Dropping centiles

[AngelofTroy]

I just wanted to ask a question about centiles and weighings. My 3 month old has been growing and developing well, and frankly the weigh ins cause me a lot of anxiety. Last time she had slipped from just over the 50th to just under it and I was so worried that I had caused her to drop that I was about ready to switch to formula feeding because I could see what she was getting... I came to my senses and stopped the regular weighings and just went on wet and dirty nappies, her demeanor etc. That was 7 weeks ago. I caved just now and did an approximate weight by weighing myself and then myself holding her, and based on that she's now dropped to the 25th centile. If that is the case then is this anything to worry about? I'd rather not weigh her officially if I can help it because I know I overanalyze, but obviously I will if I need to. Can anyone advise?

 

[minties]

It's really inaccurate to weigh a baby that way, I even tried weighing Emma on the digital kitchen scales and it was way off. My digital bathroom scales have her at the wrong weight when I try the method you did as well.

Juniper looks like the very image of glowing good health to me.

Also as a side note, Sophie had gone from 75th to 85th by 2 months then she fell to the 50th somewhere between 3 and 6 months. Her length centile also went down, but at the time I freaked out!

Thomas was very consistent with his centiles, he was always 35th for weight and 25th for length as a baby. Sophie was all over the place though.

 

[Eleanor ace]

Mine always drop several centiles. I've always been told that if they cross 2 centiles either way then they will monitor LO more closely (increase the frequency of weigh ins, ask questions about LO's feeding habits and any medical factors etc) but some fluctuation is to be expected. They also look at family history. My 1st was 98th centile at birth and dropped to between the 2nd and 9th centiles. We were referred to the pediatrician as he'd dropped several centiles but they weren't overly concerned as he was meeting his milestones, feeding regularly and having wet and dirty nappies. Also looking at our family you wouldn't expect him to be big so on the balance of it it was more likely to be his birth weight that was off and he was just finding his true weight.
DD1 went from the 75th centile to the 9th, DD2 went from the 91st to the 2nd (back up to the 9th now though ). DD2 has been to the pediatrician a couple of times and gets weighed every 2 weeks and they always say not to stop breastfeeding, that it's still best for her even if she's not putting on much weight.

 

[Twinmum87]

Some fluctuaton is completely normal. Some babies will be born on one line, then will drop or gain to a different line and stay on that. Sort of finding their natural place. The majority of babies will not stay on 1 line consistently, there will be dips and/or rises. They only tend to raise concern if baby drops more than 2 lines, looses weight a few times in a row, or the length is on a much higher line than the weight. As said, holdig and weighing is not the most accurate way to weigh.

My baby was born on 50th. At 9 weeks old he was still on 50th. At 12 weeks he was on the 25th. He stayed bang on 25th until 6.5 months old when he dropped half a line. Then he went back up to just over the 25th, then back bang on 25th and is now half way between 9th and 25th. They did his length at 12 weeks and that put him on 25th. I did his length a couple days ago and it puts him just over the 9th so he is just settling to his natural line and is in proportion.

 

[Bevziibubble]

James was born on the 91st centile and kept dropping until he was at the 50th centile which he has settled at for a while now. Sometimes babies are not born at their natural centile, it's called 'catch down growth' and will drop centiles until they find their natural line

 

[AngelofTroy]

Well I was right, she weighs even less than I thought! She's now 12lb2 (5.5kg) so is just below the 25th centile now. HV wasn't too concerned, she has a heart scan on Thursday due to a small murmur at her 6 week check so she's already bring monitored, HV said to weigh again in 2-4 weeks and if she drops again then I could consider some extra calories from a small bottle of formula.

 

[minties]

Do they measure length there as well as weight? Perhaps her length has gone down a centile too?

Juniper looks very in proportion to me, I hope you don't think it's anything you've done or haven't done. She's probably settling on a natural weight curve for her genetics.

 

[AngelofTroy]

Thank you, yes she has actually, her weight was 75th and is now 50th.

 

[noon_child]

Well I was right, she weighs even less than I thought! She's now 12lb2 (5.5kg) so is just below the 25th centile now. HV wasn't too concerned, she has a heart scan on Thursday due to a small murmur at her 6 week check so she's already bring monitored, HV said to weigh again in 2-4 weeks and if she drops again then I could consider some extra calories from a small bottle of formula.

