Help! Baby not gaining weight!

[@llli*sarahinga]

My baby is 3.5 months old, and EBF. She's 12 lbs 4oz as of yesterday. She's gaining weight very slowly. She went about a month without gaining anything at all! She's got chub, she's alert, happy, sleeps well, hardly ever fusses, has plenty of pees and poos, etc. So I didn't realize she wasn't gaining until a week or so ago.

When I nurse her she nurses for about 7 minutes and then she's done. At night she'll dreamfeed for longer, but I'm worried that she's not getting enough hindmilk during the day. What can I do to encourage her to nurse longer?

[@llli*lasbi.modeu]

I am not an expert in weight but I think that is she's happy and has enough pee/ poopy diapers, I wouldn't worry, unless her Dr is concerned. Did her pedi tell you something about her weight?

About nursing for longer. My babies never nursed for more than 5' at that age, they were very efficient.

I'm sure someone else will chime in with more info

[@llli*mommal]

I'm not sure I see evidence of a problem. Your baby is nicely on the weight for age charts (see http://kellymom.com/images/growth/growthcharts.gif), right below the 50th %ile. She's happy and healthy and her nursing speed is normal for her age.

Did someone say something to you that made you feel like your LO isn't gaining fast enough?

[@llli*sarahinga]

Thanks mamas. No one has said anything, I just thought it was strange that she didn't gain anything for an entire month.

I did measure her, and she grew an inch in length which puts her at 25 inches!

[@llli*mommal]

Sometimes a baby's growth will pause in one dimension while accelerating in another. So a baby might pause in weight and spurt in height.

How did youmeasure your LO, on a professional scale or a home scale?

[@llli*sarahinga]

A digital home scale. I held her (naked) weighed both of us, then weighed myself and subtracted.

[@llli*maddieb]

I would not worry about nursing longer. If nursing frequency is also down, esp. if it is less than at least 8 times a day, it never hurts to increase nursing frequency, imo.

weight checks are so tricky-i would say, don't assume anything from an adult scale even if its very good. If you are really concerened, you can have baby weiged at the doctor or somewhere with an infant scale-and it shoud be the same infant scale as the previous weight check.

[@llli*sarahinga]

Thanks so much ladies! I'm trying to nurse her as much as I can. She doesn't nurse for comfort, so I'm just offering as often as possible.