Do Babies Lose Weight When Weaning

Within 3 months of birth, babies gain double their weight from the time of birth. Mothers often tend to get worried if they don’t see enough growth in their babies. However, a little weight loss after their birth is considered normal. In the first 5 to 7 days formula fed babies lose up to 5% weight whereas breastfed babies lose up to 10% weight. This loss of weight is regained by the time the baby is 14 days old.

Weight gain is not always a sign of good health and weight loss cannot be considered as a sign of bad health. But, both these situations cannot be ignored. It is always safe to take a pediatricians advice before coming to any conclusions. Due to the influence of external factors, babies can lose weight during any month after their birth. 

Few babies are extremely active due to which they would have had a high metabolism rate and this can be one of the reasons for weight loss. Loss of weight under this circumstance is a healthy sign. You need to worry only when your baby is gasping or panting for breath after walking or crawling. It means your baby doesn’t have sufficient energy hence it is better to consult a pediatrician.

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Worms in a baby’s intestine can affect the weight of the baby as they absorb all the nutrients from the food you provide. In case of any possible worm infections, pediatricians give proper medicines to get rid of worms and help your baby gain weight. 

Low weight in babies can be hereditary too. To know if this is the reason for your baby’s low weight, it is important to understand your husband’s family tree. Check if anyone from your husband’s parent’s side were thinner.

Preferably, a baby should be fed every 3-4 hours. The food can be a simple meal or snacks. Instead of feeding so often, if you feel, you can feed a heavy meal just twice a day then you are wrong. Babies require their nutrients at regular intervals.

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Administering a lot of water and milk can restrain the hunger of your baby and reduce his food intake. If you are breastfeeding even after 5 months, that too can reduce the hunger of your baby.

High fiber foods like whole grain pasta, brown rice can stay for a long time in your baby’s stomach. Hence, it is better to avoid such foods as your baby needs more time to digest it which in turn results in less food intake.

Even babies like a variety in their food. If you feed your baby the same food everyday they tend to get fed up and refuse to eat it. Try to make your baby’s food as tasty as possible and present different varieties through the limited ingredients. 

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If you keep feeding your baby just milk, rice or dal, he won’t get enough nutrients required. Add more healthy items like ghee, Kerala banana, butter, eggs, cream, and sweet potatoes to make your baby’s food rich in nutrition.

Metabolism in babies increases when their activeness increases. Babies tend to lose weight when they start crawling or walking. Though this situation is a healthy sign, just make sure you slightly change their diet and add more nutrition foods.

Babies lose their weight when the weaning process begins. Weaning is a process where a baby takes food from other sources than your breast. 

Reasons Of Weight Loss In Babies

Babies lose weight when they are suffering from fever, cold or a cough. This is normal as babies don’t feel like eating food when they are sick. You can balance this situation once he recovers.

Hind milk is the high-fat, rich milk your baby gets at the end of a feeding. This milk is richer than the milk your baby gets once he starts feeding. So, let your baby have enough time on each side.

At times, the reason for weight loss can be something beyond all the above reasons. You definitely want to take your baby to a pediatrician if you see the following symptoms in her –

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You need not worry about any of the above factors if you take your baby to a doctor for regular checkups. During the checkups, the doctor will see if your baby has gained enough weight for his age and height. Growth patterns differ for each baby so never compare your baby’s weight with other babies. Don’t have unrealistic expectations regarding your baby’s weight even if he doesn’t have chubby cheeks, it is alright. The only thing that matters is the good health of your baby, so take good care of him and give him all the love he needs. Weight is a primary focus from the minute your infant is born and is one of the first questions you ask after birth. And this is a good thing because weight measurements are a part of standard well child care to ensure proper growth and development. Yet, when little ones have feeding difficulties, their weight and other anthropometric data (height, weight, BMI, head circumference, etc.) is gathered more frequently. These frequent weight checks can lead to parental anxiety, and can set parents up to become fixated on the scale because those numbers are often what led to the placement of the feeding tube in the first place. After a feeding tube is placed, sufficient energy intake to promote age appropriate or catch-up rates of growth can still be a struggle because of volume sensitivities, GI discomfort, negative behaviors associated with feeding, etc. and this further perpetuates parental anxiety and stress.

Once an infant or child has had time to improve his feeding skills and has established an acceptable growth pattern with the assistance of tube feeds, an enteral wean can be implemented. Starting a feeding tube wean can be scary for parents because the idea of cutting calories to establish hunger regulation often leads to some initial weight loss. And setting your child up to lose weight is counterintuitive to everything we have been focused on since birth!

When starting a wean, tube feeds are usually reduced by a calculated percentage so that children can start to understand hunger and satiety. We don’t expect children who are primarily dependent on tube feeds to immediately start eating age-appropriate volumes of solids and liquids. It takes time to build feeding interest and volume, which is why weight loss is often seen in the first few weeks following the initiation of a weaning protocol. Weight loss of up to ten percent of the child’s body weight is considered acceptable by industry standards.

All About Weaning Your Baby

Weighing the child too soon after starting the wean can compound parental anxiety and stress, so we often ask for our first weight check to be 3-4 week after starting the wean. We know that weight loss will likely occur during that time, but it is generally not a long enough interval where we would typically reach our maximum level of acceptable weight loss. Instead of focusing on the decrease in tube calories and weight, we want you to shift focus towards creating positive and relaxed mealtimes where the child is offered a variety of delicious family foods. And we encourage you to begin watching your child, rather than the scale, for signs of health: peeing sufficiently? Stooling normally? As energetic as is usual? Etc.

The data obtained at that first weight check will determine how frequently weight is monitored moving forward. Children that only loose 2-4% of their total body weight may not be asked to be weighed again for another 4 weeks; whereas children that loose 6-8% of their total body weight may need to be weighed again in 1-2 weeks.

But of course, a child nearing a 10% loss of his or her body weight does not necessarily indicate a failed wean. Rather, we readjust the weaning schedule to reduce energy intake at a slower rate. So instead of cutting calories by 30%, for example, perhaps we would adjust the plan so that energy is reduced by 15-20%.

How To Start Weaning

Of course, weight is a consideration as we make incremental reductions in energy from tube feeds, but as the wean progresses, our goal is to gradually shift focus off weight and onto mealtime behaviors, quality of oral feeds, and positive feeding experiences. As your child gets more confident with eating and drinking, his or her volumes will naturally pick-up, which promotes growth and development.

Growing Independent Eaters believes that children can wean from feeding tubes safely and most successfully in the comfort and safety of their homes when parents and caregivers are empowered to be their child’s best therapist.