Infant Growth: What EVERY Parent Needs to Know

Why You Should Chart Your Baby's Growth

2. Identify if Your Baby Could Be Overfed 

In general, breastfed babies are really good at regulating their intake at the breast. Studies have found that breastfed babies feed slower than bottlefed babies and this helps them to sense fullness and switch to a non-nutrive suck that does not draw milk.3 An exception to this is when mother has oversupply and a very fast let down - the milk can flow so fast and furious that baby will rapidly swallow just to keep up and/or baby tries to comfort nurse and the milk flows anyway. Bottle-fed babies, whether taking in breastmilk or formula, are prone to overfeeding.4 They are unable to comfort suck on a bottle like infants at the breast without drawing additional milk, so they may overfeed simply to satisfy their sucking needs. Because of the fast and effortless flow of bottles, they may drink the milk too quickly before they have a chance to register fullness. Caregivers also tend to encourage a baby to finish a bottle instead of looking for subtle cues the baby is full. Widespread false information exists on how much milk older babies should be taking in a bottle, leading to vast overfeeding of older babies. For this reason, its not a bad idea for parents to be on the look out for excessively rapid growth as well, since this may be a sign of overfeeding.4 Notice in the chart on the right how baby was small at birth (9%) but had a nice upward curve of the growth line to 2 months (19%) and then a rapid uptick in growth occurred launching the baby up to 40% at 4 months, 77% at 5 months, and 90% at 7 months. In this case, when mom went back to work the caregiver began overfeeding the baby at daycare. Instead of continuing small frequent feedings like breastfed babies maintain (example: 8 x 3.5 oz feedings per day) the caregiver was giving large 6-8 oz bottles. Once we caught the problem at 7 months, we were able to teach the caregiver paced bottlefeeding methods and gradually adopt a more healthy feeding pattern.

3. Boost Confidence In Your Milk Supply

Most new moms worry about their milk supply. It can be unsettling not being able to see and measure how much milk your baby is drinking at breast. There are several observational ways to watch for signs of a good milk supply, but the Gold Standard-No Question test of a good milk supply is to see your baby's growth steadily follow a curve on the growth chart and maintain approximately the same percentiles. Keeping an eye on your baby's weight percentiles is actually much easier than keeping track of how many ounces they are supposed to be gaining, since the rate of growth is constantly changing. For example, a 3 week old is expected to gain at least half a pound per week but a 5 month old is only expect to gain half pound every two weeks. Instead having to know the ever-changing rate of expected growth, simply monitor your baby's weight percentiles. You can be 100% confident that you a have a full, healthy milk supply and that your baby is feeding well if you see baby's growth line follow a steady curve and roughly maintain his percentiles (gradual shifts are usually okay, just not sudden or dramatic shifts). Notice how the baby on the right has a steady growth line that roughly follows a curve on the chart, and her percentiles don't vary widely. This baby is growing and thriving and mom can be confident in her milk supply.