a weight question

[justkitty]

I promised myself I wouldn't worry but I am..

A bit of background first (may be long). My first child was born on 50tj centile. After a long labour and lots of blood loss, transfusions etc etc and also bad information, I ff my son. It broke my heart but it was what we needed to do. At first he gained weight well but around 12 weeks his gaining slowed and then he started dropping centiles. We were referred to the paeditrian and I had to try a dairy free formula then at 10 months I had to put him on a high cal formula etc etc. He has always been a snacker. He never drank more than 4-5oz at one time. Anyway.. finally at 22m he has been discharged from the dietician and when he is 2 he should be discharged from the paediatrician. No medical reasons he is just small. He is only 22lb now and in 9-12m clothes at almost 2.

Roll on now I have a 10 week old girl. I worked really hard to establish breastfeeding incl tt, mastitis, etc. She is a short feeder only 5-10mins but she loves her boobie. Anyway. She has dropped from 50th to under 25th centile. I usually ignore the lines but the hv wants me to return in 3 weeks to monitor her gain. She was born 7lb 8 & is now 10lb 3. She is a little refluxy but is a great happy baby.

Now I have this niggling worry I'm going to go through the same worry as I had with my son and his poor eating (still do) and I worry I'll have to swap to a high cal formula. I toly my dh about the weigh in and his first response was 'she'll be on the similac soon then'. Selfishly I don't want that. I want her to have boobie.

When I first started bf I used to think I'd stop at 6m or when she got teeth, now I'd like to continue longer and see how we go. But then may be it won't be what's best for her.

I know I am worrying unnecessarily at the moment but just needed to vent

Thanks for reading x

 

[Lavendel]

my son was born small and very skinny. they kept him at the hospital for several reasons and one of them was because he was so skinny. he was FF there and slowly i got my milk. he gained some weight but he never was and still is not now a chubby babby. he is skinny and the weight percentile is around 25, while the lenght percentile is the highest. he is now formula fed (i had little milk and he was dropping weight instead of gaining) and BLW but he still doesnt drink more than 5oz per time. after solids he doesnt drink more 3oz.

every one is different, if they are happy babies a percentile is just a line. some eats more some less, sometimes they dont eat some other times they eat every hour.

 

[summer rain]

According to the guidelines it's only a concern if they drop 2 centile spaces (not lines) and stay down over a period of time. Says this in the red book. My youngest was born between the 75th and 91st however he dropped to under the 50th by 2-3 weeks old and since then has zig-zagged in the space between the 25th and 50th. In the past month he has been gaining between 5-7oz a week and as this is 2x the average for his age he is now on the 50th line and likely to climb up further. All of mine have had unusual patterns of weight gain and by a year to eighteen months old they are either back on their birth centile or the one under it in the case of my two babies who were closer to 10lb. If high calorie formula doesn't particularly help weight gain and growth is otherwise good on breastmilk then breastmilk is superior in that instance as it has other beneficial ingredients the formula doesn't. I have been advised this by specialist paediatricians as well xx

 

[DianaB]

If your baby is happy, healthy and gaining weight I don't see why it would matter what percentile she's on. DD#2 has been a slow gainer but she is happy, pees and poops more then the amount to look for in a day and is developmentally where she should be. Neither her doctor or her public health nurse are concerned. They don't even mention percentiles, as long as a baby gains 4 oz a week or more on average they're fine with it.

 

[justkitty]

If your baby is happy, healthy and gaining weight I don't see why it would matter what percentile she's on. DD#2 has been a slow gainer but she is happy, pees and poops more then the amount to look for in a day and is developmentally where she should be. Neither her doctor or her public health nurse are concerned. They don't even mention percentiles, as long as a baby gains 4 oz a week or more on average they're fine with it.

I think she gains approx 4oz a week. Technically I don't care about percentiles. I just want her to be healthy and don't want pressure from people to ff as I don't think it would make her gain weight quicker and once I stop there is no going back

 

[DianaB]

It's awful when people pressure you to ff and question your decisions, just tune them out. My public health nurse always says you know your baby better than anyone else which is absolutely true, you're the mama and you know your baby is healthy and thriving which is what matters.

