Okay so I know that people will probably say that I have nothing to worry about and that I'm over thinking things, but I was hoping to get a few suggestions from some veteran mama's who may have gone through the same thing as me.
My daughter is 6 months old. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz at birth, and then dropped to 7 lbs 1/2 oz 2 days later. It took her a month to get back to her birth weight. I went through all sorts of emotional awfulness, worrying about my supply which of course perpetuated the problem. Things finally started working around 8 weeks and I was finally content about the whole BFing thing. I wanted to give up so many time, but I didn't and I am thankful that I was persistent, as it's the best thing for my daughter.
Ever since her 2 month check up, Keira has slid down the weight charts. At her 2 month, she was 30%, at her 4 month check up, she was 18% for weight. We have not weighed her exclusively in a while, but my husband took her on the scale with him a week ago and she was a little less than 14 lbs. My husband and I are relatively tall at 5' 7" and 5' 10" and Keira mimics us at 90% for height. I was not terribly worried, as many breastfed babies are banana babies. She is also doing fine milestone wise. She has been able to sit up and babble 2 syllable phrases for about a month now. She has been rolling both ways for about 3 months. I am definitely not concerned about her development.
The thing that I can't grasp is that she still eats every 2 hours from morning until 4 pm, almost every hour/ 1/2 hour until 7 and then every 3-4 hours at night. She eats for no more than 10 minutes, and needs to switch breasts about 5 times because she is impatient. You would think that with all of the eating she does, she would be putting on more weight. We are experimenting with solids, usually about 4 oz a day broken up into 2 feedings. She LOVES eating them, but she tends to get plugged up a little which can affect her sleep if we give them to her too late.
Another thing to know is that when I need to pump to save up for a time I am away, she never takes more than 4 oz at a time. Only once did my mother in law say she would have taken more. I used to think she was having "growth spurts" but at this point she would be growth spurting all the time and while she is long, all the food doesn't seem to make much of a difference for her weight.
I guess my question is 1) Since she is still eating 8-10 times a day, there's a good chance shes taking less than 4 oz every time she eats. Does anyone have suggestions for her to eat more at once? I know we're not supposed to compare babies, but it seems like many of the mom's I read about have 6 month old babies that take 6 oz every 3-4 hours and though it probably ends up the same amount, it would make things a little easier for me. 2) I don't expect her to be STTN at this age, but getting up 3 times a night to eat seems excessive at her age. I've read to "feed her more during the day so she doesn't need it at night" but at that point I'd be feeding her every hour. How can I drop a feeding at night when she is eating almost constantly during the day?
Any thoughts or suggestions would be great! Sorry for the long post, but I know people on here like to have a lot of information)
Karen