Weight has always played a very important part in Luka's life. Obviously, Luka was born very small at 1.777kg/3lbs 14oz (though not bad for a 30-weeker), and we have since had to watch his weight gain very carefully. For the past month or so unfortunately it has been rather sluggish - prompting the momentary panic over milk supply and other matters as described in this post. We have adopted a concerted strategy to try and increase his weight gain including introducing solids and engaging in a series of bottle battles to introduce some higher-calorie formula in his diet.
We took Luka for a weigh-in again yesterday and unfortunately his gain remains on the low end at only 100g in six days, which translates to almost 17g/0.6oz a day (when 15-30g is what we are aiming for), though fortunately better than the average 9g a day he gained the preceding three weeks.
While it is normal for prems to gain at lower rates than full-term babies, and even expected that they should be smaller than they would have been had they been born at full term, Chris and I are trying everything to ensure a healthy and normal weight gain for our little man.
Luka's current weight is 5.540kg/12.2lbs. While he is in the 'normal' range for his almost four month corrected age, it is on the small side - which, with parents like us probably would not have been the case :(
Anyone want to take bets on who will win the Bottle battles?
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