My Son Is 6Months and Not Gaining Any Weight

hey A.. Maybe you should try feeding him formula with rice cereal. Maybe he's ready for food!? Try mixing liquid baby food in with his bottles. Put fruit baby food and I bet he would love it.

Hi, I know that it is scary...I went through the same thing with my daughter. They say that at 6 mos. they want your baby to have doubled their birth weight. Well, my little girl is now 9 months old and when she was born she was almost 8lbs. Now she weighs a total of 13lbs. 4oz. Which, is no where close. She is very small and very delicate. Her doctor put her on vitamins because she was on breast milk and we were introducing her to rice cereal and other vegetables. She wasn't putting on any weight and she even seemed to be starving even after she had eaten large servings of food. I had intentions of never giving my baby formula...but when it was recommended that I do, she began to gain weight. Her moods are much better and now she even takes naps. She is better nourished now because of the formula and I can monitor exactly how much milk she has had whereas before I was estimating the amount by the time she was on the breast. I know that it doesn't seem like it's a good idea now, but trust me...when your child begins to get the nourishment they need, they thrive. She is doig so much better since being on the formula and now I even get more done around the house because she's not tied to me every couple of hours. Sometimes the breast milk is not enough.

My husband is a pharmacist and he went over all of the formula options and most are pretty good. You can choose between milk based or soys. And some with Lipil and Iron which are good for brain development. I can only tell you this, yeah, it wasn't what I wanted for my baby. I had success breast feeding and I was really proud of that because some women don't even get that. But after 7 months of watching my little girl not even put on weight scared me and I was always worried. Now I know that she is getting what she needs and I am finally getting a little relief.

Do what's best for the child and not for your pride. It sounds to me like you are a good mother and the decision will come from your heart.

Congratulations on your little one.

I say that as long as he is still gaining...even if it is just a bit...don't mess with the formula. Breastfeeding is exactly what he needs right now. Adding the formula could also make him overweight. That would turn into a problem that he would have to struggle with for the rest of his life. Keep it up mama...you are doing exactly what he needs.

Hi A.;
I had a lot of people tell me how I should try to feed my daughter-I wanted to breastfeed, some people said I wouldn't be able, should just do formula because my work schedule would make it too hard, its easier, etc, etc. I decided to stick with the breastfeeding anyway (in spite of all the negative attitudes) and had some issues, but I went to La Leche League meetings so I was able to talk to my leaders about it and got a lot of positive feedback and helpful ideas that worked! You can go to lalecheleague.org to look up leaders in your area to call-they want to help you have a positive experience! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Have you spoke w/ the Dr. about milk sensitivity creating what they call "failure to thrive." It took months to figure what that was the prob for my daughter and I had to force the issue since she was gaining- but barely. Turns out, I had to supplement w/ formula (she was still getting some breat-milk mixed w/ the formula) for a short-time (I made sure I used the Soy version) and we transitioned her to Soy milk. I breastfeed until she was nearly a yr old and we attempted to transistion her to whole milk. It was after LOTS of spitting up (never done before) and diarrea that the Dr suspected this problem. Allergy tests confirmed no allergies. She was just sensitive to whole milk. I wished I had known my consumption of milk contributed to her problems with weight. I would've started drinking soy. (Vanilla is not bad, but you might prefer flavored w/Strawberry.)
The good news is now she's has gone up 2+% for her wght category (now a whopoping 5%)& is fairly tall.
By the way, I buy Vanilla Soy by the case from Costco (Kirkland brand) since I personnally did not care for the Silk brand.
The weight gain is important now since around 9 months his activity level WILL begin to increase and he won't be gaining a whole lot of weight for a while. But you don't have to quit breastfeeding if you don't want to quite.
Good luck.

How experienced is your doc with breastfed babies? They gain weight at a different rate than formula fed babies. It's normally very rapid during the first 4-6 months and then plateaus. My son went from gaining 1 pound a week to one a month around that time. Nothing was wrong with him or my milk.

Maybe it's time to find a more breast feeding friendly doctor. Try contacting your local chapter of La Leche League. They'll be able to help you.

There's nothing wrong with your son or your milk. He's not losing weight and I'm assuming reaching his milestones. He's just not fitting into the narrow definition of what your doctor thinks a child should be doing.

If you do decide to introduce or add more solids, I recommend trying avocado. Babies love it. It's a great first food and one of the few that actually has a higher fat content than breastmilk.

Hi there. This is the case when you listen to yourself and your doctor. As a dietitian, i am all about breastfeeding...but of you baby needs a little help with formula, there is nothing wrong with it. You can do formula and still breast feed. You can mix the formula by the directions on the can and add in breastmilk. You can freeze any extra breast milk (if you pump also) in ice cube bins and continue mixing breatmilk in for a very long time. The baby can even have breastmilk after switching to whole milk also. Remeber that millions of babies thrive on formula also and if you think it is time to begin weaning, then that is alright also.
Good luck
L. c

I always had milk production problems. If your doctor says you need to suppliment...then you need to supliment. (as long as he/she is a learned person about nursing...are you having production problems? is your son hitting the milestones he is supposed to, does he sleep too much, is he always hungary?..I had midwives who were very privy to nursing...make sure your dr. is supportive of breastfeeding,,and understands the ins and outs of it all, cause they are ALOT of them. there are great breastfeedng websites,,look there too) It does not mean you can not stil nurse your baby. I did both for the first year of my daughter's life and she is very very healthy, smart and quite athletic. Formula does not ruin your baby, like some people think. An underweight baby is a serious thing. They are growing SO fast and need their baby chub to grow properly :-) Best to ya :-)

First off, this is your baby, not your mother's. Secondly, if your son isn't gaining any weight and he's just being breatfed, then he needs something else in his diet. He either needs formula which you can still give him breatmilk, just cut it back some. Or since he is 6 months, he should be starting foods now. If you add some formula and cereal to his diet, he'll probably gain weight like a champ and you'll see a big difference. Either way, he is your son and you have to do what is best for him. And in my opinion, not gaining any weight is not best. I'd follow the doctor's advice on this one. Good luck!

