Baby not gaining weight?

[@llli*mamatasia]

Hi there, my 6 week old baby has not gained weight in about 2 weeks, has plenty of pees and poops, I have PCOS and have struggled with low milk supply (and done everything to combat this including pumping, fenugreek, blessed thistle, and reglan, etc) and baby is not a strong sucker...

They like to see baby's gain 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce a day...

any thoughts or advice?

[@llli*auderey]

hm, normally output is a good indication of supply/transfer ... can you tell us more about output, weight history, if weight checks were all on the same scale naked, nursing pattern through the day, if you're exclusively bf or ever supplemented?

[@llli*mamatasia]

thank you for the reply... he was born 9lb 13 oz then lost weight, then gained through breastfeeding and supplementing (mostly through sns) then when the lc said i could supplement per need... at our next visit a few days later he lost weight again... after a few more visits i went to exclusive BF and at our next visit he gained weight... so since then i have been exclusively bf... till i called the lc and told her that the peds scale showed he had not gained weight... yes, most of his weight checks are done on the lc's very accurate scale, nude, they factor in any bm's they have during nursing time at the office... he nurses about every 3 hours during the day between 1-4 he cluster feeds alot and is his fussy time... and he is sleeping through the night about 11pm-7am and does not wake to nurse... in terms of pees, i change a wet cloth diaper at least before each feeding, sometimes more... and poo's 1-2 full a day, and a smeer other times... thank you for any thoughts you may have to help...

[@llli*lllkaren]

It must be discouraging to see his weight gain stall when you've been working so hard to keep your supply up. But he has gained weight when you were exclusively breastfeeding, which certainly suggests that you are able to make enough milk.

I think the first thing to look at would be whether he's nursing often enough. I know it's hard to count feedings when he's fussy and on and off the breast doing the cluster-feeding thing, but try counting how many nursing sessions (where he nurses actively and swallows for a good, steady 5+ minutes) that you have in a 24 hour period. Given that he's having trouble gaining weight, I'd say you want to see at least 10, maybe 12, feedings in a 24 hour period.

8 hours is a looooong time for any 6 week old baby to sleep! I'd suggest not letting him go longer than 4 hours without nursing at night. Just what you want to hear, right?

It may be that he needs to be encouraged to nurse more frequently and that will be enough take care of the problem. Hopefully!

[@llli*auderey]

[@llli*maddieb]

nurse more often including overnight.

Also, I never completely trust a weight check that is done on a different scale from the previous weight check. It sounds like the weight loss or lack of gain was noted after switching from lc's scale to the doctors(?) Both the lcs scale and the peds scale could be good and accurate but if they were calibrated differently (as they would have been) it can make a difference. Also pay very close attention to how the weight check is done and request a second weight done if you have any question-sometimes folks in doctors offices esp. are a little rushed or distracted or whatever they are busy. In other words, be careful about human error.

[@llli*mamatasia]

thank you for all your idea's and help... the lc said the doctors scale could be as much as 2 ounces off, but that would not make up for the 9-10 ounces he should have gained... do you suggest waking him up at night to nurse, even if he is not demanding it? yes, sometimes when he eats, especially between 1-4 i dont hear many swallows...

[@llli*auderey]

scales can definitely be more than 2 oz off. and YES, wake him or dream feed at night.

[@llli*maddieb]

again! A baby whose weight gain is in question may very well need to be awoken to nurse and or encouraged to nurse in sleep.

here are some links to articles with ideas for waking baby and/or encouraging baby to nurse when asleep, and also feeding cues http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...py_newborn.pdf and http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...astfeeding.pdf

feeding cues http://kellymom.com/ages/newborn/bf-basics/hunger-cues/

Recently i talked to a mom who had her baby weiged at the pediatrician one day and weighed at WIC the very next day-both digital infant scales-baby magically gained 8 ounces-yes, one half of a pound-in less than 24 hours. If mom had visited the WIC office before the pediatrician it would have looked like baby lost that much!

It is possible your baby is not gaining as baby should, of course. I am not saying the scales are positively wrong. And hopefully nursing more often will help. nursing more often will also help your milk production. But I am just saying, double check any future weigh-ins.