How can I help my premature baby gain weight?

Question

Very slow weight gain, thriving, happy. Cannot hold head up due to her small frame

Answer 1

My daughter was a preemie. She weighed 2 lbs 10 oz at birth. She just turned one and weighs 15 and a half pounds. She has low muscle tone and cannot completly support her head up yet. To help her get extra calories we mixed her formula to 24 calories per ounce. (most regular formula is just 20 cal) . You don't specify how old your child is or if she is breastfed or formula fed. It does take time. You can start adding cereal to her formula/breastmilk if she takes a bottle. That adds calories too. She had a very hard time gaining weight and we switched formulas a lot. She has a G-tube, so she eats continously at night which helps with her weight gain too. Hope some of these ideas help. Good Luck.

Answer 2

Breastfeeding is the best for your premature baby at this time. Feed as often as the baby can tolerate and remember that once your breastmilk is in (after colostrum) to breastfeed for at least 15 minutes each breast. Just remember that your baby has many milestones which will be delayed depending on how premature she is. All her milestones dates will continue to go off of her original due date. So please be patient, if she is gaining weight now and is thriving, don't push her, she will continue to do well. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Answer 3

i dont know how many days old your daughter is but i just had my son that was born 5 weeks early and had the same problem in the begining.
for the first week when my milk had not really come in yet, they had me breastfeed first then give the baby a little formula thats special for preemies. it had more calories in it than regular milk. i was told i HAD to feed him every 2 1/5 to 3 hours. if the baby was asleep, i had to wake him up. his first week he went from 5lbs 11oz to 4lbs 10 oz. now on his almost 3rd week he is at 5lbs and 12 oz
in the begining its hard cuz the baby wants to work with their schedule but now my son is a little under 3 weeks and he's starting to wake up on his own to eat every 2 hours.
so i dont know if our situation is the same but just give her some time and patience.

Answer 4

By loving her, praying for her, and feeding her breastmilk. I have a premmie who was 3/5 at birth she will be 2 months tomorrow and weights 7/9 now. So try these and watch and see that they work.

Answer 5

Hello,

When my twins were born at 32 weeks, the hospital fed them Neosure by Similac. It was a 22 calorie diet they were on at the hopsital for two weeks, then my hubby and I fed them Neosure until they were 9 months old.

Did the hopsital not give you Neosure at the hospital? Ask your peditrician for a sample. It is quite expensive at $13.99 a container.

Hope this helps you................................................... :-O

Answer 6

You really should ask a pediatrician about this one. We aren't qualified to tell you how to best care for your premature baby.

(I'm kinda disturbed that you're asking strangers about such a delicate topic...but kudos to you for wanting your baby to grow...I guess)

Answer 7

sowwy ! thy have this stuff for premature baby's that u mix into their bottle and it helps them gain weight!!!

Answer 8

just make sure your baby is getting plenty of iron in its diet. breast milk is more fattening than formula.

Answer 9

if you are breastfeeding do it as often as she wanted,it is very exausting but has good results.

Answer 10

time...talk to your baby's pediatrician if you really need help