Of all the things I've ever said in my life, I don't think I've ever had the problem of not gaining enough weight.
Unfortunately it's one of the first pressures a new baby has to face. (Well, the it's generally the parents who feel the strain as midwives start weighing the new born, checking 'the chart' and looking very concerned.)
Babies are not used to such pressure to perform. In the womb all their nutrition came on tap. Out in the real world they have to work a bit harder to learn how to feed. Both mum and baby have to learn a new skill - latching on properly - and learn what feeding approach works best for this baby (on demand v a schedule, breast v bottle).
Therefore while this is going on it's completely normal for a new baby to drop 10% of its body weight in the first few days. But the medical professional generally likes a new baby to make that back within two weeks. So cue first parenting stress - feeding. And every baby has its own ways of doing things. so what works for one, won't work for another. Typical, huh!
If you are going to breastfeed, this weight issue is a bit tricky. And it's something that reduced me to tears again and again with baby number 1 who took 6 weeks to make back her birth weight.
But here's an interesting thing. Your baby's weight is tracked along a graph in its 'red book'. The graph is meant to indicate if the baby is falling behind in the weight stakes. But did you know that this graph is designed for bottle-fed babies, not breast-fed ones?
Bottle-fed babies are the sumo wrestlers of the baby world, putting on weight much quicker than breast-fed ones in the early days. Thus if you plot breast-fed results against a bottle-fed graph, the breast feeding mother is automatically going to feel a bit of a failure.
So if you're breastfeeding, just remember this when your midwife tuts and compares your baby's weight gain to the graph. Ask her if your graph is for bottle or breast-fed babies. And ask if she understands that the graph is asking your baby to put on more weight than is possible in the early days. And ask yourself if it's helpful to get stressed comparing apples with oranges.
Instead take a look at your baby. Is he or she healthy, thriving, alert and the right colour? Chances are things are fine. Don't get stressed out worrying about weight. Think of it as an indicator of how feeding is going. And if there's an increase - even if it's small - then that's OK.
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