Slow weight gain - 10 days old

[caz_hills]

My baby girl is ten days old. She was a healthy 9 lb 1 Oz at birth and lost 9% by day five. I wasn't too worried as they said 10% loss is normal. But today the midwife weighted her and she had only put a tiny amount on.

She was 4.1 kg at birth, 3.70 day five and only 3.76 today 😫 We have been feeding regularly - she will never go more than 3 hours in the day, four at night as the midwife advised. She is taking about 450 ml a day - half expressed breast milk and half formula. Have been trying to get her to latch but It's not yet working - so I'm trying but we are on bottles (unfortunately which is another challenge).

She has plenty of wet and pooy nappies (still brown not yellow yet). The midwife said she isn't worried and will come back on Monday to re Wright her.

I feel like I've really let her down. I don't know what more we can do to feed her.

Help please x

 

[Twinmum87]

Most babies regain birth weight by 14 days, but not all do. Especially those that have a larger initial weight loss. I wouldn't worry right now. See what she is at the next weigh in. She may have a large gain suddenly and catch back up, she may gain at a slow and steady pace and drop to a lower centile line then continue along that line. Usually they do not start to worry unless a baby drops a full 2 lines and continues to drop, or is showing signs of dehydration which your little lady isn't.

All my 3 have regained birthweight either bang on day 14 or earlier, but all have also gone on to fluctuate on their lines. My eldest boy (who was the baby who took a full 14 days to regain weight) went up 1.5 lines, then dropped back to birth line and stayed there. My girl dropped down, then went back up again. My youngest boy, who regained birth weight a LOT faster and dropped a lot less (only 50 grams) dropped a full line, stayed there for a while then dropped another half a line.

So the initial weight loss and time taken to regain birth weight doesn't always indicate how well baby will do with weight gain in the future.

Sounds like she is happy, feeding frequently and the wet and soiled nappies are all indicators she is doing well.

Another thing could be, were you one IV fluids during labour? Sometimes this can kind of plump up the weight of the baby and then they loose that water weight too. (or so I have heard anyway)!

 

[Nibblenic]

I wouldnt worry right now, you know exactly how much shes getting and shes a big baby. My friends who had babies born on the high percentiles didnt gain much in the first month.

 

[MindUtopia]

It sounds like she is doing great, so I would just keep doing what you're doing. Mine wouldn't latch initially at all and wouldn't eat much even when cup fed. She lost 12% of her body weight by day 2 and we had to go into hospital for monitoring (I had a home birth, so we were all healthy and lovely, straightforward birth with no other issues). She was in hospital for 5 days and we finally got discharged by day 7 when she started to gain any weight at all. She didn't regain her birth weight again until day 26. That was a concern and we had to be on a feeding schedule and wake her at least every 3 hours if she didn't wake to eat (she was very sleepy with no feeding cues and no sucking reflex at all) and we had almost daily weigh ins for the first month. That is something they would be concerned about, but a 9% loss is fine and she's putting on weight, which is great, and she's not far off birth weight. Just keep doing what you're doing. It was so stressful at the time and the midwives put a lot of pressure on us. Unlike in your case, for us, they were genuinely a little panicked and concerned about failure to thrive and low blood sugar, etc. Mine was also a small baby anyway (6lbs 9 oz at birth). And it was just all so stressful and they were always banging on the door wanting to weigh her and talking about re-admitting her to the hospital, etc. But we just kept going and eventually it was fine. I worried a lot for probably no reason when I should have just fed her and enjoy that time together. So hang in there. Keep it up. You'll probably see a big change by this time next week, even though I know that seems ages away still.

 

[caz_hills]

Thanks ladies. I asked the midwife what happens if she had lost more weight and she said they would read it is to hospital. That's what worried me. Maybe we need to wake her every three hours at night instead of four? I just feel that we must be doing something wrong as she is feeding well but no weight gain.

Youre right though every day feels so long! I hope by Monday we will make progress

 

[minties]

So your LO gained 6 grams in 5 days? That is really worrying for you. Can formula cause poo to be more brown I wonder?

I have seen other high birthweight babies on here lose a lot in the first couple of weeks and then settle on a curve eventually. I hope that's all it is for you guys.

I did read somewhere that a general rule of thumb is 150mls of milk per kg of body weight, so that would mean about 550ml per day for your baby.

 

[caz_hills]

Just wanted to update - our daughter was re weighted today and has out on a whopping 200g in three days! She is nearly back to birth weight, not quite but only a bit below. So the midwife discharged us now to the health visitor and we are continuing to increase feeds. She is doing so well and I'm so pleased we are back on track. Having a tiny newborn is so nerve wracking.

Thanks for all of your advice and support x

 

[Twinmum87]

Fantastic! Well done little lady!

 

[minties]

Yay that is wonderful news!