Hi. A quick introduction of myself to the list. I have read the archives for
several years and finally decided to get my act together and join properly.
My name is Nikki Macfarlane. I am a childbirth educator and doula,
practicing in Singapore where I have been living for the past 4 years or so.
Before that I lived in the UK for 10 years, before that Australia for 10
years, before that NZ. So, a bit of a mongrel! I have 3 kids, 1 husband, 2
rabbits and 2 hamsters.
I have been working as a childbirth educator and doula for the past 8 years
since the birth of my second. I am also training at the moment as a nurse
doing my Bachelor of Nursing degree by distance learning through an
Australian University - just got past the halfway mark! Planning to continue
with Midwifery when I have completed the nursing. Thoroughly enjoyed being
here in Singapore in such a high tech environment seeing the changes that
have slowly been happening. Singapore has pretty abysmyl (sp?) breastfeeding
rates as I'm sure anyone else on the list from here can confirm. Little
support in the hospitals, no homecare midwifery system, and poor information
abounds.
I do have a question regarding one of my clients. She has had her 4th
child - homebirth, all normal and straightforward. No intervention, no
medications. He has been breastfed on demand since birth (he is now 8 weeks
old). She breastfed the other 3 successfully. This little one was born
weighing 4.1 kg. He lost about 14% of his body weight in the first week but
had no medical problems, no jaundice, fed well. I have checked the
positioning and latching several times - no problems that I can see. The
positioning looks right, he swallows beautifully, her breasts all seem fine,
his latch is good and suck strong.
However, his weight gain has been very very slow. Over the past 8 weeks he
has gained an average of 55 grams per week. While he has now gone past his
birth weight his gain is still very slow. He feeds several times at night
and feeds pretty much off and on constantly through the day. Each feed lasts
anywhere from 15-40 minutes. She keeps him at the same breast through this
time. His feed times are not limited in any way or restricted at all. Her
diet is excellent and despite having 4 children she is getting lots of rest
since she has someone to help her with the children and housework.
The baby is healthy in every way. He is alert and active when awake,
reaching all the appropriate milestones. He just looks very very skinny!
My question is, has anyone else seen sucha slow weight gain in a perfectly
normal baby? Is there anything glaringly obvious that I have missed? The
mother is not overly concerned as long as the baby appears healthy. She
understands that this may be perfectly normal for her son - just a slight
concern that there may be something wrong or possibly something she could do
to increase his weight.
I know that weight gain varies a considerable amount from one baby to the
next and the other signs of health and well being should be the ones being
checked. I have checked through my LLL manual and tried everything in there
and checked everything they have suggested checking. He matches all the
characteristics of a slow to gain baby rather than a failure to thrive
except the average weight gain. He is not dehydrated and has normal stools
plus 6-8 weight diapers per 24 hour period. Any suggestions would be
welcomed.
Thanks,
Nikki Macfarlane
Singapore
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