Weight gain worries

[creative_insomniac]

Just came back from the CHN (no don't stop reading! LOL) and apparently Matilda's only gained 60g a week for eight weeks.... so I'm feeling pretty despondent. Seems like we feed all the time during the day (but she sleeps though the night with one feed). I don't know what else I can do! She's six months now and I'm feeling pretty down with the suggestion that I'll have to stop breastfeeding and do formula instead (despite my family and all the other mums in mum's group suggesting it) --- introducing solids isn't going very well, she just clamps her mouth up and turns her head to whatever I steam and puree)

Granted, my diet isn't the best (hard to get the motivation to "eat well" when DP's away at work and it's just me and bubs), but I wanna try...

[Fimail]

Right - to start with she is gaining weight. THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. As long as she is not backsliding, she alert, has plenty of wet nappies, poos etc - please don't worry. If you need to, go through it with a GP or paediatrician that you trust and know supports breastfeeding, or an Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor.

Try putting her weight on the newest charts brought out just recently by the world health organisation http://www.who.int/childgrowth/en/ instead of being based on formula fed babies (as per the previous graphs) they are based on averages of 8500 healthy breastfed babies from all over the world.

It is common for breastfed babies to follow a curve that flattens out between 4-6 months - that is pretty normal.

Also have a look at these suggestions about introducing solid foods to breastfed babies http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedseli...uidelines.html for some ideas about the issue with starting solids.

best wishes

Fiona

[betty]

snap Fiona
those charts are made for bottlefedding

some weeks bub may gain hardly any, than a few weeks late 150g

[Kris]

I agree with fiona, don't stress about her not eating solids, ellie didn't start until she was 12 months (apart from iregular tastes). BFing her is the best thing you can do, is there an ABA group you can attend near you?

[Jane]

Oooooo i get sooo mad when CHN's give out advice that is distressing despite the bub being healthy and happy.

Irene - my son Luke has always been at the lower end of the spectrum as far as weight goes and when he was about 5mths he started to plateau weight wise. He was still putting on weight but only a little each week. The CHN told me that i would need to stop breastfeeding and to start him on three solid meals a day. Well, he wasn't interested in solids and i didn't stop breastfeeding. He is now almost 11mths and still slim, but has been putting on weight, growing in length and is a very happy and healthy bub. Luke is only now interested in solids - each bub is different and there are bubs at each end of the spectrum. Like Fiona said as long as Matilda is healthy (weeing and pooing), happy and putting on weight (even a little) i wouldn't do anything drastic. See how she goes and don't be scared into doing something you don't want to do.

Thinking of you.

[Lucretia]

Both Alia and Kaia didn't really eat solids till 12 months either

That weight gain sounds fine to me, I don't think Kaia would have gained more than that in that time period. I don't know though because I never weighed her - I judged her by her behaviour and her wet nappies. She was doing great, we didn't need scales to see that.

I think it's the WHO that recommends babies only be weighed twice in six months after the first couple of weeks?

I never went to a CHN and I'm glad, they mostly seem like way more trouble than they are worth.

[creative_insomniac]

Thanks for those links Fi -- at least they allay my fears about introducing solids. I realise that at this point in time the solids won't be making up much of Matilda's diet (any "attempt" at "yum yum time" shows that LOL). What I'm worried about is the lack of weight gain... from 50th percentile (Matilda was always a small baby) to 20th

Does *my* diet play a big role in how she's getting fed? That's what my thoughts are leaning towards right now...

[Lucretia]

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-diet.html

Do I need to maintain a perfect diet while breastfeeding?

The short answer to this question is NO – you do not need to maintain a perfect diet in order to provide quality milk for your baby. In fact, research tells us that the quality of a mother’s diet has little influence on her milk. Nature is very forgiving – mother’s milk is designed to provide for and protect baby even in times of hardship and famine. A poor diet is more likely to affect the mother than her breastfed baby.

[*Tracee*]

Irene I'm a mum who's been there, done that with my first. She followed the average line til about 4months old and then slid right down. For us the problem was food allergies, both thru my milk and her diet. This combined with her being a very active baby we had many a health professional worried. Now at 3yrs old, she is still small but she is just perfect and still way too full of energy.

As for your breastmilk being related to your diet, I'm sure it is in some way altho when DD2 was born there was no way I ate as well as I did after DD1's birth yet DD2 is a chubber. So I don't know. Do you feel run down?? Maybe a good multi V would put your mind at ease and make sure you're getting plenty of water each day too.

Lastly I'll say try not to worry too much about it - as hard as it is now, Matilda will pick up on your stress. She is gaining weight and that's wonderful so don't let anyone tell you tostop breastfeeding if you don;t want to do that.

[*Tracee*]

Great link Lucretia!