Weight Gain - Somerville,MA

Hi T.,
My children were born early and were not able to breastfeed right away so I had issues with my breast milk and feeding too. One of the issues was the "skim" milk. The doctor and lactation consultants told me to eat cheesecake and drink beer to make my milk more plentiful and more full of fat. Maybe this will help you. I think it did help me and my little ones.
M.

My friend had the same problem with her son at around this age - I think he even dropped below his birth weight at 3 weeks! She started feeding him a lot more frequently and that got her supply up. This could be harder for you to do since you are working part time - but pumping more frequently should have the same effect. My friend's son is now 18lbs at 4 months of being exclusively breastfed - clearly not suffering from being underfed any more!

As for oils, you might need more while breastfeeding, but as another reader suggested you can use oils from the "healthy" end of the spectrum, like olive oil, flax seeds, avocados, etc.

Good luck!

Hi T.: So a few things come to mind... First, it seems to me that your daughter is probably putting calories towards her length, which is legitimate, and therefore needs to be taken into account (pedi should not just focus on the weight). Did they also look at the weight to height ratio? Is your daughter more active? I have (and have always had) a baby who is more active than others and many people have commented how she must burn through way more calories than the average baby. I have been through a similar scare (different details) and have regained my perspective. It's hard when so much emphasis is put on the percentile charts, etc. Genetics... were and/or your husband slow gainers as infants or of petite/slender builds? My understanding is that there is no such thing as skim milk (breastmilk). Your body produces milk with fat for the baby. Some say that gentle breast massage just before or at beginning of nursing session will increase hindmilk (the fatty stuff) so you could try that. Make sure you are eating sufficient calories and drinking enough so that supply does not become an issue. TRY TO RELAX and enjoy nursing your baby. She needs your positive energy. I would seriously consider finding a La Leche League meeting close to you or calling a LLL leader if a meeting isn't happening for a while. This is a well informed/experienced group of breastfeeding women who are an incredible resource and can help you put things into perspective. For breastfeeding support and info, Jack Newman is very well respected (a guru to some) and has a good book out that many moms I know have found helpful. Lots of holding, cuddling, carrying baby. If you don't have one, consider a sling or similar baby carrier so that you can have baby close and consider asking whether her care provider who she is with when away from you would consider using it as well. If your daughter is active, engaged, alert, normal bodily functions, etc give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy her. Yes, take it seriously and make sure she eats as frequently as she wants to, but also know that she may just be a long and slender babe! I wish you the best. Motherhood is lovely in all its complexities, isn't it??
C.

You need to be eating some fats so that there is enough for you and your baby's breastmilk. Fat is good for your baby, especially for brain development. Breastmilk is like 80% fat. So don't be too consumed over how much fat you are eating. Your baby is taking it all. Are you consuming enough extra calories during the day? Also make sure she feeds fulling on one side so that the hind milk comes in. Some people switch and do 10 or 20 minutes on eat, but you shouldn't do that. Do a full feeding on one side until it is empty, then if she still wants more switch to the other side. Good luck!!

Kelli,
My first son was BELOW the weight chart or right on the edge till he was 1yr old. Remember there can not be a growth chart with children on each spectrum! Our second son was over the top till 1yr! Our Ped was mostly just concerned for our first son if he would to fall ill, he wouldn't have any extras to get him through. He did fine. I BF and didn't eat dairy, egg, nuts, or much meat while I BF. I am sorry u r going through this. It will get better! I say to follow your instincts!! Do what you feel is right. Your ped is there to guide you, but should in the end respect what you do, she is after all YOUR child.
Good Luck, take care & try not to stress.. (hugs)

Ttracy - not sure if this info will help, but I hope so!

Eat oatmeal - it should increase your supply, and Whole Foods Market (as well as other grocers) carry a Nursing Mom's tea, and that will help as well.

Pump for 20 min a session if you can to get as much hindmilk as you can.

Lastly, add things like avocados, olive oil, flaxseed oil and nuts to your diet for healthy fats.

Good luck!!!

