Baby not gaining weight

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants

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amother

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 7:17 am

My baby is 5 weeks old. She gained only half an ounce in the past 10 days and is now in the 20th percentile. She eats half pumped milk and half formula, about 25 ounces a day. We already ruled out UTI. What can be causing this? Please help me

amother

Obsidian

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:37 am

Does she spit up a lot? Cry a lot?
Constipated?
What does your doctor say?

amother

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:41 am

No, no, and no. She sleeps alot but has alert hours too. Dr wants me to weigh again Monday. I was hoping it was UTI but I just got the negative result from the culture now.

the world's best mom

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:44 am

I just spent 4 days in the hospital with my 2 1/2 month old because she had gained only one ounce in a week. Before that, she was gaining more like 3 ounces a week. Your baby is gaining a lot less than that.

I think it was kind of ridiculous that my baby was hospitalized for that, but the doctor was nervous because of an experience with a previous patient in which he did not check out her slow weight gain and he should have.

The reason my baby was gaining so slowly seems to be because nursing was hard for her, so she only nursed until she wasn't so hungry anymore and then she stopped. And she probably burned a lot of calories as she struggled to nurse. We are now feeding her pumped milk in bottles and she's gaining much better.

But you say your baby doesn't nurse? And she's gaining less than mine.

Other things they checked for in my baby included problems with the heart, thyroid, digestive system, kidneys, and I forgot what else. BH they didn't find anything.

amother

Lily

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 10:03 am

How often does she eat (how many hours between feedings and how many feedings per day?) 25 oz per day sounds normal, but if she isn't eating at night, that could affect things.

Does she wake up by hersefl (day and night) to eat or does she need to be woken up?

How is her diaper output - how many wet diapers a day? how many dirty diapers? Does her poop look green or have mucus?

How much does the baby weigh? Could be she needs more than 25 oz per day.

Maybe an allergy? Ask your dr about switching formulas?

giftedmom

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 10:06 am

Did you check for tongue tie and GI issues?

amother

RosePink

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 10:23 am

My baby is now 2.5 months old- 10 weeks and the first 6-8 weeks she barely gained anything.
She was so tiny, looked like a newborn.

Now shes almost 11 lbs.
It takes some babies longer to get their growth spurt.

amother

Razzmatazz

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 10:26 am

Maybe try a different formula

amother

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 11:07 am

Everything is normal! Eats about every 2.5-3 hours. More often during the evening. At night has one stretch of 4 hours. She wakes up to eat. Wet diapers between every feeding. Dirty once a day. It is yellow. Past few days has a greenish tinge. Tongue was snipped. What allergies? Milk? Wouldn't there be other symptoms? What GI issues can there be aside for allergies or sensitivities? She weighs 9 lbs now. She was born 7 10.

the world's best mom

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 11:22 am

Oh. BH she has gained over a pound in her 5 weeks. That's pretty good. My baby was born 6 lb. 5 oz. and she was only 8 lb. 13 oz. at 2 1/2 months. so I guess your baby did gain fairly nicely until now.

The only thing I can add is to recheck her tongue tie. Can they grow back?

amother

Caramel

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 11:24 am

check for tongue tie.
test your milk for quality.
One of my children wasn't gaining enough weight. Pediatrician told me to stop nursing immediately. and he thrived after that.

Ema of 5

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 11:28 am

OP your baby sounds exactly like mine. He was 6lb 10oz at birth, and now at just shy of 5 months, he is 11lb 14.5oz. I’ve posted a few times about it, you can search through my old threads. He is not even in the first percentile, he’s in the point-something percentile!! Originally I was just nursing. Then after a few weeks I started pumping and giving him that after I nursed. I don’t get very much when I pump, so once I wasn’t able to keep up I switched to formula. I would nurse and then give him a 4oz bottle. Even now, at 5 months, he doesn’t usually drink all 4oz. More like 3oz.
I’m still trying to figure it out, so I don’t really have any good advice for you. I just want you to know you are not alone! It can be very scary, especially if your pediatrician is an alarmist and shows that they are nervous. BH mine is not, so I’m not too concerned. I’m more frustrated really, because I don’t have an answer. He had a tongue tie snipped, he’s taking medication for reflux, I nurse on demand….

edit to add a suggestion
Maybe add in a bottle after every time you nurse. Either an extra pumped bottle or a formula bottle.

amother

Maize

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 12:05 pm

My baby had pretty slow weight gain. It turns out she actually had a hole in her heart and was burning all her calories just breathing. I only found out about it at 2 and 1/2 months though. She started gaining weight post heart surgery. She's still in the small side. She is a little over two and weighs 21 lbs now.
She was born 6. 11 and was in the ten pound range from about 2 months to about 5 month .

tichellady

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 1:40 pm

if you feel your doctor isn't helpful I would consult with a good lactation consultant or try to find a new doctor . lactation consultants are experts on this. my first was a slow gainer but also quite unhappy and barely slept so it wasn't the same thing but also stressful!

amother

Lightcoral

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 2:24 pm

happened with my sister-in-law. She wasn't eating enough fat so her milk didn't have enough fat/calories. She was eating salad a lot and not enough protein. She was pumping so she saw her baby was getting the right amount in the bottle. Dr told her to switch to formula and baby gained after that.

amother

Stone

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 3:09 pm

How thick is your milk? As one mom put it to me when she heard I nursed "you seem to have whole milk with how big yours is. Mine was nonfat so we had to do only formula".
Is there a way to test milk?
I pump so can see the quality of my milk change. Sometimes it's thick and very creamy, sometimes if I skip lunch it is very watery. Just pumped at work and TMI- but 1 side is much thicker than the other today. I think because last feeding was more on one side.
Also, if baby stops nursing on one side, baby only gets the foremilk which is sweeter and lighter and not the nutritious hindmilk.

amother

Whitewash

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 3:13 pm

Get the tongue tie looked at by someone really literate, not just any pedi or ent

Get craniosacral therapy to release any residual restrictions and expand tongue movement post release

Eat plenty of protein but even more importantly, lots of FAT. Try to have at least 2-3T of healthy fats with each meal, and snacks should be mini meals as well, not just empty calories.

Take a digestive enzyme to help your stomach break down foods better, this will increase absorption for baby.

See a lactation consultant.

amother

Lily

Sat, Apr 01 2023, 3:20 pm

If her bowel movements are green, that can be an indicator of possible underlying issues:
- infection (like a stomach bug). Ask dr if it is worth doing a culture. Usually comes with a fever or other symptoms though, but could still be an infection so worth asking, as a stomach virus/bacteria could affect weight gain
- allergies - could be an allergy to sometjing in the formula, dairy and soy are two top allergens. Allergies at this age would not necessarily have any other symptoms. It could also be a cause of poor weight gain.
- foremilk/hindmilk imbalance in your pumped milk - the baby is getting the lower calorie foremilk and not enough fatty hindmilk from what you are pumping. How long do you pump for? You may need to pump for longer to get the higher calorie milk which would help weight gain.

- One bowel movement a day is less than what she should be making at this age, which sometimes indicates not getting enough milk.

- I would wake her during the 4 hour stretch if you can (when my underweight baby wasnt gaining well, they told me every 2-3 hours tops).

- When she got her tongur tie snipped, did they check lip frenulums (connector between each lip and gum, check both uper and lower lips)? My baby needed that snipped too.

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