Mini HV rant...

[T-Bex]

It's not a massive rant, just a bit of a gripe...

When Bethan was a baby (as opposed to a toddler, like now (when did that happen?! )), we were constantly told to give her a bottle to supplement because she was born on the 91st centile (8lbs7oz), then lost her birth weight, and then gained weight really slowly, and went down to the 25th centile. We were told to come and get weighed every week, and each week, told she wasn't getting enough milk. I didn't. She gained enough, and was healthy and happy, and I think the centiles are total rubbish. By 8 months, she averaged out on the 50th centile, and has plodded along on there since. She's now jumped onto the 75th, and the HV was talking about how she's obviously doing well, because she's gaining so much weight.

My question, is basically; why the hell is weight gain an indicator of a thriving baby?! Why was my baby struggling when she gained weight slowly, and now a star pupil because she's started to put it on more quickly, and going above her centile lines?! She's exactly the same now, as she was then, regarding her health/activity/nappy antics, so, what the hell?!


Gripey rant over!

 

[Housewife83]

I worry this might happen to my baby. Everyone in my family is small. DH and I are both around the 5ft mark.

My BIL (DH's brother) and his wife are both short too, but they are also naturally skinny people. Apparently it comes as a matter of great surprise and alarm to the medical community that short skinny people have - shock horror - short skinny babies!!!!!

My SIL beat her self up over it so I can sort of understand how much this has distressed you. I'm sorry for the way you have been treated and made to worry.

 

[patch2006uk]

They're hopeless and best ignored for most things IMO. My HV told me that my LO had dropped down to the percentile below, but when I looked, she'd just plotted the dot wrong and had him about 50g lighter than she'd written and a fortnight older than he is.

Fortunately I have an app that creates an electronic graph, so I can compare what they've measured and what they've marked. I think of the 6 times we've been, they've made 4 mistakes. And the best part is the graph says that only a trained medical practitioner can fill it in correctly. Bahaha!

 

[Cloberella]

They really are crap at plotting the lines, I don't know if it's because Gabe's age has to be adjusted and that throws them off, but we've had ONE correct plot and I go every week!

My partner is training to be an accountant, and the wrongly plotted graph irked him so much that he rubbed everything out and replotted it. It was a bit embarrassing going back to the clinic after that!

 

[Raven24]

They are crap a lot of the time last few times I've had lo weighed they keep saying as long as he keeps following the centime line he is on then he'll be fine and if he drops then well take it from there I kinda get the impression that if he doesn't put on the amount of weight that they think appropriate then there is something wrong and they'll be pushing formula, I take everything they say with a pinch of salt tbh

 

[UkCath]

Thanks, I find your post helpful because I am worried Holly is dropping away from her line on the charts and is otherwise fine.

I am glad to hear people say the charts are not the be all and end all...

 

[summer rain]

I don't bother with them anymore. They do see weight as THE only indicator as health. Sadly this means that babies who have serious growth problems; or when they are older problems such as anaemia get missed because at least they are gaining weight well according to the HVs. Because they never check head circumference there is a risk of babies with problems such as their skull bones fusing prematurely being missed as well .

 

[purplepower]

They're hopeless and best ignored for most things IMO. My HV told me that my LO had dropped down to the percentile below, but when I looked, she'd just plotted the dot wrong and had him about 50g lighter than she'd written and a fortnight older than he is.

Fortunately I have an app that creates an electronic graph, so I can compare what they've measured and what they've marked. I think of the 6 times we've been, they've made 4 mistakes. And the best part is the graph says that only a trained medical practitioner can fill it in correctly. Bahaha!

Ooo what's the app called?

 

[patch2006uk]

It's called TotalBaby. It wasn't free, but I used it in the early days for recording feeds, I use it now mainly for keepin track of his weight and injections. It's got a sort of diary function too, so it's quite a fun little app

 

[T-Bex]

Thanks, I find your post helpful because I am worried Holly is dropping away from her line on the charts and is otherwise fine.

I am glad to hear people say the charts are not the be all and end all...

Don't worry! Wet/dirt nappies, alertness, and contentness is the key to knowing how your baby is doing - not weight gain. It's all rubbish, and if I'd listen to the HV when Bethan was little, she'd probably have ended up being FF, because my supply would have dropped if I'd have given FF top-ups as opposed to trusting my body and her feeding pattern to make the right amount.

Bloody useless graph... I think they should be banned.

 

[summer rain]

You might be interested to know that when I was little in the 80s, my mum says they barely referred to the charts and some red books or whatever they had in those days didn't even have them, I've looked into it and it seems this was indeed the case. This is because the only charts available were based on a small sample of FF babies from Ohio in the US, so they were well known to be flawed. Also back in those days many HVs did think smaller gains, as little as 2oz a week were acceptable it seems to be only from the 90s onwards that they have been obsessed with huge gains, again probably due to the introduction of the UK90 charts xx