Under weight or above average? 8oz in 1 week?

[Tiggy26]

Hi,

My "Red Book" has been totally messed up by the various health visitors that have written on Antonio's weight page!

Antonio was born 4 weeks premature however the first health visitor I saw decided to start plotting his weight from his EDD! Then the second healt visitor noticed the mistake that the last one made and corrected it so that his weight was plotted from when he was born 4 week prem. Then the HV i saw the first time round said that the other one that corrected it was wrong and it should be plotted from his EDD

My "Red Book" is like dot to dot at the moment!

Anyway....I went to get Antonio weighed today and I ended up having a pop at the HV and said "isnt it about time you made your mind up!, his weight has been plotted all over the place and I dont know what I should be looking at!" Im obiously concerned as I want to be able to make sure Antonio is putting the weight on properly!

The HV today said Antonio's weight should DEFINATLEY!! be plotted from when he was born 4 weeks prem! Which makes his weight above average now. But she also said that if we looked at how it was plotted from EDD then he would be slightly underweigh! But HV said to only take notice of plotting when he was born so he definatley above average at the moment.

Thing is.....Antonio was putting on 1lb per week for the past 2mths and last wednesday he weighed 10lb, a week later (today) he weighed 10lb 8oz. He only put on 8oz in 1 week should I be concerned about this??? Its a dramatic drop from 1lb per week down to 8oz in 1 week.

Sorry such a long post. Any comments appreciated.

T xx

 

[purple13]

i don't know how you're feeding but i read that average weight gain per week in a bf baby is between 4-7oz.

8oz is plenty hon

 

[happy-chick]

Yeh 4-7oz is average weight gain for a week so you have absolutely nothing to worry about, sounds like he's doing really well

 

[smile]

hiya

it is confusing when they are preterm but look at page C in growth charts in the red book and you will see it says that for 3 or more weeks before term they should draw a line at the week he was born eg at wk36 for antonio and count from that line for the first 12 months.

weight gain fluctuates and in the first few months in particular they do catch up or catch down growth to find the right line for them sounds liek he is doing fine but you can always use his measurements to plot for yourself - if you aren't too good with graphs pm me them and I'll do it for you.x

 

[Tiggy26]

It is? i diddnt realise I said to the health visitor today that i thought it was odd as he usually puts 1lb a week on. She just said "hummmm thats odd isnt it" and diddnt mention that the average weight gain.

thanx for your replies xx

 

[happy-chick]

As he's prem it would make sense for him to put on more weight at first to 'catch up' sorta thing then slow down to the normal weight gain... There have been weeks where Ellie has gained 1lb then others when shes gained just 7oz

 

[Tiggy26]

hiya

it is confusing when they are preterm but look at page C in growth charts in the red book and you will see it says that for 3 or more weeks before term they should draw a line at the week he was born eg at wk36 for antonio and count from that line for the first 12 months.

weight gain fluctuates and in the first few months in particular they do catch up or catch down growth to find the right line for them sounds liek he is doing fine but you can always use his measurements to plot for yourself - if you aren't too good with graphs pm me them and I'll do it for you.x

Hi T

Just looked in red book and as you said it does say to draw a line, ive just done that myself as HV diddnt bother (they cant seem to make their minds up!) so hopefully this will stop anymore confusion. Im thinking of getting some tipex to erase the wrong plottings as well. Im crap with graphs but i explained to OH what HV said today and when he gets home he said hes going to do our own graph, so you and OH were both thinking the same thing. This way I can keep a good track of whats going on.

T xx

 

[smile]

YGM.xx

 

[Babylicious]

they've done the same to harrisons book - he came 3 weeks early

 

[Kimbo]

leah put 13oz on in a week once

just like her mother except that would be 13 pound

 

[purple13]

leah put 13oz on in a week once
just like her mother except that would be 13 pound

we've got greedy lil ones!

connor did 12oz last week, and 1lb the week before...!

wish i still measured my weight gain in ounces...!

 

[Gem & Leland]

Hi tiggy

leland and antonio should be on the same week , so this week they should have been plotted at week 5 , it deffo goes by his edd and will do so for a year


leland weighs 12lbs and he went thought the 1lb a week gain too ! and if he was a 'proper' 11 week old baby he would only be on the 50th centile but cos its by his corrected age his actually over the 91st !



noone seems to ahve gone through with you what to expect from a premmie ? if u wanna chat pm me as ive been explained a fair bit of what to expect and what to judge by corrected age etc

 

[kellysomer]

I think that weight gain sounds excellent, Morgan has been gaining between 1 and 5 ounces a week and HV says thats fine.

 

[valentine]

I didn't have a prem baby but baby's weight gain does slow down around 2 months (this obviously depends on the baby) and can be quite a drastic slow down if your baby is breast fed.

My baby hasn't doubled her birth weight yet (8.5 months) yet often put on 10lbs-1lb a week in the first few weeks and now it feels like she has spent weeks and months putting on 1oz here and there and losing 2oz and staying the same. I know my baby is a lot older, but I hope that this shows you that they can't keep up the initial weight gain throughout their first year.

Valentine Xxx

 

[lisa&alex]

hey hun.. im gonna hazzard a guess that your vchart looks like this...

just always go back to his initial birth week.. so it will be the same as edwards.. and 36 weeks.. and follow the line there.. try not to worry about the graph.. and go from the page oposite where it says.. 10lb whatever.. instead of the kg chart.. as long as he is gaining the chart doesnt really mean much.. its only an average of this amount of children in the survey/test weighed the same as your baby does at the same age..

as jo has said a 3-7lb weight gain is average per week.. anything under or above it is seen as not average.. but not uncommon.. so try not to worry.. 1lb or 8loz gain is fantastic..

 

[Tiggy26]

hey hun.. im gonna hazzard a guess that your vchart looks like this...

just always go back to his initial birth week.. so it will be the same as edwards.. and 36 weeks.. and follow the line there.. try not to worry about the graph.. and go from the page oposite where it says.. 10lb whatever.. instead of the kg chart.. as long as he is gaining the chart doesnt really mean much.. its only an average of this amount of children in the survey/test weighed the same as your baby does at the same age..

as jo has said a 3-7lb weight gain is average per week.. anything under or above it is seen as not average.. but not uncommon.. so try not to worry.. 1lb or 8loz gain is fantastic..

Hey Lisa,

That is exactly what mine looks like! Just add a few scribbles where one of the HV's tried to scrub it out (in pen) and there you will see a beautiful mess!!

A friend has kindly cut and paste her weight page and sent it to me via e-mail with the correct weights on it. Ive now printed it off and stappled it to my red book. No messing about now!!

T xx

 

[lisa&alex]

no worries.. try not to stress about it hun.. it is after all only a chart.. as long as hes gaining thats all that matters huh xx