 

[history_girls]

I'm so glad you posted this. I got my 11 week old weighed today and she was 10lb 11oz and only gained 10oz in 3 weeks and has dropped back to the 9th percentile. I asked the breastfeeding woman at clinic and she said not to worry if everything else was good - which it is. Dd1 was ff and was this weight at 6 weeks so I'm worrying. Woman said go back in two weeks to reassure myself.

So I phone my sister she's got 4 kids (all ff) for her thoughts and she just said oh I guess you'll go to ff now Really peed me off. I'm so chuffed we are ebf and desperately want to get to 6 months. I'm trying not worry about her weight. I thought she had grown loads. I guess she is going to be tall and skinny.

And I don't think it is selfish of you to want her bf. you do what you and your LO want

 

[justkitty]

She does love her boobie :0)

 

[Dream.dream]

Just thought let you know even if she needs to gain more wieght you can get a prescription for a special calorie fortifier for breastmilk. They use it in preemie babies so that's always an option you could ask for that and add it to some expressed breastmilk .

But as long as baby is gaining if keep nursing and don't worry she might just be a slow gainer

 

[CandyDay]

My LO was only 21LBs at her 2 year checkup. And the doctor was happy with that. She was on the 2nd percentile up until 18 months and then she jumped up to the 9th. She is just a light weight. I saw a ped had blood work done saw dietician and she still stayed in the 2nd percentile until 18 months. She was always meeting milestones and then some so I put the niggling worry about her weight aside and trusted her and my body that she was getting what she wanted. She is just over 2 years old now and 22 LBs. She is active and smart. She talks lots, sentences and is potty trained. Someone has to be at the low end of the scale or there wouldn't be one. I just have one that is, and perhaps that is what you have as well. So you are not alone.
When you do start on food try avocado as a first food. It's got lots of calories and healthy fats in it.
If you do need to supplement then top up after she breastfeeds if she needs extra. Your breast feeding is established enough that it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[summer rain]

Just thought let you know even if she needs to gain more wieght you can get a prescription for a special calorie fortifier for breastmilk. They use it in preemie babies so that's always an option you could ask for that and add it to some expressed breastmilk .

But as long as baby is gaining if keep nursing and don't worry she might just be a slow gainer

Just be aware that most breastmilk fortifier is really just concentrated cows' milk formula, there are human milk-based versions but like donor milk in general are very difficult to obtain xx

 

[nevernormal]

My son did the same thing. His pediatrician had me take him in for SO many weight checks, but turns out he's naturally following the 25th (well just under it), despite being born at the 50th. He has plenty of wet & dirty diapers, isn't lethargic, etc. so I've never been concerned.

 

[FAB mama]

If your baby is happy, healthy and gaining weight I don't see why it would matter what percentile she's on. DD#2 has been a slow gainer but she is happy, pees and poops more then the amount to look for in a day and is developmentally where she should be. Neither her doctor or her public health nurse are concerned. They don't even mention percentiles, as long as a baby gains 4 oz a week or more on average they're fine with it.

I think she gains approx 4oz a week. Technically I don't care about percentiles. I just want her to be healthy and don't want pressure from people to ff as I don't think it would make her gain weight quicker and once I stop there is no going back

4 oz a week isn't bad. I think that's about what my son has gained this year. He's skinny, but perfectly healthy. He reached his physical milestones quickly because he doesn't have a lot of weight to carry around (at least that's my guess). He's strong and a climber. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[summer rain]

I got my LO weighed (28.5 weeks old) today and he'd put on a pound in 2.5 weeks and in the past week alone has put on about 8oz of that. Thought he was feeling heavy! According to the chart he should have doubled his birthweight at 34-36 weeks because he dropped a couple of centile lines but now he has already doubled his birthweight. Some BF babies gain relatively slowly at first as he did then gain more than average after six months. Others are slight gainers throughout. Xx