Weigh gain update

[Clairikins]

So, some of you may know my lo has not been gaining as much weight as 'they' would like so I thought I would update.

She was born 2 weeks overdue at 7lb13oz. She is 17 weeks and now weighs 12lb 1oz. So she started just above the 50th centile and is now just following the 9th. Problem is her head and length are both on the 75th.

She is happy and healthy and meeting all her milestones, early a lot of the time but we have booked a GP appointment to see if a referral to a Paediatrician is necessary.

 

[satine51]

Good luck hun, I know how stressful this could be. My LO was a slow gainer ( or not putting as much as midwife wanted!) but she seems to be doing ok now. Keep us updated!! x

 

[CharlieP]

My LO is a slow gainer too...Its worrying me to death and I keep getting mixed messages depending on which HV or GP I am speaking to!

She started on the 9th, shot up to the 50th and now is back down to the 9th...hoping she'll have a bit of a spurt as this is her 12 week!

 

[summer rain]

My LO is a slow gainer too...Its worrying me to death and I keep getting mixed messages depending on which HV or GP I am speaking to!

She started on the 9th, shot up to the 50th and now is back down to the 9th...hoping she'll have a bit of a spurt as this is her 12 week!

If your baby started on the 9th then it is most likely their usual, normal centile of growth and the jump up to the 50th centile was a bit of an anomaly. There is nothing wrong with the lower centiles; out of 100 kids statistically some will be bigger, some will be smaller.

Clarikins my eldest was exactly like that; started on the 50th and was between the 2nd and the 9th at your LOs age, he was being seen by a paediatrician for other things and they were perfectly happy with his weight gain as after some time it became clear he was following a centile line/space even if not the one he was originally on. Its actually more of a worry if babies drop weight AND other centiles as it can mean an overall growth issue xx

 

[Clairikins]

SummerRain, what do you mean there would be a problem if she was dropping weight and centiles? Oh, sorry, as in losing weight? She has never lost weight and tends to gain about 8oz every 2 weeks apart from one occasion where she only gained 3oz. It's just neverending.

 

[summer rain]

No I mean dropping down other centiles, i.e. losing weight and also not gaining in head circumference and length, then it would signify a problem with overall growth and a failure to thrive. Similarly if a baby gains loads of weight and jumps centiles accordingly, yet stays on the lower centiles or even drops in the other two categories; this can also be a sign of failure to thrive and some serious medical conditions, but it is something that is often missed in this country because as long as they are gaining loads of weight many medical professionals don't look at anything else. Being on a different weight centile to length and head circumference isn't usually anything sinister, in fact many babies will grow more in length and HC and struggle to gain weight just because they have a fast metabolism. There have been other mums on here whose babies didn't gain any weight for a couple of months even, or even lost quite a drastic amount of weight and even then more often than not there wasn't any serious underlying problem. High rates of weight gain are not the be all and end off of good health. 3-4oz gain a week is at the lower end of average (expected average is 4-8oz) but its not like gaining 1oz every other week or even losing weight. I think you need to stop worrying to be honest, I've had one of my boys drop 7 centile lines (because of problems absorbing fats due to multiple protein allergies) and he went from 13lb 13 at 8 weeks to only 15lb exactly at 34 weeks, but by the age of 2 he was back on the 75th centile in both weight and height again and it has had no long term implications on his health, growth or development whatsoever. He is 6 now and doing extremely well and has completely outgrown all his allergies to boot.

My eldest was 13lb at your daughters age which was on the 9th centile on the old charts (boys) he was born bang on the 50th in weight and height and 25th in HC, he went down to the 25th in length but went up to and stayed on the 50th in HC. My youngest now started off on the 75th in weight, dropped down to between the 25th and 50th, started climbing the chart and went above the 50th and would have been on the 75th again a few weeks from then but from 16 weeks he just stopped gaining weight well at all and dropped right onto the 25th line, until about 6 weeks ago when he started gaining 4oz every single week (the average for his age is 2-4oz) consequently he is climbing the chart again but I don't read too much into it all anyway and rarely weigh him anymore. He is on the 75th in length too but at one point shot up to the 98th, and in HC he was born on the 75th but shot up to the 91st and has followed that line ever since; so he is tall and slim with a big head. Most babies are off the top of the charts in HC in our family and most climb at least one centile line in the first few weeks on that, so my GP (who is also a qualified paediatrician) isn't concerned about him going up one centile space. He is happy and healthy and nearly walking unaided so I am not at all concerned that he doesn't gain weight in a pattern that 'they' would like, in my personal experience 'they' are never happy no matter what you do. If your baby was gaining a bit too well they would be drumming up unnecessary worry on that score too....xx

 

[summer rain]

This may reassure you, its average weight gain for BF babies

https://kellymom.com/babyconcerns/growth/weight-gain.html

 

[patch2006uk]

Just wanted to agree that there's nothing wrong with a baby being a low percentile! It's not a race to get to 50th and above, 9th, 2nd or 25th, as long as LO is gaining, it doesn't matter. We have this obsession it seems with babies being 'big', but there have to be some smaller than average, or it wouldn't be the average!

 

[summer rain]

Just wanted to agree that there's nothing wrong with a baby being a low percentile! It's not a race to get to 50th and above, 9th, 2nd or 25th, as long as LO is gaining, it doesn't matter. We have this obsession it seems with babies being 'big', but there have to be some smaller than average, or it wouldn't be the average!

