Weight gain worries

[Aimee]

The problem with MCHN's is new mothers arent educated to know better/different.
So they believe what they are being told. Something has to be said for the universities teaching this crap. I cant believe any health professional should tell a women to give up breatfeeding. As for family/friends they wouldnt dare tell me to give up.

I always read up on things for myself, and if the advice I am being given doesnt feel right then I dont take it on board.

[AliP]

Irene - I know how you're feeling. Isabel was born on the 90th percentile and she is now tracking along the 50th. DH and I are both small built and it amazed me that we produced such a big baby.

I was also worrying as I didn't start solids until 6.5 months. I've done some research (some of the links posted here and the WHO charts) and I'm not worrying any more. Anyone who knows Isabel knows thatshe is a chubby cheeked, happy, healthy girl.

This is one of the first articles I read which made me feel instantly better. In particular look under the section that says World Heath Organisation. It says: "breastfed babies tend to gain 600-650 g less in their first year than formula-fed babies, with the most marked differences seen between ages 3 and 9 months".
http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/Child/page3.htm

Please PM me if you want to chat .... I went through exactly the same as you a couple of weeks ago.

Hugs
Ali

ETA - I do believe that the CHNs are trying their best to help, I just think that they have beentaught that the norm is bottle-fed baby growth charts.

[Bek]

the other thing to remember with the weight charts, is that they are *average* weights for a group of babies, not individual weight plotting. even the f/f babies in the study wouldn't have followed the exact curve ie the baby that was born on the 50%ile wasn't necessarily the baby on the 50% at 3mths, 6mths, 12mths etc.
*all* of my children have 'dropped' on the charts (or even totally off the bottom of the chart!), it's very common as you can see from what everyone here has said
all the more reason to just forget about weighing and scales! what goes in must come out, so if they're weeing, pooing, growing out of their newborn and small nappies and doing all the other normal developmental things, then in 99% of cases bub is just fine!
oh, and re the solids thing, fwiw, ben is 14mths and i'm mega-excited because he ate a teaspoon of food last night! (went in and out a few times, but i think he ended up with a teaspoon worth!) neither of the other boys were interested until they could feed themselves at around 12mths - rhiannon was a guts and ate from the moment it was offered to her, but every child is different.

[tania]

Irene - I have a Matilda too! 12 months older than yours. Anyway my daughter didn't gain as much weight as what my "expectation levels" were. So I forced myself to let go of them. I just kept telling myself everyday I was doing the very best thing for my daughter and I was the expert on her. She was gaining weight - an average of around 75grams - 80 a week, she produced wet nappies and was happy enough and healthy. I was told to comp feed her and gave in to this for a short while by expressing and giving her that at night - but in the end I was just wearing myself out over it, so stopped and you know without comp feed she still put on the same average of weight - from which I could only deduce she was just growing at the rate she was meant to.
You are doing the very best for her, be confident in your choices, and it helps to have good support around you.
In the end I ditched any charts produced by anyone and using excel ended up plotting my own - I have my own unique growth chart for my Matilda .

[delirious]

i agree with everyting people have said here. dd1 maintained a percentle line perfectly (she was bottlefed) but breastfed dd2 slipped from the 50th percentile (at birth - 5 months) to the 10th (7 months) and now wavers around the 3rd (on the BF and bottlefed charts) sometimes over it and somtimes under it. the cyh nurse had been pushing for me to start bottlefeeding since 6 months so i stopped going to her a found a very pro extended breastfeeding cyh nurse and dr and saw them. i still had her weighed because depite excellent advice i still worried as i saw ribs start to poke out but she is happy healthy and developing right. please find a good informed proffessional for your own peace of mind because it may continue to bother you even if you stop going to the cyh nurse i found i need a proffesional to tell me i was doing the right thing before i could staart to relax about it all.

btw sorry for the essay !

[kyton]

I must be really lucky because my CHN is just lovely. She is always really supportive and helpful. I breastfed Harriet until she was 10mths (only stopped because we were wanting to become pregnant) and some months Harriet would only increase her weight by the smallest margin. At no time did the nurse ever suggest stopping B/F or formula etc. She just tells me that as long as there is some increase (however slight) and DD is happy, good nappy habits etc keep doing whatever I am doing. Try to not panic, your daughter is in the best possible hands - YOURS. Just do whatever makes both of you happy.

[pips]

I'm thinking of you Irene. I hope by reading everyone else's experiences you see that all bubs are different and will proceed in their own way. Thomas was born on the 95th percentile and at 12 months (next week!) he is about on the 45 percentile. For the first 3 months he put on heaps of weight and maintained the percentile line but he is pretty active and I can see that he works off his food pretty quickly. He had a bad bout of gastro and was going backwards fast. After being on solids for over a month he decided he didnt want them anymore, and he wasnt too interested in milk either. It was very stressful for me. Over the last 5 months he has gained 1 kg and is over the 9kg mark - finally! There is one other boy in our playgroup that is older and still facing backwards in his car seat as he is so small. Every bub is different and averages are just that.

[Ying]

i just checked the new charts (the b/f ones) and wow, my Becky is actually at the norm. She's 7.8kg and 71cm at 10 months. It's funny coz she's formula fed LOL

I'm trying to not worry too much but yes it's easier said than done even after seeing a doc

[Lucretia]

The new charts are actually for all babies, not just breastfed ones.

[ljl211]

wow, seems like everyone has lucked out in the MCHN department! I think they have to follow some very tough guidelines in this day and age so that they don't get sued! IYKWIM? They just have to teach what they've been taught. Ours is good, with DD#1 I stopped BF at 3 weeks (long story - I hated it!) and she was great, tried to convince me to continue at first but then was helpful when I decided to stop. She has been equally as helpful with Alana who I am still BFing - I even started to wean her at 4 months and MCHN was good with that but I have since stopped weaning (just couldn't do it yet) and she's been great with that as well! No pressure to start solids or anything yet!