11 week old dropped a centile- advice?

[Elmo311]

Hi all!
This is going to be a little long as I will try not to drip feed as I hate that!

So my baby girl is 11 weeks old tomorrow, she was born 6lbs 8oz at 38 weeks which I think put her in the 9th percentile.
We struggled with jaundice for 3 weeks or so and she was admitted once in that time for phototherapy which worked very well.
Since about 2 weeks of age she has been in the 2nd percentile but growing along her curve nicely. She has enough dirty nappies, and seems otherwise healthy.

She takes between 2-3oz per feed every 3 hours which can take up to an hour to get into her, sometimes after 60ml (2oz) she will refuse to take anymore, and the times she does take 90ml (3oz) we have to spend a long time winding her.

I weigh her at home every week as I know my scales are accurate as I have weighed her before Dr's and HV appointments and the weight is the same.

She had her vaccinations at 9 weeks when she weighed 4kg, so that week following the vaccines she was not as keen on eating, which I put down to feeling a bit 'off' from the vaccination. But it's been 2 weeks now and she is still only 4kg and down to the 1st centile.

I took her to the Dr today and he checked her over and said she is healthy and just a 'small baby' but he will organise a referral to the paediatrician "if you want me to" ! So I've said yes to that.... but he didn't offer any advice to me at all. I even asked about a higher calorie formula but he said it isn't necessary.... and it could take weeks to get the referral through :(.

Has anyone had a small baby and they turn out to be ok ?
I am starting to feel like it's my fault for having a small gap between pregnancies (my son is 13months old was was born 50th percentile)

Otherwise she is fine she is cute and she does smile but not holding her head up alone yet, she sleeps through the night and if I try to dream feed her she is not happy!

Any advice or suggestions will be helpful,

Thank you.

[dementedpixie]

How fast is the teat?

[Elmo311]

@dementedpixie We are actually using size 3 Tommee tippee teats at the moment! With the 1 or 2 she sucks so hard so we had to change it.

[Elmo311]

Bump ....

[Whyismycatanasshat]

We were told try a different bottle when a feed takes over 30 minutes; as the midwife swore Tommee Tippees tears took a lot of effort for littler babies; we switched to Mam bottles and feeds were much better, more milk being taken each time. Less windy baby too!

[Elmo311]

@Whyismycatanasshat Thank you so much , I will buy one and try it out!

[Hopehope20]

I could have written this. My baby was born 9th centile, I breast fed but supply was low and he dropped over 12% weight so we went to hospital and they had us topping up with formula. Next time we was weighed he had dropped to 2nd centile....then he went down to 0.4th.
He just never really loved milk...we did switch to mam bottles which did help.

We got referred to a peadiatrition who was AMAZING. He really put our minds at rest and told us to enjoy our boy...He is just small. He is 7 months now....has been following his 0.4 centile line since then, we are weaning him and he has so far gone up to 1 centile (big win for us!). He is absolutely amazing and has hit all his milestones. He sits unaided, He crawled at 6 months...He is the most happiest smiley boy I have met and is thriving in every way. I tormented myself all of his little life over his weight...and I guess I can't say I'm totally over it. I still compare him to other babies and get upset when people think he is a newborn even at 7 months.

One thing we did do,and were told to do by the peadiatrition was to feed him every 4 hours...round the clock. He slept amazingly so we annoyingly had to wake him through the night to feed.

It's great you have been referred....but please try not to worry, we have small babies...but they are no less amazing. And you have no idea where they will end up on the chart or how weaning will impact etc.but I DO no what you are going through....cried myself to sleep countless times over this xxx

[Elmo311]

@Hopehope20
Thank you for your reply. I've switched her to the MAM bottles now but no difference really. Maybe slightly less gassy but no change in the amount she's taking. Having to wake her for a feed now as she hasn't had any milk for 4 hours and is still fast asleep!

Well done on the 1 centile increase! I know how awesome that must feel! Sounds like he is doing great and your message is very reassuring.
I know what you mean about the newborn thing , although she's almost 3 months old, she's still so small looks like a newborn . I feel ....embarrassed to tell people how old she is :( I just don't like the comments and the concerned faces like I'm doing something wrong. She is very smiley but not lifting her head yet etc. I can't remember when my son did and I should really as there's only 10.5 months between them ! Haha

Did the feeding every 4 hours make a difference? I really struggle to get her to wake to take much milk if I interrupt her during the night, she will take maybe 5-10ml and that's all. .


I'll try to enjoy her as I really don't want to miss out on this time with her , it just really is me worrying at the moment!

We've paid for a private appt with a paed on Monday as we don't want to wait weeks IF there is an underlying issue. Hope he is as good as yours was!
Xxx

[Hopehope20]

Oh that's great about the pead. Good luck with it, I hope it goes well.

I can't really say if the night feeding made a difference because we never didn't do it...but I'm sure it did as, although he wasn't ever doing loads...to him every ounce counts.
What was a game changer for us was dream feeding. Problem was he never did it when he was young...once he got to about 5 months he would dream feed lovely and take a whole bottle whilst he was asleep.
Had to be really careful myself not to get stressed out or show my disappointment when he drinks only an ounce of a 6 oz bottle etc as he almost started getting a bottle aversion but we bought that back round.

I wouldn't worry about lifting the head, mine also didn't at 3 months much and I was also worried about that...but he just randomly started doing it one day and then was really good at it. Lots of tummy time works wonders (but he always hated it).
Try to ignore comments but I know how hard that is...I feel you with feeling embarrassed etc. I my boyfriend hates it that whenever people ask his age i always have to follow up with an explanation about him being small in response to their shocked faces.

He has only done an ounce this morning whereas he has been doing 5 recently so it brings it all back!

You are doing an amazing job, no one knows how hard this is until you are in it. It becomes an obsession but we do also need to try and trust that they are taking what they need.

We had to have my boy weighed every 2 weeks...it's been hell...and within those two weeks some days he drank hardly anything...but he always tracked the 0.4 line after the initial fall...so he was taking what he needed in that time.
Let us know how you get on at your appointment x

[Elmo311]

@Hopehope20
Hello,
Sorry I didn't update sooner, but we were waiting 2 weeeks from the first appt to see how her weight was getting on.
Initially the paed said she's just small, and from his calculations although she is 1st centile she is healthy etc so to monitor her. But she did not gain any weight at all the last 2 weeks so as of today we have started her on the SMA high calorie milk in the hope it makes a difference! If not she will require further investigations.
She's still in 'up to 1 month ' clothing ... which makes me sad but hopefully things will improve now.
Thanks for your message btw , I'm glad to know I'm not alone and people have been through this before and it's come out all good!

X