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Preemies
PhillyGal34
member
weight gain
PhillyGal34
member
in Preemies
I think it's because weight was SUCH a huge deal at the beginning but I still weigh my son once a week and track it. his weight gain has been steady all along, but this week he barely gained anything... about 3 oz. ... when I say barely I mean at this point, I KNOW how important 3 oz are at the beginning.... don't want to hurt the feelings of any one still counting the grams, I remember those days all that well.
Anyway I am sure I am focusing on this a lot because he was a preemie and all the importance on weight. He's now over 13 pounds and he has officially gained over 10 pounds in almost 5 months. Should I be concerned about a slow weight gain week or not? I'm guessing I should wait and make sure it doesn't happen again next week but when I put it in my app that it tracks it with his growth chart percentile changed drastically due to this week and it is throwing me off.
A few other things- he is EBF and does not take any kind of calorie supplement but he hasn't since the NICU so that isn't why. He has been a bit fussier and not sleeping as much during the day and waking up for a feeding at night although he used to STTN, also he seems to be much more alert and distracted. Could that be it? I'm wondering if he is starting to teethe too because he is off and on while eating far more than he used to be and seems to be playing around a bit more, but I thought maybe that is just because he is distracted.
Thoughts?
Our little hippo was as impatient as mom!
Hoping for a full 40 weeks!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: weight gain
In all honesty, unless your doctor wants you to closely monitor his weight and growth, I would relax and not weigh him that often, because you will just drive yourself crazy!
The fact that he has already more than quadrupled his birth weight at 5 months is fantastic. He is only a pound or two less than my DS, who will be 9 months in a couple days...I think 13 lbs. is great...my DS was only about 11 lbs. at that age!
And my pedi also told me that babies are not constantly growing...they have growth lulls as well as spurts. He could also just be getting a little more active as he gets older and burning more calories.
As long as your doctor is not concerned, and he's not losing weight, I would not worry one bit.
My DS is about the same age...he's just over 5 months and considerably smaller - about 9.5 lbs. (He was severe IUGR, 1 lb 3 oz at birth). Even so, our pedi said she's fine with 3-4 oz a week at this age. She said he's going to naturally start slowing down on the weight gain as he gets older. So it sounds like your little man is on track.
I know how it feels to be obsessed with weight gain though, we still weigh our little guy every night (do NOT do this!!! haha!) But I'd just keep monitoring it and if you're worried then maybe talk to the doc, but I bet he's fine.
Thanks guys. It is funny because we are constantly calling him big guy and telling him how chubby he is getting, all in love of course. It has just really thrown me off since he was gaining almost the same amount every week and this week was so much less.
thanks for the perspective!
jenn- every night??? you have to drive yourself crazy! I debated buying a baby scale when he was first at home but didn't and I'm glad I didn't ... I'm pretty sure I would have weighed him multiple times a day when I was on maternity leave!
Yes! It's a problem, I know. Pedi told us to stop doing that and only weigh him once a week, but we can't stop! I think it's because he started out so small, so it's almost like we are addicted to seeing him gain weight. I don't know. It's hard to describe. We are dorks I guess! :-)
Also, I forgot to mention that my DS is on 24 cal breast milk, and his pedi is still okay with 3-4 oz a week, so I am guessing that gaining 3 oz a week while EBF is great!
i totally understand your obsession :-) I remember when E was first born and he gained for the first time it was like a high. Every day I couldn't wait to hear how much he gained and I tracked those grams and ounces with an OCD type vigor.
DS has always done well with weight gaining... so I guess I was kind of spoiled and now I'm just worried that something happened to cause him not to but like PP said, he may just be having an off week. I am sure he will make up for it next week! I really think a lot of it that he is now awake a lot more and not napping so he loses that sleeping/weight gaining time. I need to figure out how to get him to nap more!
Peanut Butter and Jelly!
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