How to gain weight for an infant

Greetings, dear subscribers! One of the biggest concerns of new mothers is that their newborn does not gain weight well while breastfeeding. When the child is placed on the scale, they wait with bated breath for the doctor's verdict. Will the value be less than average? In this article I will share with you the most up-to-date information on this topic.

Usually the question of why a newborn does not gain weight well arises in the first month of life. And doctors insistently suggest introducing formula into the diet, without trying to establish breastfeeding. Due to excessive anxiety, lactation decreases, and as a result, he is deprived of immune support and its other benefits.

What should every mother know about weight loss rates in the first days after birth? How much should the baby gain in the future?

Tips for increasing lactation

You should increase the volume of fluid you drink per day.

Before you start feeding your baby, and also after this procedure, be sure to make yourself some non-hot tea with milk or herbs. Nut milk – walnuts infused with it – will also help.

During lactation, try not to be nervous and get plenty of rest. This will help you find the answer to the question: how can a one-year-old child gain weight fully and without problems.

Do not deny the baby feeding at night and, if possible, place him nearby to provide breast milk in a timely manner.

In addition, it is permissible to use special tablets. They are made from bee milk with the addition of a complex of vitamins for nursing women.

Do not introduce solid foods into your baby's diet or reduce their volume, especially if he is less than six months old. Most of these foods are low in calories compared to breast milk.

Sleep next to your newborn. This allows you to increase the amount of prolactin and increases the number of feedings.

Give your baby a massage. It improves digestion and normalizes absorption, which will lead to weight gain.

Try to feed your baby often, without waiting for the required 3 hours to expire. If you are underweight, a shorter interval is acceptable - 2-2.5 hours. In addition, this activates lactation, solving your problem of how to quickly gain weight for a newborn baby.

When breastfeeding, try to squeeze and massage your breasts to increase milk flow.

Before eating, lightly express the liquid (two minutes is enough) so that the baby gets a more high-calorie and nutritious portion.

Wait for the baby to completely empty one breast, and make sure that he is full (looks sleepy, happy, not capricious, stops actively swallowing). It is very important that the baby completely finishes feeding from one breast, since “late” milk is more calorie and nutritious, which will increase the gap between meals and provide restful sleep. This way, young mothers will forever forget about the problem of how to gain weight for a newborn baby.

And one more small clarification. If your baby is prescribed additional nutrition, still try to give him breastfeeding (formula in extreme cases). It's just that the amount of calories/fat in breast milk is much higher. And to increase its one-time amount, after each feeding, express for another 5-10 minutes. This portion can be offered to the baby later, as it is very nutritious. This way you will get rid of the painful question of how to gain weight for a child (1 year or less).

Go to the section: scales for newborns

A child does not gain weight well before one year: what measures should be taken?

The first thing to do is to understand why the baby stopped gaining weight. The reasons may be different, and we will look at them further.

Lack of milk.

Often, a baby cannot gain weight because he does not have enough breast milk. This can happen if:

The mother has little milk and there are interruptions in lactation.
The child does not have a stable sucking reflex. In this case, it is necessary to teach the baby to eat.
Bad posture. There is no need to experiment with positions in which you can feed your baby. It is better to use standard poses, tested by many mothers.
Diseases associated with the oral cavity. Because of them, the baby may not eat well. This is usually easily identified and corrected by a pediatrician.
Poorly shaped nipple. It’s hard for the baby to grab it with his lips. This will be visible already in the first month of a newborn’s life.

Lack of mother's milk is a popular reason why a baby is not gaining weight well. To understand this, you need to study how often the child eats and how much. It is better to summarize all the results in a single table, and then show it to the pediatrician.

Your doctor can confirm your concerns and prescribe treatment. In this case, the pediatrician usually prescribes medications that help enhance the mother's lactation. Children are also given special complementary foods. Up to 4 months, children receive formulas that help them gain weight faster, and after 4 months, doctors usually recommend switching problem children to vegetable purees.

The baby does not like complementary foods.

In some cases, the baby may not like the taste of the formula he is being fed. You can resort to other products from a similar category - for example, take another manufacturer, since there are quite a lot of them.

After 7 months, when the baby begins to be introduced to complementary foods, he may refuse these annoying purees of vegetables and fruits. Of course, it’s hard to get used to them, especially after delicious mother’s milk. Usually, over time, infants get used to the new diet and begin to gain weight in strict accordance with existing standards.

Refusal of complementary feeding is the wrong step. After 7 months, the baby will no longer be able to receive all the necessary substances and microelements only from mother’s milk. A monotonous diet can lead to the child developing problems with the immune system. Complementary foods must be present in the diet - try to make the menu as varied as possible, but do not go beyond the list of permitted products.

Unbalanced diet.

It often happens that a child has a good appetite, but his weight gain is inhibited. Parents begin to wonder what the reasons for this behavior are. And the answer is simple – the baby’s diet is chosen incorrectly. It is necessary to adjust the menu so that it meets the following indicators:

The diet should contain fats - 5 grams of butter (both vegetable and butter) per 100 ml of puree or soup is suitable for this.
You don't need to feed your baby the same foods.
Reduce the amount of sugar in complementary foods. Sugar interferes with the absorption of vitamins and microelements.

If you think that you have violated the rules of complementary feeding, check with your pediatrician. Gradually, with a change in diet, the baby will begin to gain weight, catching up with his peers.

