Impact of Underweight Babies

[jsst]

My daughters now about three months. She's been exclusively breast fed from birth (with some expressing). I went for weigh in with health visitor recently (at my own request). She started off at about 50% but has been dropping through the lines to about or below 9%. Her output was the usual yellow but in the last week or so the percentage of green has increased.

The health visitor is very good. She doesn't want me to formula feed, and says she wouldn't expect a large baby and both me & husband are slim(ish), but has expressed concern - not at her absolute weight but at her dropping through the centiles. She's mentioned increasing frequency of feeds and perhaps starting with solids at 4 months rather than 6 months. I'm also now trying to eat a lot of heavy caloric/fat foods to make sure there's enough content to my milk, and perhaps will express my excess in a morning to feed in evening.

I'm trying to understand how much/what the problem is? Can anyone tell me what the impacts are of having an underweight baby? I understand that it could be a symptom of an underlying health condition, but only if there were other things wrong her. If the baby is otherwise healthy & happy, are there any health impacts (now or in the future) of a baby who isn't putting on weight in the normal pattern or is on the slim side?

 

[londonangel]

Mine dropped from 50th percentile to 2nd. I was told if she did not stop dropping they would need to send her for tests. If baby is weeping and pooing normally there is probably no cause for concern. You mention yellow and green which I assume refers to poo. That may be an issue. If I were you I would take baby to the GP to get them checked over and for advice. Even my eldest dropped (from 50th to 9th). Supplemented eldest with formula and her weight picked up. Refused to supplement little one as am sure formula caused the big one to self-wean (she liked control of the bottle). I started little one on solids at 5 months and it stopped her dropping further. I just gave her baby cereal until she turned six months.

Good luck!

 

[noon_child]

Did you have her weighed in between? Did the drop happen suddenly then level out, or has it been dropping slowly over time?

Things like Coeliac can affect absorption of nutrients but I'd expect her to have seemed sick and dropped weight more quickly. Always best to get GP to check out underlying issues (heart and lungs was what they checked when my baby's weight wasn't good).

Most likely this is either normal for her and will level out, OR it is an issue with her ability to extract milk. If you have always had a strong let down and a lot of milk, LO could have been feeding without actively needing to suck properly. Overtime this can cause a slow drop in supply as LO doesn't stimulate the nipple enough during growth spurts etc. Use of pacifiers can do the same, as can nipple shields.

I'm surprised the HV has mentioned solids at 4 months in preference to formula. Solids are unlikely to increase her weight as there isn't a cereal that contains all the nutrients, vitamins etc. that breastmilk has but formula is a closer substitute. The point is not to replace any of your breastfeeds with either solids or formula but increase your LOs overall intake. If you can do this with breastfeeding then that's the ideal scenario.

Don't worry about the quality of your milk. Oxytocin allows our bodies to extract more nutrition from our food than we usually do, and even women on the brink of starvation can breastfeed. Just make sure your not dieting.

Try going back to newborn basics. Aim for 10-12 feeds in 24hrs, check you are still doing nose to nipple to get good positioning, and watch for her actively feeding. Ditch any dummies or shields if you can.

 

[Qmama79]

Each child is different. My boy has always been underweight (bottom 5th percentile). He's 3 now and that has been consistent fr the past 3 years. He dropped a lot when born & gained very slowly. He eats little & has very little interest in food. Do I worry? I didn't do anything but worry in the beginning. I had very low supply...as he has never been an enthusiast feeder. We combined expressed BM in bottle & bf. We did top up in the beginning with formula as he needed to get going (premie 36w). Now, I stopped worrying! He's never ill. When his friends come down with hand-foot-mouth, chickenpox or strep throat, he doesn't catch it. I try to get him to eat a variety of foods as he still eats little. Some children just don't eat much. Of course, let doc check underlying causes, but if nothing pops up, relax & follow their lead. You can't forcefeed your kids!