Brief Answer: Demand feeding,mother's nutrition,doctor's advice Detailed Answer: Hi XXXX Thanks for the query. Your baby is just 3 months. You find your babe's weight to be not growing as fast as your sister's daughter. This definitely causes tension in a new mother's mind I understand your concern. The weight gain depends on babe's birth weight also. Ideally after 4th day of birth, baby weight should increase by 140 to 245 Gms. per week. * I would like to state few facts about breast feeding- - Ideally breast feeding should be direct. There should be skin to skin contact between mother & child. Mother’s nipple should be directly in babe's mouth. This is beneficial in two ways. - Baby is emotionally/ intellectually well developed as all his sense organs are being stimulated. -Mother -child emotional bond is formed. & there is hormonal secretion which stimulates milk secretion. * To feed expressed milk is a sort of top feeding .All above advantages is lesser. Though feeding with nipple shield is better than bottle feeding, the direct touch & stimulus are missing. So, short direct breast feeding is better. * In bottle feeding there is all the chance, that baby is over fed & so her weight grows faster. But in direct breast feeding baby leaves the breast once she is satisfied-so there is no over weight problem. ** So to start feeding your baby with expressed milk is not logical **Let us now discuss few possible causes for lesser weight gain of the baby. - Baby being weak, cannot suck properly /for a longer time .So it stops sucking while half fed. As a result she gets hungry earlier & starts crying for feeding. New mother gets exhausted by repeated feeding stress--as a result baby is underfed. To avoid it, mother has to be ready to feed baby as many time as baby demands (demand feeding) Baby thus well fed would gain weight as well as strength in cheek muscles & so will start sucking for a longer time, will start prolonging her interval between two feeds, & will have good weight gain. ** - For having weight gain in baby the quality & quantity of milk has to be good - Mother should have a high protein, Iron & calcium rich, good vitamin diet. - Sucking by baby forms a stimulus for milk secretion. So more you feed, more the milk is secreted. -For insufficient milk your doctor may suggest few medicines to stimulate milk secretion. (Galactogauges) - To get a child specialist's advice for physical check up of baby is also needed. In short - Demand feeding, being emotionally attached to your baby, nutritional diet for mother with lot of fluids,milk,juices & most important being tension free will help you to nourish your baby properly. I hope answer has satisfied you & you found it helpful too. Any further question is welcome. Thanks.

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Brief Answer: Thanks for appriciation. Detailed Answer: Hi XXXX Thank you dear. It seems you liked the answer.Please grade it before you stop the conversation. Pregnancy & Child care has been a field of my special interest.( Please go through my profile)I am eager to guide in that respect any time.Please don't hesitate to ask in future too! Wish you all the best for becoming an ideal mother, Thanks

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