Thats right, also when it comes to the chart all the weights on it are 'averages' out of 100, its the babies who are off the chart who are 'above average' or 'below average', to put it another way if you lined up 100 children of say 3 months old, they would all be a weight that could be plotted on the chart between the 2nd centile and the 98th, some may have more kids heavier than them than others but only that one child would weigh x weight. Say at 4 months the centiles started at 5kg and went up to 8kg (not saying they do, its a rough example), one baby would weigh exactly 5kg, one would weigh 5.03kg, the next 5.06kg and so on until you had 100 babies representing all the weights on the chart at that age. It wouldn't be like most babies would weigh enough to put them on the 75th centile plus and a tiny handful would be on the lower centiles and thus abnormal; the charts simply don't work that way.

This is one reason why when they reprinted the charts they made sure to put the 50th centile in lighter dotted type as opposed to one big solid line, because before many HVs were misreading the 50th line as some type of ideal to be aiming for and praising mums whose babies got to the 50th line; even if it meant they had dropped centiles to get there . It does seem this obsession with weight is only found in the UK, US, Canada (though it seems not to as large an extent) and a handful of other European countries. xx

 

[summer rain]

here is some of the guidance from the red books regarding the growth charts, emphasis added by me

Normal weight and height

The curves on the chart are called centile lines. These show
the range of weights and heights (or lengths) of most
children. If your child’s height is on the 25th centile, for
example, this means that if you lined up 100 children of the
same age in height order, your child would be number 25;
75 children would be taller than your child. It is quite normal
for a child’s weight or height to be anywhere within the
centile lines on the chart.

When are children unusually big or small?
There is not an exact point at which it can be said that a
child’s weight or height is definitely abnormal. However,
only four in every thousand healthy children are at or below
the 0.4th centile. A paediatrician usually assesses these
children to make sure that there are no problems. Being
very small can sometimes indicate a medical or health
problem.

Babies on the top weight or length centile are usually
healthy. If your child’s weight goes above the top centile
after 12 months of age, this may be a sign that they are
overweight. Your health visitor may want to assess this
further.

What is a normal rate of weight gain?

Weight gain in the early days varies a lot from baby to baby
so there are no lines on the chart for 0–2 weeks. By 2 weeks
of age most babies weight will be on a centile close to their
birth centile.
It is unlikely that your baby’s weight will exactly follow a
single centile line, particularly in the first year. It is most
likely to track within one centile space (i.e. the gap between
two centile lines).
Children may lose weight during an illness but their weight
will usually go back to their usual centile within
2–3 weeks. However, if your baby’s weight remains down by
two or more centile spaces, they should be assessed by your
health visitor and their length should also be measured.

NB: The reason why it says length should also be measured is because some babies will go through a short period of gaining better in height/length than in weight, and this is perfectly normal, however if the height/length centile has also dropped then this may indicate a problem. xx

 

[DaisyDoodles]

My LO is between the 2nd and 9th centile and only gains 3 or 4ozs a week so you're not alone!

I refuse to see the HV anymore because she just upsets me too much, the midwives at the community centre are much more supportive as is my GP so I weigh LO myself at home and as long as she gains weight each week I try not to worry, but it's hard!

If ever you need someone to talk to, just message me!

 

[Clairikins]

Thanks for all your responses and for taking the time to provide all the info. just to be clear, i know it isn't a problem in itself to follow the 9th centile, there obviously have to be littler people. it is that she started just above the 50th so she has dropped 2 centiles. however, she is growing nicely in terms of head and length, she has good colour and is hitting all her milestones so really I just need to stop worrying? man, you guys sound like my husband and I hate it when he is right!

 

[DaisyDoodles]

Mine started on the 50th too!

The HVs are the only ones that have ever thought it was a problem, but they've never bothered to measure her length or head so obviously don't have too much of a clue!

Even with the MWs constantly reassuring me I still worry though so you're not the only one!

 

[Clairikins]

Mine started on the 50th too!

The HVs are the only ones that have ever thought it was a problem, but they've never bothered to measure her length or head so obviously don't have too much of a clue!

Even with the MWs constantly reassuring me I still worry though so you're not the only one!

I like to tell people i'm fighting the world obesity crisis one baby at a time...

 

[summer rain]

Many babies who are on the 9th centile started off on the 50th or 25th, it isn't the birth centile that counts anymore but the centile the baby is on after they have regained their birthweight, as it says in the red book if a baby drops and remains down 2 or more centiles for a long period (and you never know your baby may climb back up in a few months) then their length should be measured and things assessed. 99.9% of the time nothing is wrong. xx

 

[patch2006uk]

Thanks for all your responses and for taking the time to provide all the info. just to be clear, i know it isn't a problem in itself to follow the 9th centile, there obviously have to be littler people. it is that she started just above the 50th so she has dropped 2 centiles. however, she is growing nicely in terms of head and length, she has good colour and is hitting all her milestones so really I just need to stop worrying? man, you guys sound like my husband and I hate it when he is right!

Absolutely stop worrying. Your LO sounds like they're doing fine as summer rain has said, babies drop percentiles and bounce all over the charts. It's pretty much always normal and harmless

There was another poster saying she hoped her LO had gone up from 9th percentile at the next weigh in, and my comments before about percentiles were more aimed at her than you