Slow weight gain

[mikid]

Ella is exclusively breastfed and gaining very slowly, she's 11 weeks old and now only on the 25th centile having been born on the 91st.

Health visitor says I should increase my calorie intake but a dietician friend says this doesn't really affect milk supply as your body will make the milk regardless and just take from the mothers needs rather than compromise the milk.

Not sure what to do, should I introduce a formula feed once a day to try and beef her intake up a little bit or should I just wait it out a bit and see how it goes?

She doesn't seem unsatisfied, she feeds regularly every 2-3 hours (every 1-3 hours at the moment but I think that's because it's a lot warmer and she's more thirsty than hungry) and feeds for between 5-10 minutes each time.

Don't want to introduce formula unless she needs it, but also don't want her to keep dropping centiles

Any advice welcome

 

[ZMD]

I've had major problems with Tegans weight gain only 14lb 8oz at 23 weeks But was 8lb 1 at birth! i was exclusively bf'ing till 11 weeks then i introduced a bottle of formula for her last feed. at 4 months we moved to just formula as we found out she was Lactose intolerant x

 

[xxbeckyxx]

Lizzie is slow at gaining weight as well, but she is happy and healthy in general so I'm not too worried. I personally take everything my HV says with a pinch of salt as a lot of the time she doesn't know what she's on about lol.
It might be worth expressing after a feed and giving her what's left at another feed, so she definitely gets the hind milk? I also read that almonds can make milk 'richer' but not sure if that's really true - I use it as an excuse to eat lots of almonds though
Is Ella very active? I've also been told that because Lizzie is pretty much always kicking her legs and arms about and not sleeping much in the day it can affect weight gain - again, not sure how true this is!

 

[mikid]

Yeah, Ella's happy and healthy generally too so not overly worried, just always makes you a little nervous when you see the curves they're supposed to be following on the chart and she's nowhere near them!

She is quite active yes, rarely still when she's awake! I eat a lot of oats as i'd read they're supposed to help with milk production but hadn't heard about the almonds, have to get me some of those too!!

ZMD how did you find out about the lactose intolerance? Did it just arise with the formula milk or with breast milk too?

Might just go at it for another couple of weeks, eat more generally, including almonds (!) express after feeds and top her up with that and see how she is at the next weigh in... if it's still following the same pattern might try a formula bottle then.

Thanks ladies

 

[ZMD]

She was sick allot from 3 weeks old then once the formula was introduced she got really bad Eczema and spent most of the day screaming! they said it was Reflux But i kept going back to the gp who finally refered us to pediatrician he prescribed Lactose free formula and the change in her is amazing xx

 

[mikid]

Blimey, good job you kept going back otherwise she could still be suffering now

Ella was quite sicky but the last few weeks its really died down so hopefully she's not intolerant, just was a bit sicky!

 

[SmallPurpleCat]

It seems that there are lots of little ones gaining weight slowly...

Isla was 7lb 14oz at birth and at 15 weeks is 11lb 7oz. Been getting her weighed every fortnight and she only ever gains about 6oz in 2 weeks.

She's now dropped from the 50th to the 9th centile and is being referred to a paediatrician.

Isla was EBF until 8 weeks and then she had a week where she didn't gain at all and we started introducing the odd bottle of formula. We then discovered that she is allergic to cows milk protein so now has a special formula. In the last 2 weeks she's gone up to 2 formula feeds a day now and the rest EBM. However, it doesn't seem that increasing the amount of formula she is having has increased her weight gain (I only increased the amount as my supply is not great).

Isla is also happy and active so I try to tell myself that all is fine and that's just the way she is and all will be ok but then I have off days (mostly when going to clinic and having HVs giving me crap advice!).

Will wait and see what the paed has to say...

 

[PinkPunch]

Mikid I think your hv is right about eating more calories to make the milk more rich and fatty. We need an extra 500 calories a day when nursing. It's worth a try x

Ps. Do you think you could increase the length of the feed? 5-10 is really quick and it may not be long enough to drain the whole boob and get to the fatty milk at the end of a feed.

 

[mikid]

Be ihterested to see what the paed says SPC, keep us updated.

PP, i do try and keep her on but she just starts thrashing around and getting really frustrated