rapid weight gain - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

bxr35 · 11-29-2006, 07:08 PM

My son just saw the doctor on his 15th day, and he is 11 ounces bigger than his birth weight. He gained 16 ounces in the nine days since he saw the doctor last. Is that normal?

The doctor said there was nothing wrong with gaining a lot, but normal is to be just regaining birth weight at 2 weeks or gaining 2/3 of an ounce to an ounce a day, and his pattern seems almost double that.

He is breastfed on demand, which is correlated with higher weight gain, and an extremely calm baby, which is also correlated with higher weight gain -- but this much higher?

Could something be wrong?

Green Frog · 11-30-2006, 02:51 AM

Hi
This was my story with weight gain. Baby was born at 7 lbs, 15 oz. When we left the hospital, she was down to 7lb 4oz (because my milk didn't come in until day 5). Anyway, we saw the doctor at the end of that week (1 week) and she was still at 7lb 4oz (because my milk had only come in the day before), then in one more week (by her 2 week visit) she was up to 8lb, 2oz, so almost 1 lb in 1 week. My baby is breastfed on demand, too, and by her 2 month check-up she was 12 lb 2oz, which the doctor said was 75% so in perfectly normal range. She is now 3 months and 1 week and has only gained one more lb since her 2 month check-up so she is slowing down in weight gain (even though I feel like she is eating more!). So, I would try not to worry about it, it seems similar to my baby and she is doing just great!

bridget021182 · 11-30-2006, 12:20 PM

First of all, all babies do loose some weight after they are born. My dd was 7 pounds 8 ounces when she was born and when we left the hospital she was 6 pounds 14 ounces. Your milk doesnt come in right away. You will have colostrum (sp?) which is like liquid gold for your baby. I had the colostrum and then about 48 hours my milk actually came in. My dd is now 12 pounds 13 ounces and she is 3 months old. She gained 11 ounces in a week last week. I get her weighed every week. We go to breastfeeding support group every Friday and get her weighed and measured. She is gaining just like she should. She is and always has been breastfed on demand.

Faythey · 11-30-2006, 12:47 PM

DS was born at 9lbs 6.7 oz, left the hospital at 9 lbs and at his first docs appt. a week later was around 11 lbs. He's 4 months now and 22 lbs. We have breastfed exclusively the entire time

It doesnt sound like anything is wrong with your DS. When I noticed my DS gaining so much I was asking the doc if it was normal and they said not to worry about it. They said they dont worry about weight gain in breastfed babies until they are at least a year old.

Jordyn · 12-01-2006, 09:47 PM

When ds was born in June I was told by my midwife that the gain they like to see is 1/2 to 1 once per day...nothing less. My little guy had to be supplemented with EBM after nursing as he was gaining less than that for the first 10 days...then he started gaining about 1.5 ounces a day. Now he's almost 18 pounds and as chunky as can be. All babes do gain different and I would only be concerned if he gained an extreme amount (over 4 ounces per day) or didn't gain enough.