Baby weight gain

KBowen715 · June 2014

Hey all-
My little guy is one month old today. He weighed 9 pounds, 1.2 ounces at birth (I'm BF'ing), and it took him until 3 weeks to meet back to birthweight. The ped wasn't worried because he was consistently gaining weight, just slowly, so we came back in every few days to monitor. At our apt last week, he gained 6 ounces in 6 days, so the ped didn't think we needed to keep coming in or supplement with formula (we hadn't yet).

However, this week, according to my scale, he has lost an ounce or two. I feed every 2-3 hours, he has consistent pee/poopy diapers, when I pump I get 2-3 ounces, he appears satisfied, etc. We ordered an infant scale to better monitor at home.

I'm reading on the foremilk/hind milk imbalances. Could this be happening? How does one know?

I'm also concerned that he's a pretty lazy nurser. He always falls asleep while nursing. Perhaps he isn't getting enough? When I give him a bottle of pumped milk, he takes down 3 ounces with ease.

Sorry this post is all over, I'm just worried.

usernewname · June 2014

Just breathe! Baby is gaining, if pedi isn't concerned then its probably all fine

You'll know if you have an imbalance, you'll see it in his poops!

What do you do before nursing? Do you diaper change? If you go from sleep to nursing, maybe he's not fully awake. I diaper change DS (who is one month old today too - birthday buddies!) to wake him up to feed. He can be lazy at times, but this gets some alertness from him

RachelCA29 · June 2014

Foremilk/hindmilk embalance is very clear in their poop. If they are getting too much foremilk compared to hindmilk their poop will be very runny and won't have the white curds. It can also seem "foamy". But this won't really affect their weight gain, since they are drinking their fill and foremilk has lots of protein and sugars to help them grow.
Also, if you are giving pumped breast milk even occassionally, that will have a pretty good balance of the two milk contents.

jesstellina · June 2014

The first thing I'd do before worrying too much about this is get him weighed on the dr office scaleagain to see if he really has lost.

jenb_99 · June 2014

You can't get an accurate reading unless your scale is calibrated to the pedi's scale, which it most likely isn't. My scale at home is half a pound less than our pedi's, which is a huge difference when you're talking about babies.

iqwedding3 · June 2014

Don't weigh every day it'll drive you nuts! Maybe LO just made a diaper and there was an ounce in there... Maybe they were full in the Dr office... Maybe maybe maybe.

MrsT2008 · June 2014

Unless you are using a baby scale that measures ounces, you can't get an accurate weight when comparing day to day. I tried to weigh DD on our home scale before her 2 week appt (weighed myself then held her and weighed myself again) and it kept saying she was as 8.0 lbs. she was 9lbs 2oz at her appt (and was 8lbs 6oz at discharge so I knew the 8.0 was wrong). Try not to worry!

pistolpackinmomma · June 2014

Scales will vary and the only way to know if a baby has lost is to weigh on the same scale.

KBowen715 · June 2014

florassecret said:
Just breathe! Baby is gaining, if pedi isn't concerned then its probably all fine

You'll know if you have an imbalance, you'll see it in his poops!

What do you do before nursing? Do you diaper change? If you go from sleep to nursing, maybe he's not fully awake. I diaper change DS (who is one month old today too - birthday buddies!) to wake him up to feed. He can be lazy at times, but this gets some alertness from him

Happy 1 month birthday! Crazy that it is happening so fast.

I change him Inbetween boobs. He wakes up and is a thorough and aggressive latcher, but not an aggressive eater. But he sure is a hungry guy when it is time!

raebee18 · June 2014

I found that if Claire is getting lazy nursing keeping her in just her diaper so she's colder and tickling her feet keeps her nursing well.

kb2bkk · June 2014

You could try and do a weighed feeding with an LC or at the Pedi's office to see how much LO is getting at a feeding. Essentially you strip LO down to a dry diaper, weigh them, feed and then weigh again.

bumpuser10194737 · June 2014

It can make a difference if you weigh him before or after feeding and how much baby has eaten. When I visited a lactation consultant a couple of weeks ago they weighed him before eating and after. He was four ounces heavier after nursing. (Like @kb2bkk‌ mentioned.)

That said, if he is gaining and your ped isn't worried, I wouldn't worry. My first little guy gained slowly at first and then totally caught up after a few months. He was also a very lazy nursery and fell asleep almost every time. Sometimes it took over an hour to feed him.

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