Weight after 6 weeks

80s Child

So, we went for my newborn's 6 week check up yesterday (even though he was only 5 weeks and 3 days) and he came in at 8lbs 4oz in weight.

Now, he was 5 weeks prem and was born at a weight of 6lbs 6oz. The doctor told us yesterday that he was under weight.

Now, he's being breast fed 5 times a day and gets formula once a day. She has encouraged us to give him another bottle of formula in the day.

With him being under weight, we're feeling a bit deflated! My wife went through the process of trying to get him to breast feed and now we feel that it has been a waste, as he hasn't made the gains that he should be making.

We feel like he is a great eater and he's a perfectly happy and content baby. He's also very alert and responsive.

I'm posting I suppose to see other people's experiences. We're a bit defeated if I'm honest.

spottybananas

Did they take into account that he was so early? He's basically only at birth/full gestation now so! Were they going by the formula fed baby charts? The more formula you give the less breastmilk there will be for him, so that's definitely not the route I would go. I would suggest calling a Cuidu counsellor or La Leche League or similar for advice. Don't feel deflated or defeated, your wife is doing great and from the little I know (I am bf my 16 month old who was 3 weeks early, emcs, in scbu, top ups given/more suggested due to "slow" birth weight regain) I would think you will all benefit from better advice, rather than someone whose only advice is to push formula on essentially a newborn baby.

LegacyUser

Ah.Hmm.Definitely, definitely, definitely get a lactation consultant.My second is four months old and was breastfed til 10 weeks.She stopped gaining weight between 6 and 8 weeks and I switched her very quickly to bottles (for a number of reasons).In hindsight, I should have got a consultant.The baby was fine, not dehydrated, alert, happy and growing in length.The doctor noted that herself.I actually regret it badly, and I did try for a while to relactate but it didn't work out.Your baby is a preemie so they will adjust and I understand that with early babies they fixate on the weight a lot.They fixate on weight with full term babies too, so I imagine it's worse with the early babas.At the three month checkup, my little one was cibsidered slightly underweight because she was being measured on a bottle fed chart, but she had been breastfed for 10 of those first 12 weeks.So she fell between two stools, and I imagine your little guy might too.I woukd not be surprised if my little one is slightly underweight still(by bottle charts) yet she's sitting up, rolling over, looking around, eating small amounts of solids amd wanting to be involved in everything.Charts and statistics can be quite rigid and not every child will fit rigidly into them, so don't give up hope yet :-)

dori_dormer

Also he's only getting fed 6 times a day? My 7 week old feeds every 90 min - 2 hrs during day and 3 times at night. Probably a total of 10 times or more in 24hrs. He's not gaining masses of weight but is on normal range.
If you want baby to gain more weight first step is more feeds. Be that breast or bottle.

spottybananas

Actually yes that's a good point, why is he getting fed a set amount of times? Breastfed babies should be fed on demand, more feeds would mean more weight gain.

otwb1

If he's having wet nappies and gaining weight then he's probably fine. As other posters have said, the more bottles you introduce the less breast milk he'll take which will in turn reduce the production of milk.

Just keep in mind that if baby is going through/ preparing for a growth spurt then they may well spend pretty much the full day on the breast. that's not a sign that they aren't getting enough milk - it's nature's way of upping mums milk production and/or giving baby energy for the spurt.

Again, look up your local Cuidiu group and give one of their breastfeeding councillors a call. (don't have to be a member)

80s Child

So, the General Health Nurse called today and she plotted his results on her own graph for babies who are born at 35 weeks and on thst graph, he's in the 75th percentile. This is in contrast to the graph used for full term babies where he would only be in the 2nd percentile, roughly speaking.

With regards to his feeding, I'm just generalising. I'm not sure if I mentioned in my first post that he gets one formula feed in the day, at about 23.30 and that tides him over for a few hours.

Obviously, as he's breast feeding, during the day he eats whenever he's hungry, but as he was in SCBU for 8 days, he became very routined and this is still evident in his feeding times.

spottybananas

My son was in scbu for 5 days and was definitely in a routine of feeding every 3 hours when he came out, soon went to every two hours which it stayed at for about 5 months! That's great that the PHN plotted it correctly, see, he's doing great

Did she suggest possibly dropping the formula feed seeing as he's clearly gaining weight well and may no longer need the top up now that he's a bit older?

80s Child

spottybananas wrote: »

My son was in scbu for 5 days and was definitely in a routine of feeding every 3 hours when he came out, soon went to every two hours which it stayed at for about 5 months! That's great that the PHN plotted it correctly, see, he's doing great

Did she suggest possibly dropping the formula feed seeing as he's clearly gaining weight well and may no longer need the top up now that he's a bit older?

She just told us to keep doing what we're doing basically and that he's fine.

I suppose when I say every 3-4 hours, that would be from the start of the feed and he'd usually feed for about 45-60 min depending. Also, if I'm giving him expressed, I may give him 150-180ml, approx 5/6 oz, which I think is a big feed for a 5 week old and probably what knocks him out.

jlm29

80s Child wrote: »

She just told us to keep doing what we're doing basically and that he's fine.

I suppose when I say every 3-4 hours, that would be from the start of the feed and he'd usually feed for about 45-60 min depending. Also, if I'm giving him expressed, I may give him 150-180ml, approx 5/6 oz, which I think is a big feed for a 5 week old and probably what knocks him out.

That's a huge amount of expressed milk for a baby thT size. My 8.5mo wouldn't take that in one go, and never would have. Look up paced bottle feeding on you tube. Are you giving much expressed milk? I know it seems like a great idea that he's stretching for those few hours, but he really needs to feed feed feed to build up supply!

pooch90

We got pulled into the routine of a bottle of formula at night to stretch out his sleep, don't do it. The night feeds are mostly responsible for regulating your wifes supply and actually more important than day feeds. Just asking, why are you giving him so much expressed milk/formula? Is he crying after feeds like he's still hungry/in pain? At this stage in full term babies at least, there is a growth spurt where they will be welded to mammy's boobs, it's just a phase and sucks for mom but you need to suck it up if you want to exclusively BF.

PHN(health nurses) are renowned at giving bad BF advice. There is a great breastfeeding group on facebook that know much more than half these experts. The Kellymom website is great too.

Sorry if any of that sounds harsh or preachy, we allowed bad advice to damage our BF journey and I regret it and would hate for someone else to fall victim to same crappy advice. Little man is still BF at night and sometimes during the day at 7 months. Those special moments between us are amazing now he's bigger, I'd love for every mother to be able to experience it.

PS-The mantra "If in doubt, whip them out" rings very true!