Hi T.. I'm a little apprehensive about giving advice without having all the medical details but here goes! I also had a < 5 % weight baby who I was exclusively bottle feeding. Nothing worked at putting weight on him even after seeing a nutritionist & putting him on pediasure, etc. He is now 17, 5'9" tall & still only weighs 110 lbs. He was also my healthiest baby out of the 3, & I breastfed the 2 after him. So much for the theory that breast-fed babies are healthier! Sometimes there is reason to be concerned & at some point I'm sure they will run metabolism tests but I think sometimes they get too worked up over these charts when there's nothing wrong. Your daughter is certainly long enough so it's not like she's not growing. Are you & your husband of small stature? Sometimes I think it's just genes & they overlook that. Either way it's too soon to start testing. A co-worker had the same problem & thay tested her daughter at 16 months old but found nothing wrong. I can't imagine your Dr would do anything yet but I'm not her!! Just hang in there & I wouldn't worry until you have definitive reason too. You are already doing what you can with the supplementation & soon she will start on solids, that may also help. Good luck & I hope I was able to help you!!

I would never want to downplay a situation, but my 3 children (ages 3, and 1 yr old twins) have all been low on the scales, for both height and weight. My son (the 3 year old) is typically 25th percentile for height and anywhere between 3-7th percentile for weight when he was a baby and 10th now that he is a little boy. My girls are typically the same for height (25th-30th percentile) and around 5-10th for weight. They were smallish babies (around 6lbs each), but not preemies, and they are very healthy generally. I have nursed all of them. My doctor has never been too concerend but always asks me how big my husband is (!) - we are both rather short and slim, so it's no surprise our kids are little, too! Again, I am not suggesting there is nothing to worry about - the doctors determine that - but I have healthy, prospering children who are also at the bottom of the scales. Hope this helps!

T.,

To try and ramp up your fat intake you can add avocado's, eggs - if you eat them and cheese, nuts and raisins and other dried fruits. All of these should help you add 'good' fat to your diet and it will all go into your milk. Try eats these things as snacks inbetween your meals too.
As for your daughter - I'm sorry you are having so much trouble with this. I guess the real issue is how much lower is your daughter from her birth weight percentage? The baby is supposed to double their birth weight by 5 months and triple it by a year. My daughter is a preemie so she isn't measured by the 'normal' scale - she is in the 5% by the normal scale but has been since birth. She gains but very slowly. She was fully breastfed for 6 months and then we introduced solids.
I guess another thing to ask the doctor is could her weigh gain or lack of it be contributed to something else? not just you not eating fatty foods and being able to pump 2 a day at work? Could there be another reason? It never hurts to ask the question. Also it never hurts to get a second option.

I hope this helps,
L.

I'm also a vegetarian(i cheat and eat seafood) i don't eat mmeat or dairy so getting exttra fat can be difficult. My daughter was also slow to gain weight so I had to add formula to the breast milk - 1 tsp for every 3 oz of pumped milk. It took my daughter a couple of weeks to gain weight but she's fine now. she just needed that boost. she was in the 5% in weight when born and at 9 momnths was in the 75% range. She hasn't had formula since she was 3 months. Good luck

Hi T. - I haven't experienced all the issues you are going through, but I have plenty of experience feeling like an overwhelmed and worried mom, and dealing with working outside the home and being away from your baby all day! I have two girls, ages 3 and 17 months, and they both were in day care by the time they were 3.5 months old. Three years later and it is STILL tough sometimes to send them off and miss them all day, wonder how they are, etc. I also enjoy my job and I know myself well enough to know for a fact that I do not want to be home with my kids 7 days/week, but I yearn for the ability to do part-time... not happening right now anyway! So I hear you about the financial aspect of working motherhood. All I can say as far as that goes is to remember that you are not doing your baby irreparable damamge, as some would have you believe, by sending her to day care. My girls are extremely well-adjusted, spend plenty of bonding time with me and my husband, and are very happy and content little beings! We make the most of the nighttime hours, vacations, and weekends, and while it is tough and they days can be long, it has worked out for us thus far. It is tough to deal with the way the world is today and the way we are wired as moms - we have that natural desire to be with our kids but we also have to work for a living or we couldn't afford the kids! That is a major contradiction in my opinion but it's out of our control. The only thing you can do is try to deal with it in a way that works for you - maybe there is a co-worker you can vent to who is in the same position? That helps me at work.

As far as the baby gaining weight, I did not experience that directly with my girls, but it sounds like you are doing everything you can and should be to help her. I think mixing the formula with breastmilk is a good idea so she gets the benefits of both. I have also read that the supplement called fenugreek is great for increasing your milk supply so you can keep pumping. The "good fats" the previous poster mentioned are healthy and a good idea for us all to eat no matter what (olive oil, nuts, flax, avocados, etc.). You should be proud of yourself for continuing to breastfeed despite an infection and D & C after everything you went through - wow, that is a lot to deal with! You are doing the best you can and you should give yourself a pat on the back for that! You are obviously on the right track. Let us know how it goes!! Hang in there!

