Failure to thrive

[mummy3]

My LO has had problems gaining weight/height for ages, she gets weighed every week and we had 2 weeks of decent gain but usually its only 3oz a week or thereabouts. She is 9lb 3oz now at almost 5 months old (3 corrected). She sees a GI doc and we've been told that we are looking at gavage feeding again The strange thing is she is an awesome eater! She feeds at least every 2 hours and is taking a mixture of breast/fortified ebm/ formula, she's not fussy and no reflux. She'll eat around 4oz per feed and emptys the breast. She poops only around once a week She would sleep through the night if left but we wake her twice to feed.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone elses LO had a similar thing?

 

[25weeker]

Holly has always been slow at gaining weight. At 18 months (15 corrected) she is 16lb 3oz. She has had blood taken and a urine sample to check was there any medical reason for it but thankfully they came back clear. She is now on infatrini but tbh it hasn't really increased her weight gain. I now try not to worry and hope she will catch up at some point.

Just looked at my red book and Holly was 9lb 4oz at 3 months corrected.

 

[kimandbump]

Alana was 7lb 15oz at 3 months corrected. We get her weighed every fortnight and see the consultant at SCBU every 4 weeks. They have always been happy to take a 'watch and wait' approach with her weight. I think it helps that her height is in proportion with her weight, with both being of the bottom of the scale to the same degree. Her weight gain was roughly 5oz every 2 weeks, however in the past 4 weeks it has increased to almost a 1lb per week. This started when we began introducing solids.

 

[Marleysgirl]

Digs around for paperwork ...

At 3m corrected, Andrew weighed 3.8kg i.e. just under 8 1/2 pounds. He was putting on about 100g per week (so just under 4oz). That charted as consistent weight gain, but he wasn't climbing up the percentiles on the graph.

 

[DonnaBallona]

hmmmm....My Brooke was also 'failure to thrive'.....she weighed 6lb 3oz at 3 months corrected, 5 months actual. she is now 2.5 years and only just at the 20lb mark. we've been referred to a dietician before-but only because she used to have a TERRIBLE time with constipation, and they wanted to check us out. after 1 visit however they said she was fine and it was never followed up. her younger brother now weighs the same as her, and I get asked if they're twins ALL the time.

I am tempted to take her to get weighed again this week but unsure what they'd actually do now she's bigger. anyhoo, that was quite a ramble unhelpful post-sorry! just wanted you to know you weren't alone

ps: I still hate the term 'failure to thrive'. it sounds so scary

 

[mummy3]

Thanks ladies

So glad to hear from others with the same experience. Failure to thrive is an awful way to describe it I dont understand why Eilidh is looking at hospital and tube feeding though? She also has the constipation and will go once a week if we give her pear/prune juice everyday.

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

when we had problems with Ellie "failing to thrive" they instantly put her back on nutriprem and then when we weaned her she went onto a strict "diet" and still is now at 9 month (7 corrected) she is 12lbs 4 oz and she was a gd weight at birth 4lbs 3oz she did drop to 3lbs x

 

[ermm23a]

My little man was 3 lbs 10 oz at birth and at his 4 month check up he was 12 lbs 11 oz. I have had him on the similac neosure since birth and I really think that is what helped him catch up and gain so much weight. He didn't even eat that great at first, but gained every week.

Now that he is on the growth charts I have him on the normal similac advance, but I was very happy with the neosure and I think it is great for preemies who need to gain.

A friend who had a preemie same age as mine breastfed her baby for 3 months and her baby did not gain nearly as much as mine did. She has now switched to the neosure and her little girl is starting to gain well on it.

What are you supplementing with? Have you tried the neosure? Maybe try supplementing some feedings with it?

 

[lozzy21]

How much did she weigh when she was born? It sounds like shes eating plenty TBH Has she been checked for a milk intolerance? I know that can sometimes stop them putting on weight despite eating loads.

Failure to thrive gets thrown about too easily and shouldn't just be used based on a babys weight, if there developing (even if it might be slowly) then there brain is getting all it needs

 

[mummy3]

We use neosure

She was 3lb 11oz at birth. Her length is also causing concern at 21 1/2in. Also will say she is very floppy, she has a physio coming to see her on wed to help with that but her social skills are spot on

Doesn't help that the GI docs scale measures on the small side, 8lb 12oz compared to 9lb 3oz with her community nurse She really doesn't seem so small compared to other LO's here

Lozzy, nope she hasn't been tested for anything, they just keep trying to get more in her, I'm going to ask for more tests tomorrow at the appointment

Will know more tomorrow, we're being seen at 8am, sooooooo nervous!

