Weight Gain in 2.5 month old

[**mom2one**]

Hi there,

I have two dds - one is 2 and one is 5 and I have another one on the way.  My girls both gained really quickly.  So I am wondering what is "normal" for a newborn.  My friend has a new baby boy - He is 2.5 months old now.  He weighed right around 8 lbs at birth.  But he is the skinniest baby I have ever seen!  And it's not just mean who notices - everyone comments on how skrawny he is.  Anyway her husband was saying on the weekend that he is up to 9lbs now!  Is it just me or shouldn't he have gained more that 1 lb in 2.5 months??  I haven't said anything to her or anything because I don't want to come across as the "Know it all" mom.  But I am worried about the poor little guy - I will say that he is pretty tall but still his little legs and arms are sooooo skinny.  

So I am just wondering what other moms have experienced as to weight gain for the LOs.

[LittleBirdy]

Is the baby going to WBV or similar?  If the doctor is not concerned then I'm sure he is fine.  Also, it matters how much his birthweight dropped in the first few days after he was born - you would count weight gain from his LOWEST weight (usually 2 or 3 days after birth, IIRC).  So he may have gained more than a pound in that time frame.

I don't remember exactly how fast DS gained weight but he is a total "banana" - long and skinny.  Still is.  Here is a picture of him at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 5 months:

[PatioGardener]

Babies usually gain about an ounce a day (5-7 oz a week) once they are back up to birth weight. So yeah, a pound in 2 months, or even 6 weeks if baby was really really slow to make it back to birth weight is not typical at all.

Hopefully they are being followed and Mama and baby are getting breastfeeding help - as slow weight gain is a red flag for breastfeeding issues.

[~Adorkable~]

Wow, yeah I would be worried too, my premie twins that had a hard slow time of things had gained 4 & 5 pounds nearly doubling there birhtweights by their 2 month WBV and that even listed from their birth weight, even more weight gained when you consider they lost over 10% before they started gaining it back.

I would think there is a way to check in with her in the vein of giving her support rather than "knowing it all"

[mckittre]

I've been keeping an eye on my slow-gaining 4 month old, but she's still a lot faster than that.  About 2.75 lbs up at 2.5 months, and about 4.75 lbs up from birth weight at 4 months (she was born at nearly 10lbs, so has not ever been skinny and is still above 50th percentile).  My doc thought she was kind of at the edge where we didn't quite need to worry about it, but it was close.

However, if the dad was mentioning the weight gain, maybe that's because they have been worried about it? And that they've been having trouble and working hard to get him up to 9lbs?

[nia82]

If the doctor isn't concerned, then it should be okay. My nephew gained extremely slowly and still is super skinny at nearly 3 years. He weighs under 30 pounds still! It depends on the genetics as well - my dad is super tall and skinny so the genes are there. It looked really weird seeing DS and my nephew right next to each other - they are only 6 weeks apart yet DS weighed 31lbs at 12 months so imagine those two right next to each other...

[porttack]

I agree with PPs that it depends on how much weigh he dropped after birth. If he dropped 1 or 1.5 pounds, that means he gained 2 or 2.5 and that's not too bad. It does sound below average for sure, though, and I am a bit concerned. My LO dropped 17% after birth and took a month to regain birth weight (9.0). Slow out of the gate, he is doing great now. Could you mention something like "I heard this other mom talk about her baby..." so that it doesn't sound like you are a know-it-all? Or, "I read this article..." something benign like that.

If your friend BFs, it could be tongue tie in the baby which is often undetected, could be so many things though.

[AislinCarys]

Slow Weight Gain (which is a medical term), is not necessarily cause for alarm. It can be totally fine, provided the other factors for the diagnosis (Slow Weight Gain) are there: Baby is pooing and weeing as much as expected, baby is strong and doesn't seem tired or sleepy or weak, baby's skin looks and feels good (not dehydrated), baby's eye's are bright, baby feeds well. Although you'd expect a Slow Weight Gain baby to be monitored by a dr (and as the father mentioned the weight, it is most likely the case here).

I wouldn't say anything, I figure the parents are probably worried enough as it is, and it really isn't an emergency. On the other hand, a listless, weak baby would be!

My DD lost weight, and later gained slowly. But she was always strong and healthy, pooing and weeing etc. Which leaves her generally a Slow Weight Gain baby, although Failure To Thrive was considered, especially when she lost weight. But a diagnosis of FTT generally requires that the baby is weak and unwell as well. We still worked with LC's, specialist ped, and family dr for her first 6 months.

My friend later had a baby who did not gain, and I went to see her at 3 weeks. As I held the baby I got alarmed. The baby was weak, very, very weak, skin was pale, eyes a bit glazed over. And I still didn't say anything there and then (although I know that was an emergency, but I knew she was under the care of her midwife), but when I came home I thought it over and called her to suggest she went to see the fantastic LC we saw. I said that it was important to go before it became an issue, because an LC would be able to sort problems before they became problems. See, I knew that the LC would take one look at that baby and personally contact the peds in the neonatal ward (babies usually get referred to them by midwives in the first 6 weeks here, we usually see Well Baby nurses).