Excessive activity.

Is your child one year old and still not gaining weight? In this case, study his behavior. You may notice that your baby is too active. It simply burns all the calories it receives, and therefore nothing is stored. In this case, there is no need to show much concern. It is important that the baby is cheerful, then this will not cause any problems.

Presence of diseases.

If all the factors are in place, there is enough milk, the diet is very competent, but the child still does not gain weight, then perhaps the reason is hidden in illness. Then it is better to immediately visit a pediatrician, who will examine the baby and identify any hidden infections.

The main reasons for underweight in newborns:

Digestive problems.
Worms and other helminths.
Problems with the thyroid gland.
Cystic fibrosis.
Neurological abnormalities.
Type 1 diabetes.

Successful treatment of diseases allows the baby’s weight gain to return to normal.

The child was premature.

Premature babies may be born with diseases of internal organs, the presence of various pathologies, etc. To achieve stable weight gain in the baby, parents will have to carry out a set of measures prescribed by the pediatrician.

The child is fed artificial formula.

There is an opinion that no artificial formula can replace breast milk, and therefore children who are fed such formulas gain weight worse. Breastfed babies are less likely to be diagnosed with obesity and do not have any metabolic problems.

Important!

If you notice that your child is underweight, you should not urgently feed him formula and complementary foods. Fighting obesity will be much more difficult!

Norms of weight gain from 1 month to 1 year

With exclusive breastfeeding, milk consumption increases sharply in the first weeks of life and remains virtually unchanged in the first six months.

Soon after this, milk intake will gradually decrease as complementary foods are introduced into the diet and nutrient intake from other sources increases.

Most children double their weight at 4-5 months and increase 2.5-3 times by the year. Please remember that these are only recommended values and are unique to each little person.

How much should a newborn gain in the first three months?

The average increase is 400-600 grams monthly. Up to 6 months – 750-800 grams. Then the little one begins to move more, his teeth begin to cut, so weight gain is no longer happening at such a rapid pace.

Understanding the growth chart

As a parent, it is important to remember that all statistics reflect a mythical “average” child who does not exist in real life. All you need to keep in mind is that when his weight is on the "50th percentile" line, it means that half of the children measured at that age are heavier than him and half are lighter. Every child has their own growth curve. Therefore, if the body weight at the 5th percentile level is at a constant level, this is not as dangerous as for a child at the 50th percentile it begins to fall sharply.

If the development point is within the red and green zones, then there should be no reason for concern. And if it is in the upper or lower region, it is worth analyzing the child’s well-being.

Make sure your pediatrician uses the World Health Organization's newborn height and weight indicators. In previous decades, the old weight gain chart was used. It was compiled based on statistics of bottle-fed infants.

From 1 to 14 days

Full-term babies are born on average between 2.6 and 4 kg. A loss of 7% of initial body weight is considered normal. This is due to the fact that they lose a lot of fluid until the mother’s milk arrives. Namely:

moisture loss occurs through breathing;
the excretory system begins to work;
meconium leaves the intestines;
the remainder of the umbilical cord dries out.

All they need is colostrum, which is rich in nutrients. In the first days, their stomach is the size of a cherry, so a few thimbles of the valuable “elixir” are enough to get enough.

On average, the baby loses weight in the first 3-4 days, and returns to its original size by 10-14 days.

What to do if it is not clear whether he has enough milk? Pay attention to dirty diapers. In the first three days, dark meconium comes out. On the fourth day, the stool becomes yellow, soft in consistency in infants and dense in artificial ones.

If the transition takes longer, then this is a clear sign that there is not enough milk. For the first 2 days, the baby has stool once a day. On the third day about 3 times, and gradually this amount increases - they poop after each feeding or about 8-12 times.

Why might a child not gain weight?

The reasons for the shortage are:

Doesn't suck often enough. Newborns need to be fed every 2.5 hours or 8 to 12 times a day. In fact, it is not necessary to follow the regime. From time immemorial, mothers fed on demand and doctors did not particularly deal with this area. If he falls asleep and there is a shortage, he needs to be woken up and offered the breast.
Incorrect attachment to the breast can reduce the amount of milk supplied and cause stagnation. When the baby does not grasp the nipple deeply enough, it can “hang” on the chest for a long time. Contact a lactation consultant to ensure proper latching.
Changing breasts too often. He sucks only the “front” milk, and does not have time to reach the “hind” milk, which is more nutritious.
A diluted formula may cause your baby to receive insufficient calories and gain weight poorly while bottle-fed. Some parents add water because they think the formula has a fixing effect or want to save money.

How to improve newborn weight gain

When a newborn is not gaining weight well, urgent measures must be taken to correct this situation. Since children with very low weight may lag behind their more well-fed peers in growth and development. Let's consider what a young mother can do to increase the weight of her baby:

Feeding a newborn on demand. At the baby’s first cry, you need to give him the breast and not take him away from it until he lets go.
It is not recommended to let your baby suck from both breasts at one feeding. Since in this case he will eat only the “front” watery milk, and will not suck out the “hind” nutritious and fatty milk.
Do not give your baby a pacifier.

If all of the above measures did not help and the newborn still does not gain weight, then consult a pediatrician about starting supplemental feeding of the baby with artificial formula. Moreover, a young mother should definitely remember that she should feed her baby with formula milk only after he has “fed up” with mother’s milk and let go of the breast.