 

[lozzy21]

She sounds like shes putting weight on at a similar rate to what Niamh has, Niamh just weighed a lot more when she was born. Niamh could drink 5 7oz bottles a day and still only put on a lb a month. 4oz a week is what we were told is an ideal weight to be putting on and it sounds like shes not far off that. Some babys just put grow really slowly. It sounds like her weight and her length are in proportion, stupid doctors. Is she following a percentile? Even if shes off the bottom of the chart aslong as shes following her own curve then its perfectly fine.

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

We use neosure

She was 3lb 11oz at birth. Her length is also causing concern at 21 1/2in. Also will say she is very floppy, she has a physio coming to see her on wed to help with that but her social skills are spot on

Doesn't help that the GI docs scale measures on the small side, 8lb 12oz compared to 9lb 3oz with her community nurse She really doesn't seem so small compared to other LO's here

Lozzy, nope she hasn't been tested for anything, they just keep trying to get more in her, I'm going to ask for more tests tomorrow at the appointment

Will know more tomorrow, we're being seen at 8am, sooooooo nervous!

were the test today or do you mean tomorrow not sure cause you done the pos early in the am, see Ellie wouldntgain weight great and was and still is very "floppy" at times and we have been told she has CP in her arms wont know the extent of it til she is older as the dont diagnose it til a later age xx

 

[mummy3]

Sorry we're in Arizona so about a day behind, the appointment was this morning.

It went really well, her gain wasn't brilliant but enough, she;s 9lb 6oz by their scale She has a few weeks of decent gain then not much as her pattern so we'll see what next week gives. She dropped from 25th centile to off and for the last month or so has just gone up and down.

We got a lab slip to get a load of blood and stool tests. For anemia, thyroid, liver enzymes also a neurology appointment for her floppiness and lack of physical milestones.

Claire, I think cp is what they are thinking for Eilidh, did you get the liver enzyme blood test for Ellie? Apparently they're raised in cp.

Will get the results back on the 16th august

 

[25weeker]

Holly's liver enzymes were raised in her tests. They spoke to the neonatal and her enzymes had been normal on discharge so they thought a virus was causing it. A few days after the blood was taken she was diagnosed with the adenovirus after a trip to A&E.

We went back 3 weeks later for the them to take blood and check them again. The results showed they number had halved so they were happy it was the virus that caused it. As the numbers were still not at the level they should be we are back again on Friday for them to take blood again.

Had we never had any tests for her weight we would never have known about the raised enzymes so suspect it is quite common but we just don't know we have it.

I hope this reassures you a bit even if they do come back high.

 

[Ohmy4]

My son is Failure to Thrive and is 12lbs at 5 months. Slowwww gainer. Eats like a mad man through...still not on the charts yet really. I feel ya!

 

[heyyady]

Mummy at the weight gain! Go Eilidh! Failure to Thrive is an antiquated term that they now use as a blanket cover all statement when they're not sure why a child isn't gaining/growing. It needs to be tossed out of medical terminology!

 

[Fiestagal]

I have a slow grower too, as he is older and on solids we are told to fortify his foods with oils and fats. We try to feed a high calorie diet but he is a fussy eater. He has a high calorie formula (100kcals per 100ml) but is still slow to gain, now he is mobile he is on the move all thr time.

 

[mummy3]

UPDATE!!

Eilidhs weight is still going up slowly but we are now following a bit of a curve Up to 11lb 2oz at 6m and a week. Blood tests did show raised liver enzymes and we have now had her neurology appointment. She is significantly delayed physically and he wants to test her muscles (another blood test, results later this week) and get her an MRI so we are waiting for insurance to approve that.

 

[PleaseBaby]

Hope everything goes well x

 

[vermeil]

oooh good to hear! And it sounds like there`s medical follow-up, always reassuring. My own son is JUST about to touch the 3rd percentile curb... took us a year to even get close to touching that lowest curb on the chart. But at least it feels like he`s actually ON the dang thing now I understand the constant worrying!!