Hey A.,

Have you tried increasing your caloric intake? Right after I had my daughter, I wasn't ever hungry, so I barely ate all day. As a result, my milk became poor in quality, and she wanted to eat all the time because it wasn't filling to her. I started forcing myself to eat and she has been gaining weight ever since. We are getting ready to start rice cereal this weekend and I'm so excited about it! I would try other options before I would just give up breastfeeding! Good luck!

A.

Congrats on being able to feed your baby exclusivly on breastmilk. I had to do the breast and bottle feeding since I was not hardly producing milk at all. I continued to feed my daughter( now 21 mo) until she was 8 mo during nap and at night unless I ran out of milk. She seems to do well and once that started the dr. were not concerned about her anymore. She gained weight steadily and is now just like an other toddler. I wouldn't worry about doing both methods, they will get used to the situation and adapt quickly. Hope all works out for you. Take care S. 29 Sara 21 mos and Tyler 12yr

Average weight gain for a breastfed baby for the first 3-4 months is 4-6 ounces per week. From 4-6 months is 4-5 ounces per week. From 6-12 months is 2-4 ounces per week.

Bring your doctor the growth charts from the World Health Organization from here: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/en/ Most doctors use the standard US growth charts which are normed on formula fed infants. The WHO growth charts are normed on breastfed infants.

If your baby is showing signs of readiness for solids, you may want to talk with his doctor about adding solids instead of formula.

If you are concerned about your milk supply, the best way to raise it is to nurse more frequently, as breastfeeding operates on the principles of supply & demand.

Hi A.,
I emailed my friend. and this is what she said.
Without really working with this mom, I don't know her situation. Baby
is either not nursing well at the breast, maybe has a weak suck or the
mom is not letting baby get the hind milk(fatty milk) I would never
suggest formula, but she may need to pump after a feeding for a few
days to see if baby is not getting the fatty milk. She should meet
with a Lactation con. in her area, before she does anything. It also
could be very normal for this child to only have gained this much.
Baby should be having 4 or more Bowl movements and 6 or more wet
diapers a day. If not we have a problem. Is baby on anything other
than breast milk? If baby is getting cereal, then that should also help
with weight gain. I would recommend meeting with a professional, not a
Dr. someone in breastfeeding. Some doctors are very quick to put baby
formula, which that would be my last choice after pumping or getting
donated milk. Hope this helps.
Amber

It's odd that your doc suggested a switch to formula rather than introducing solids. This is a great age to add those. And as long as you are producing enough milk - it is better for weight gain than formula as it has more fat.

I would suggest starting him on some rice cereal.

Good luck!

Keep nursing that sweet baby!!! If you both are enjoying it, and it's working, why stop???????!! Good for you for adding in some fruits and things, but why in the world why you stop nursing?? Especially if it's going good??? Keep on nursing, and good luck!!!!!!!

At this point a baby should be gaining about a pound a month. You say you're breastfeeding good, but how do you know? Your milk will change around 6 months because the baby should be getting other sources of nutrition and your body knows that. You probably need to add vitamins if you don't want to go to formula.
I nursed too, but my baby wasn't thriving and I added formula. She got to be a much happier baby after that. She finally caught the curve at 2 1/2 months, I continued to do both until 6 months. Now she's just right, healthy and happy.
Lots of people will tell you that nursing is the only way to go and formula will make your baby fat and all sorts of other things - but you have to DO WHAT'S BEST FOR YOUR BABY. The doctor doesn't care where they are on the weight curve, as long as they stay on the same curve.

my sons doctor did the same thing when he was a month old. it had taken us a bit to get breasting going, isaac had actually lost a few ounces of his birth weight because of our struggle to get it right, we were finally going strong when the dr. wanted him to have formula, too. my instinct was not to incorporate formula because i felt so strongly about breastmilk, but i was also vulnerable because he was a newborn and i, a new mom. so i gave in. now i regret not following my instincts because it interfered with the breast and we never got back on track. i feel we could have made it over the hump given more time. my advice is to ask why. when dr.s suggest things that make us uneasy we need understand why. is this the only issue with you and your son, or are there other factors like illness? could he feed longer or more often? i also had a friend whose baby kept losing weight because she didnt know she had inverted nipples and the baby wasnt feeding enough. hope that helps :)

Hi A.,

It may be that he is burning it off faster than he is receiving it. I had a son that I literally had to feed him a jar of food at a certain point in the middle of the night because he would be so hungry. If he is breastfeeding well maybe it's time to introduce some cereal because he is 6 months old just add some breast milk to the cereal. He may have a fast matabolism.

This is what I was told by the doctor with my son. He was so skinny until he hit 10 years old.

I hope this helps.
T.
www.momonajourney.com

My child only gained 7 oz. between his 4 mo. and 6mo. appt. He was active and beginning to crawl (or atleast try). Once we introduced solid foods and began giving him small amts of cereal a couple of times a day, plus nursing before each meal, his weight was fine. I would hold off if you can and see how introducing/increasing solids helps. You can always arrange for a weight in appt. in a month or so. Many babies go through growth spurts at different times. Sometimes they fall just after your regular appt. Hope this helps.