I'm not anti formula in any way (I used it when my daughters weight was too low) but I think you need a better explanation of how this formula bottle is going to benefit LO. If they think LO has a problem extracting milk correctly from your breasts they should offer help in how to get her to feed more effectively, if they think your milk isn't calorific enough then they either don't know much about breastmilk (human beings through most of history were far less well nourished than we are now and still managed to keep their babies alive on breast milk alone) or should be helping you with your nutritional intake. If they think she may not be able to extract nutrients from her milk due to a digestive issue then formula is not a good idea. For me I had a good reason - I knew through my nipple pain and nipple shape and LOs feeding style that she wasn't feeding effectively and I'd had a lot of help and support to improve it but she was off the bottom of the centile charts and not getting any nearer to them, so her low weight was a real concern. She needed milk but couldn't get enough out, so we used a small amount of formula for a period of time. Are you confident you know what the formula is supposed to do in your situation?

 

[AngelofTroy]

Sorry I should clarify, I didn't have much time yesterday. she wasn't pushing formula, in fact I asked as I successfully combination fed my son for similar reasons. I have had quite a bit of support and latch checking from an infant feeding specialist and regularly attend a breastfeeding support group with trained counsellors. Juni always appears to feed well, her tongue tie was cut at 3 days and hasn't regrown. I kbow that she feeds well after a let down but I notice that she doesn't swallow much later in a feed. I suspect that she would find it easier from a bottle as it is less work. Expressed milk would be my preference but if I'm completely honest this just isn't something I am prepared to do. I applaud women who regularly express but I did it at the beginning for a month and I hated it, it made me stressed and it took too much time away from my older child as I was feeding and expressing. It's just not for me.

 

[Zephram]

How often are you feeding her? I just ask because both of my boys fed every 1-2 hours all day and night as newborns. There was no such thing as 3-4 hour feedings for us. You could try to bring feedings a little closer together during the day to get an extra one in, rather than worry about how much she's having each time.

 

[minties]

Her baby isn't a newborn though, sometimes it can be hard to convince a 3.5 month old to feed so often. Emma feeds about every 3 hours during the day as an average and can go 7 hours at night, feed, then another few hours.

Emma was weighed today and her weight gain is also slowing down, from 350g or more a week to 200g (which I know is still a lot but still slowing). Her length centile has overtaken her weight now and she's my first to be higher in a length centile than a weight one. All babies are just so different.

 

[campn]

You have to remember those averages include formula fed babies, and even moms who started to breastfeed, many of them switch to formula by 3 months, so really she's still growing, but the averages she's being compared to, has much more formula fed babies now than it used to!

Does this make sense?

 

[minties]

WHO growth charts only count breastfed babies.

 

[kit603]

I used to take my son to be weighed every month at the baby clinic (with the Health Visitors), but it ended up causing me such stress that I stopped going

He was just above the 98th centile at birth, but he never looked like a 'big' baby - he was very in proportion and not particularly chunky. He lost some weight in hospital as he was poorly and then went back up to around the 75th centile and followed that line for a couple of weigh-ins and then started dropping again and also developed reflux quite badly. I was referred to a paediatrician when he was about 4.5/5 months and the paediatrician wasn't concerned at all and advised me not to switch to formula as he anticipated that it would make his reflux worse and he said he was hitting his milestones and otherwise seemed very happy, alert, healthy etc and he'd prefer me to breastfeed as long as I was comfortable to continue to do so.

By about 7 months he'd dropped some more and was between the 2nd and 9th centile and even though paediatrician at hospital was still happy with him, every time he was weighed by the health visitors they got really in depth about what I was eating, how often was I feeding him, how long did he feed for, did he latch correctly etc. They sent a specialist out to observe me breastfeeding to ensure he was latching correctly and definitely getting milk. I felt really pressured by it all and they kept trying to persuade me to switch onto formula.... so I just stopped going to see them in the end.

We started weaning at 6 months and he initially lost a bit more (as the solids made his reflux worse) but by 8/9 months (when his reflux started to slow down and then stop) he was just above the 9th centile and when they weighed him at his 12 month review he was between the 9th and 25th centile and has stayed there since. I carried on breastfeeding till 16 months x