DS only gained 12 ounces in 3 months

[robynholly]

I posted this in Life With Babe but I thought it would be helpful here too...thanks for all you help!

We just had DS's 9 month check up. He has been EBF for 7 months and then I started rice cereal once a day along with breast feeding for the 8th month of his life. Then I added sweet potoatoes for a week along with the rice and breast milk and then we did peas along with rice and breast milk. I should add that for the first 7 months he fed every 3 hours all day and night and then he started sleeping through the night. He only gained 12 ounces in 3 months and he grew and inch and a half. I understand that he is much more active now...crawling, cruising, climbing but shouldn't he have gained more? Now my doctor wants him to have solids 5 times a day and says they are supposed to have more solids than breast milk at this point. My dr is actual an open minded doc as she is all for selective-no vax and holistic apporaches to healing....but I am not sure she is right about this. She says he looks great but has never seen a child not gain any weight. I am so upset because I am feeding my child. Please help.

[PatioGardener]

But he has gained weight! Why not try to plot his weight on the WHO curve? See: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/stand...boys_p_0_2.pdf

If baby is falling of his curve, it's often wise to get another weight from a trusted scale, to wait a week or so and then weigh again on the same trusted scale. Often a weight 'problem' can result from an inaccurate scale!

Also, before a year, breastmilk should come before each feed, and breastmilk usually makes up at least 75% of baby's calories. If baby is falling of his curve, then a breastfeeding friendly doc would usually encourage more breastfeeding!

ETA: 12 oz is low for weight gain from 6-9 months (see http://kellymom.com/babyconcerns/gro...in-metric.html). Rice cereal is really low in calories compared to breastmilk. Here is a great list of foods and their calorie content from kellymom. http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitami...dcalories.html

If you are worried about how much milk baby is getting, you could try some easy tips to increase supply, like eating oatmeal, nursing more often, avoiding hormonal birth control etc. The low supply sticky in the breastfeeding challenges forum has great info.

[Juvysen]

I dunno. The second half of the first year it's completely normal for a baby's growth to slow down a lot. I think my daughter was nearly 15 lbs at her 6 month appointment, but didn't even hit 17 lbs by 1 year. She was definitely hitting a lot of milestones and started walking really early... Our doctor was unconcerned. *shrug*

[ShwarmaQueen]

I agree w/ Jenna. DD plateau'd around 7 or 8 months and then the weight climbed veeeery slowly. She wouldn't nurse if there was any light, movement, sound, etc. (basically any stimuli) and giving her solids at that point was still like a game, many times not much stayed in. On top of that the rolling and crawling burned the calories I was working so hard to put in...so there was never much of a surplus to gain.

I'd probably cut out the rice cereal and stick to proteins and fruits/veggies at this point, but breastmilk is still FINE to be the main source of lo's calories. Your doc is pushing the solids for no good cause, breast is still best!

[rightkindofme]

My daughter was 19.1 lbs at five months and 20.7 lbs at a year. So over seven months she only gained 1.6 lbs. If you break that down... it's not a lot per month. She's super healthy and meets every milestone early.

Don't worry till you have a reason to worry. And my kid at 16 months is still having more breastmilk than solids.

[Heba]

I was going to say what everyone else has said (but I'm probably not a good person to comment as my kids - especially my daughter - gained very slowly but since there were no regular check-ups where we live I have no idea how slowly). Rice cereal = not very nutritious; once highly recommended as a first food, fruit veg and meat are now considered better. But breastmilk is the tops wrt calories and nutrition for the first year, and as others have said, this is a child's *primary source of nutrition* at this stage, not secondary.

If there were other issues (e.g. development, health) then I would be concerned. Otherwise, I'd just push the breastmilk and ensure I'm giving calorie- and nutrition- dense complementary foods but not sweat it too much.

Good luck!

[Heba]

Originally Posted by robynholly

She says he looks great

Just to add...I think this statement is key .
You're doing a great job, mama.

[etsdtm99]

at 1 year solids "should" be 25% of baby's diet and 75% BM/Formula ..

my DS gained less than 2lbs between 6-12 months.. only 8 oz between 9-12 months.. he was 20lbs 2oz at 6 mo and 21lbs 14oz at 12 months.. he ate almost no solids through that period - his choice . (didn't start til 8 months) our pedi said this was all completely normal.. he was active and healthy, meeting milestones etc. .. still a little chunky looking but he went from 95% to 30% in 6 months.. he is nearly 17 months now and still eats more breastmilk than solids most days..

[robynholly]

Thank you...i feel a little better...i just worry...typical first time mom and all.