My god-daughter and her mother went through the same thing when she was younger; though I do believe her weight percent might've been a little higher. Unfortunately, her doctor didn't know her mother as well as yours does and she was accused of never feeding her when, in actuality, my god-daughter never was eating endlessly. At almost 17, my god-daughter is still in a higher percentage for her height but lower for her weight (not quite 5 feet tall and about 95 pounds). While I can certainly understand the concern on your end, I would say to try not to worry about it too much. The main thing to remember is that she is eating and that, soon enough, she should be starting on solids. The solids may give her weight a bit of a boost into the 25% for her weight. Some babies are just naturally tinier than others and some babies are just lighter for their height than others. Also, from years of working with children, some just don't eat well when they are sick. That could've played a part in her low weight as well. Good luck!

Our daughter went down from the 40th percentile weight at birth to 3rd percentile around 4 months old. They put her on weight checks, but too were never very concerned. What was explained to me is this is about the time they find their growth curve (where they are going to be on the growth chart). She has stayed around 3rd to 5th percentile ever since and is now 5 years old. I still to this day try to get more calories into her, but she isn't a big eater. Continue to do what the doctor suggests and as long as she continues to grow and doesn't fall off the chart I think they will feel she's getting what she needs.

Hi-

I want to urge you to eat more fat. It is important to your health and your baby'. There is too much focus on low fat diets. You should be eating full fat yogurt, drinking whole milk. (unhomogenized if you can find it). Use butter generously and try coconut oil. It is a truy healthful fat.

Visit this website for more info. . . www.westonaprice.com

Good luck. . . have no fear about fat. It is an essential part of our diet.

T.,

Your baby is lucky to get every ounce of breatmilk you can pump out. I had problems getting started with nursing when my daughter was little. I saw a lactation specialist at the hospital on a one on one appointment. She weighed the baby, I fed her and then she weighed her again to initially figure out how much I was able to transfer to her. That may be one avenue to take to give you peace of my about your issue. We know breastfeeding is good for our little ones. But, we are not born knowing how to do it correctly AND I am pretty sure it is not supposed to drive us crazy. Help is out there from wonderful people.

All the best of luck!!!

S. P

I know you are a vegetarian - have you considered changing this? I know that's a big change, but there is plenty of research showing that vegetarianism is not necessarily healthier than eating meat, especially if it's organic/grass-fed.
Other than that, if you eat eggs, I would up the eggs big time. Also, avocado and coconut oil are fantastic sources of healthy fats - I eat coconut oil every day, I cook my eggs in it. Also, full-fat high quality yogurt/kefir would be great for you. And lots of nut butters - cashew and almond butter are even better than peanut butter.

Hi T.,

I have to agree with another post that while not knowing all of the medical issues involved here....I do want to mention that my son was born at the 50th percentile for weight and dropped down to the 3rd. I also exclusively breastfed him until 6 months and then pumped for another 2 months. His issue was intake....he had severe acid reflux and milk and soy allergies taht went undiagnosed for so long that he gave up on taking anythign by mouth. By 5 months he was 16 pounds and gained great weight on breastmilk alone. But this is aboutt he time he completely started refusing to drink anything at all beacuse of his health issues. We had several tests done which amde his oral aversion even worse to the point he compeltely gave up on eating and drinking orally. I know it made it worse to have these tests done but at the time we needed to know what was bothering him so that we could fix it and make him feel more comfortable. Anyhow, from months 5 - 8 he didn't gain any weight at all and this freaked us out. We started adding Ducoal (super soluble pwder with fat and carbs to help gain weight) into his bottles of breadtmilka nd now formula to help him gain weight and it is working. beacuse he takes in such a low volume per day, and never mind that he only drinks his bottle while asleep....it really helped us to fortify his milk and get more claories per ounce into him. You could try this and monitor your daughter's weight gain weekly to see how much she is gaining. I think babies at this age should be gainaing atleast 3-4 oz per week on breastmilk. But every baby is different. I would consider seeing a metabolic specialist and see if your daughter has any metablism issues. We have bene through it all with my son so if you ever have any questions, feel free to email me or call: ###-###-####.

Good luck,
E.

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