Happy Baby, Happy Family: Learning to trust yourself and enjoy your baby. Sarah Beeson

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СКАЧАТЬ weight your baby puts on will help you to tell if your baby is getting enough milk. If you’re in the UK, the midwife and then your health visitor will weigh the baby to monitor their growth, and chart it on what is called a percentile chart (usually referred to as ‘centiles’). These graphs are next to the weight pages in your Parent Held Record (The Red Book) and show how your baby is progressing along their own line.

      It can be difficult to get your head round what the centiles mean. If you think about 100 babies born on the same day as your baby, they will be charted somewhere on the graph. Let’s say your Little One is on the ninth centile, which means 91 babies would weigh more and eight babies less than your baby. If your baby was born on the 50th centile, half of the 100 will weigh more and half less. It doesn’t matter where on the chart your baby starts; it’s the progress they make along their own line that matters, not what anyone else’s baby weighs. What you want to see is your baby progressing along their line or moving above it. If your baby started to drop significantly below their own centile line, you would want to get them checked and discuss why that may be happening.

      Babies seem to have an inner clock that regulates how much they need to feed. Sometimes they feed very frequently and other times they can go longer and seem to be less frantic. It is amazing, but more often than not a baby follows their centile line perfectly (though if they are poorly they might deviate from their usual rate of growth until they get better). It is always good to see their progress and to act on anything that is not expected.

      Your health visitor should monitor their progress with you, so keep an eye on it but don’t worry about small fluctuations. If you do have any concerns about weight gain, seek help from your health visitor or doctor. Get your baby’s weight checked at clinic every two weeks until you are happy with their weight gain, and then go every three to four weeks just to get it checked if you want to.

      The minimum weight you would expect a breastfed baby to gain in a week would be 3–4 oz/90–120 g. Your baby may gain a lot more than this, and some babies put on 8 oz/250 g in just over a week. This is just a very rough guide, and if your baby is feeding well and having lots of wet and dirty nappies, and is content as well as looking well and active, they will be putting on the weight they need in nearly all cases.

      So many women have told me they feel under pressure when their baby is losing weight in the first week. This is often due to the passing of meconium stools (the blackish first stools the baby passes after birth) and because your baby has not started to gain weight yet. If your Little One is on the large side you may find it will take them longer to regain their birth weight.

      Most babies will lose some weight because they suddenly have to work very hard to get their grub; when they were a foetus, life was so easy and comfortable. Now they’ve got feeding, pooing and producing lots of wind to do, all of which requires a lot of effort on their part – it’s no wonder they get grumpy.

      How much your baby weighs can be a great source of anxiety for some mothers; it seems to be the one question people keep asking, often followed by, ‘That’s not much,’ or ‘What a whopper. What are you feeding them?’ The pressure for babies to gain weight from family and friends can seem to dominate those early visits, but it is only one indicator of how well a baby is feeding. For instance, long babies or very active babies might put less weight on. Both small and big babies get a lot of weight-related comments, and mums sometimes feel that their Little One doesn’t weigh enough or needs to lose weight.

      If your baby is still having lots of wet and dirty nappies and is feeding well and is content, it is fine to let them go at their own pace – they’ll gain in the time that is right for them, and sometimes it is unreasonable to expect them to do this in the immediate postnatal period. Some babies take up to two weeks to regain their birth weight, but if your baby is not keen to suckle and not feeding well, then get them checked at the doctor’s in case jaundice is making your baby sleepy and is affecting their intake of milk.

      Mostly, with perseverance and patience they will start to put weight on – then keeping pace with their appetite will be your next challenge! Don’t forget: if they are weighed with a full tummy, having just fed and not having pooed yet, they will weigh a little more than a baby who has filled their nappy and is waiting for a feed.

      3rd sign: lots of dirty nappies

      Well-fed babies produce lots of dirty nappies. Monitor the frequency, quantity and colour of nappies – if lots of brimming mustard-coloured nappies are coming your way, you can be confident that your baby is getting enough to eat.

      The first poos a baby does are the meconium stools which usually last for about three days or so. Usually on the third or fourth day this poo will change to a lighter colour with a more greenish look. Babies also get lots of wind passing through them at both ends. When your baby is past the fourth or fifth day they will do about two or more poos every day, usually just small amounts to start.

      Your baby will wet and fill most nappies in the early weeks, and the stools are often very soft liquid and bright yellow like the colour of mustard. They can be frothy as well and shoot out onto the changing mat, all of which is normal (watch out for those exploding nappies!). Yellow poos tell us the baby is getting all the milk they need including the rich hind milk, which is responsible for that golden colour, and it is reassuring to know your baby is emptying the breast to get it. So, changing lots of nappies is a good thing – I promise.

      The number of dirty nappies is important because if your baby weren’t getting enough milk you’d notice a light green stool that would only stain the nappy, as there wouldn’t be enough poo to fill it up. To get a baby back on track, more frequent feeds are needed – and if they were only taking one side, now is the time to ensure your baby feeds from both breasts at most feeds.

      Darker grey/green with yellow poos do sometimes occur when the baby is a bit older – this is not a problem. The poo looks a bit mixed, somewhere between green and yellow, and can resemble little grains like rice. Some mums say this looks like tiny leaves. This poo is not a hunger stool and is fine.

      Change Bag Essentials

      Nipple gel

      Breastfeeding pads

      Shawl

      Bottle of water for you

      Travel pillow

      Muslin

      Nappies

      Wipes

      Nappy bags

      Spare set of baby clothes

      Older babies often poo less

      In the early days there is an endless stream of dirty nappies, but as your baby gets older you may notice they don’t do as many poos in a day, and then just poo every other day. It can often be they do three to five dirty nappies a day for a few weeks, then it goes down to two or three a day, and by 12–14 weeks some babies only do one dirty nappy a day, or even go several days without one (though some babies will always do several poos a day – just to keep you on your toes).

      At this stage if there are still lots of wet nappies to change, you’ll know everything is normal and your baby is being very efficient with the digestion of the milk and making fewer waste products. It may seem alarming that a baby does this, but it is normal in a fully breastfed baby before they are weaned onto solid foods.

      This often happens from 10–12 weeks and in other babies at 16–20 weeks. Just be prepared that when they don’t go for a little while, when they go, they really go! If you are out and about, СКАЧАТЬ