Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Wed, 26 Jun 2013 13:19:39 +0200 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
So true, Pamela. There are of course great variations in weight gain
patterns, and here the WHO growth charts are useful.
I also see the other side of the coin - breastfeeding going really well and
baby gaining well for the first couple of months (450g/week) then slows down
somewhere around 8 weeks - to be expected unless baby is an elephant. But
mother is not usually told to expect this or given any explanation when it
does happen - mothers are distraught and believe it's a sign that their milk
is drying up. Of course there could be an underlying problem, but more
often than not I find it's a lack of understanding and confidence. Many
women I see do not know anyone who has breastfed for more than a few weeks
and it’s as if they are expecting breastfeeding to fail.
Jean Ridler RN RM IBCLC
Cape Town, South Africa
> Yep, that sounds about right to me. As a rule of thumb, the paeds
> that I used to work with liked a weight gain of roughly 30g/day from
> hospital discharge until 3 months. This is not absolutely carved in
> stone, of course, but if a healthy baby is breastfeeding well, they
> will gain at least this amount - sometimes as much as 250-400g a
> week. And if the baby is not breastfeeding well - as evidenced by
> consistently lower gain - then the quicker the reason is identified
> and addressed, then the better it will be for the baby's nutrition
> and the mom's on-going milk supply. There's always a reason for low
> gain - if you can just find it. In practice, however, I find so
> often that clinics and health visitors and such will reassure a
> mother that a breastfed baby doesn't need to gain so much, and the
> baby starts falling down the chart - and eventually someone wakes up
> and sees that the baby is really not doing well, and it's often too
> late to kick-start the milk supply again in time to prevent formula
> supplements. It's just so much easier to take careful anticipatory
> care in the very early weeks and jump in quickly with a little tweak
> before the whole thing turns into a train-smash.
>
> Just my 0.2ml
>
> Pamela (who does a disappointingly large number of analyses of weight
> charts for "exclusively breastfed" babies who are being referred to
> Social Services for very low gain/failure to thrive when it's often
> too late to avoid really necessary large formula supplementation -
> can you tell I feel strongly about this???)
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
|
|