Slow weight gain (DD's... not mine)

[Piglet]

DD had her 2 month vaxes today and she is dropping weight percentiles :( I am a bit worried. She was born 8 lb 8 oz, which was pretty big. At her 1 week check up, she had gone down about 10% of her weight, but she still seemed to be pretty big. At 2 months, she is 9 lb 4 oz, which seems petite. She is very tall, so it is even more pronounced - her BMI is way off the charts. Her weight is between 10 and 25 precentile and her height is 75 %ile. She is 99% BF - yesterday she got a bottle of FF when I had to go for my dentist appointment. I don't know if I should be doing something to get her weight up. Any ideas? She eats around the clock and while I strive to feed her ever 3 hours, I don't stick to any sort of rigid schedule. If she is upset at 2 hours, I feed her. Often I feed her at 2.5 hours, but I do think of her feedings in terms of 3 hour chunks when I budget my time (like if I am going out, I make sure to be back within 3 hours of her last feeding). The thing that I have noticed in recent days is that she bobs off and on during most feeds. It isn't because I am spraying her - she doesn't bob off during letdown or near the beginning of the feed. If anything, it is when the flow slows down that she starts popping off. I spend a long time feeding her as a result!

Is there anything I should be doing? Any reasons you can think of for her slow weight gain? What about the bobbing - what could be casuing it? All help is much appreciated!

Thank you,

[Wife_and_mommy]

I'd adjust her "schedule" to every two hours for such a young baby. I did the 2.5-3 w/ dd and she was a pretty slow gainer. Granted she has always/still is a slow/low volume eater but I feel not giving her the oppty as a young baby didn't help any.

DS was/is the complete opposite in that he's a big eater but I also did no more than two hours until he was 7M or so.

I think you know this too but feedings should be "timed" from start to start so if she eats at 1pm her next one would be at 3.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

It just sounds like her calories are going (or went this time) to making her tall. Be assured that she is growing! :)

Beth

[Piglet]

Thanks - today I will try to do the 2 hour feeding routine. I think a bit of my problem is that DS1 wanted to eat every hour at first and that was SO draining (until I realized he actually needed to eat less and sleep more and we were able to work on his sleep needs). The other part of it is that DS2 was born on a 3 hour clock. I could set clocks by him. He was SO predictable with his feeds... to the point that he only just recently started sleeping through the night - before he woke up every 3 hours even though he didn't need to eat!

I do count from the start of a feed to the start of the next one. DD is pretty good about eating when she is hungry and not eatig when she isn't. Yesterday at her vax she was upset and I tried to feed her to calm her down and she wouldn't have any of that. She kept turning her head away and popping off if I tried to get her latched on. I will see - if she eats at 2 hours, I will feed her.

Thanks again,

[Piglet]

Thanks Beth! I am hoping we just are coming up on a growth spurt and her weight will catch up to her height. I am just SO not used to tall and skinny. My boys were both short and wide, LOL!

[egoldber]

Amy is also a slow gainer. At 9 months she is still not even 15 pounds. I would just echo to offer nursing more frequently, every 2 hours during the day. Another thing you may try is to do block feeding, where you feed from the same side for a set amount of time, say for 4 hours or for 2 feedings in a row. That way she gets more access to the hindmilk.

I seem to recall she may also have reflux? Many reflux babies are slow to gain. If she's on Zantac, you may want to see about having her dose adjusted.

[Piglet]

Thanks Beth (#2),

We haven't diagnosed reflux. I am not sure if she has it or not, but she seems to be pretty easy going most of the time - not as miserable as I would expect a reflux baby to be. She has gotten better at sleeping in her bassinet - before she would only sleep in my arms, and only barely, which is why we thought it might be reflux. The slow weight gain has me thinking to check her for reflux again, though.

Today I have made a point of nursing often, drinking tons of water, eating oatmeal, etc. I will stay home this weekend and keep trying to offer more feeds. I am not the panicky type, but this weight stuff always gets me worried!

Thanks for your reassurance!