his weight gain remains poor.

At present he has very short feeds - 10 minutes max and often only 5. Because I am worried about his weight I am offering the breast very frequently so he can feed as much as every hour. During the night he has started to wake 2 hourly (4 month sleep regression?) and I offer the breast everytime although 50% of the time he is not particularly hungry.

Would I be better trying to space out feeds more to ensure he is more hungry when he feeds and takes more each time? He does only feed off one side so I assume he is getting the hindmilk however his poo does look a bit green. Any other tips for getting him to drink more would be appreciated.

 

[CeriB]

The sleep regression could be sticking around a bit for you, disrupting his sleep and causing him to comfort feed to self settle. Try block feeding him so he gets more hindmilk and try waiting until he 'asks' for a feed so maybe he will take more?

At 4m, LOs do regulate their feeding and become more efficent at getting to the good stuff so feeding times will reduce - Erin has done the exact same thing! Some LOs are slow gainers, but as long as he is gaining and has 6-8 wet nappies, all should be fine! The green poop could be due to too much foremilk, but can also indicate tummy bug, cold or teething. So, anything really!!!!

 

[kelly29]

i think its the sleep regression!! maddie went from pretty much sleeping to waking all the time for booby this lasted about 2 wks i guess but now she's waking at 3.30am! i don't know i guess we never really know why they wake, but i always feed anyway! but like ceri say's at 4 months they know exactly what there doing when it comes to feeding so there much quicker maddie will feed a lot still but not as much as she did when she was younger i do find myself offering boobie and she don't want it!!! mare lol x

 

[MelanieAnn]

Your strategy of feeding more often sounds very sensible. Spacing feeds out probably wouldn't encourage him to get more hindmilk, just to gorge when he did feed. And as life long fat patterns are set in the early months (some say week) the chances of him being an obese adult are reducing!

 

[summer rain]

How much is your LO gaining per week? My eldest was only gaining 2oz a week at that stage despite starting on solids at 4 months (he went through a phase of gaining 8oz a week between 12 and 20 weeks; didn't last long). My eldest was on between the 2nd and 9th centile (born on the 50th) but the paediatricians at the hospital who were seeing them for other issues were very happy with his growth, between about 8 months and 13 months he suddenly started gaining tons of weight and had shot up to above the 50th centile by 13 months. Similar happened with my second eldest; except he went from above the 98th centile to the 0.4 centile at one point, but by the age of 2 he was back up to the 75th (he also had extensive allergies and could not have any dairy or eggs until 2 years and we had to be cautious and restrict quantites of many other foods as well) xx

 

[Vixen_17]

Or try something like Fenugreek to increase your milk supply so he might get more at each feed?

 

[crazydiamond]

Thanks all. Interesting to read CeriB that teething can make poo green, he has been teething for the past month and two teeth pooped through his gum yesterday.

Summer rain he is currently gaining around 100g/3.5oz per week. He has never gained very much though – he was born on the 91st percentile, fell to the 50th at 1 month and then gradually dropped to between the 25th and the 9th where he has been for the past month. I am only 5'5” so I think he is not meant to be huge however the paediatrician thinks that he should not have continued to drop below the 50th. If I have now cut all allergens out of my diet now should he be gaining a bit more?

Vixen I did try Fenugreek a month ago but I am pretty sure it is not a supply problem as I have tried topping him up with expressed milk but he is not interested. I am wondering if he wants to feed little and often out of habit now as he used to do this to help his reflux which is now better.

 

[summer rain]

I don't agree with the paediatrician; just because a baby is born on x centile doesn't mean they are programmed to forever gain weight along that centile, being between the 25th and the 9th is still well within the middle sections of the chart. When we were seeing paediatricians for both DS1 and DS2, they were happy that they were settled and steadily gaining along one centile even if it was the bottom one and far away from where they were born on. They also told me that babies who gain poorly at first often play catch up later on and gain more than average for their age; this turned out to be completely true in our case. Also the birth centile now is not considered to be anything really to do with the centile they settle on later; which is why there is a gap on the new charts between 0-2 weeks of age but some paediatricians may not be up to date with the latest information on infant growth and the new charts. With my second eldest he was born huge but we could tell from his hands, feet and bone structure that he was really meant to be quite petite; he was 2 weeks overdue and near the end of the pregnancy I did get depressed with the waiting (my eldest was born at 37 weeks) and ended up really overeating. He is nearly 6 now and is very tall (is in age 7 trousers and age 8 tops) he looks very slim but is on the 50th centile. xx