Everyone thinks my BF 12 week old is tiny anyone else with a tiddler?

[Haywire]

Have been Breastfeeding my DD2 ok but her weight gain was and is slow. She was 7lb7oz at birth and about 10lb 2 now but went down to 6lb 13 and didn't regain birthweight for 3 weeks.

just took her for jabs and nurse said look at her skinny legs and questioned me about weight gain, everyone keeps on saying how tiny she is . HV has been super supportive but have not seen her for a few weeks. Latch checked lots and seems fine, have had no pain problems and DD no tongue tie.

She is super alert lots of wet and pooey nappies meeting all her milestones, happy and smiley when not tired etc. sleeps ok at night usually having 2 or 3 feeds in the night and approx 6 more in day minimum often more. I offer both breasts at least each feed or more and do compressions.

She won't take a bottle, what else can I do? she is following 9th percentile but is just ditty. my other DD was a chunk at this point but I had switched to formula as she was not gaining well, don't have that option this time. just feel a bit low about it today all this effort have been putting in and feel like I am failing her somehow.

[snowchick1977]

Hi Haywire

Keep going. My dd was 6lb 14oz born and took 6 weeks to regain her birthweight. She was, and still is ebf at 6 months old.

She now weighs 12lb. Everyone says she is tiny still....Ive stopped worrying now, or even listening to them to be honest.

She plots along the 0.4 centile but is meeting all of the development checks.

My son was a chunk too but no two children are the same.

I fought midwives, health visitors etc to keep feeding her and everything was fine.

I spoke to a paediatrician who said that you may just have a small daughter. Someone has to plot small, just like some babies plot over the top line.

As long as she plots consistently along her line and has wet and dirty nappies and is well and alert then just keep going. Take no notice of anyone.

There are a lot more things other than weight to see if a baby is happy and thriving.

Well done you x

[noblegiraffe]

If she's following her line then you shouldn't be worrying at all, and if she's on the 9th centile, then nearly 1 in 10 babies are smaller!

[BuntyCollocks]

My dd was born at 7lb14, went down to 7lb4, stated static for a bit, and then started gaining. At 13 weeks she was 11lbs exactly. She's ahead of all her milestones, extremely happy and settled. My dc are just meant to be long and lanky, like their daddy. She's also on 9th percentile down from 50th at birth. DS was 75th at birth, dropped to 2nd (had an undiagnosed tongue tie and started gaining when everything was sorted) and now follows the 25th.

[oscarwilde]

I've got one of those. She was a whole 2lbs smaller than her sister at her 16 week vaccinations. Hasn't been weighed since but I can see she is catching up fast in the chubby stakes. I wouldn't stress, someone's child has to fit into Gap clothing at the age it's labelled for wonders why they are so skimpy given its an American brand, not making sweeping generalisations about american vanity sizing in general

[mouseymummy]

My dd2 is 6mo, nearly 7. She was weighed on Monday, she's 13lb 1.

Hv not worried, she's plotting brilliantly so as long as your dd is plotting well then I wouldn't worry.

[Haywire]

phew not just me then with a little one..... thanks for encouragement all. I know you are all right some babies are smaller of course and with any chart someone has to be towards the bottom but it's hard not to take on board peoples comments when you are having a bad day. Think people just expect babies of this age to be chubby and can't help commenting. MIL asks me every week if I have had her weighed feels like I am on trial.

Oscar the clothing sizing thing has bugged me DD is to big for newborn in 0-3 mostly but they are pretty big on her will try GAP as don't have much from there. have loads of 3-6 but that seems a long way off fitting.

[AnythingNotEverything]

Sounds like she's just one of life's small babies! Just nod and smile when people comment. If you (and your HV) are happy, then that's enough!

[SweetTeaVodka]

My DD is the same age and weight. She was born on the 9th centile and has stayed there, only lost 4% of her birth weight. She is one EBF although we had to mix feed for a while. My HV & GP are happy with her nod everyone agrees she is feeding fine, she's just petite. On the plus side, we are getting loads of wear out of her newborn/up to 1 month clothes!

I do get annoyed at constantly being old by everyone how tiny she is though. Strangers stop me and ask me if she was prem FFS (she wasn't, 40+4). I think perhaps people are becoming so used to all the huge babies being born nowadays they forget how small babies can be.

[EMS23]

DD1 was born at 38 weeks, 5lb 7oz, 4lb13oz when we left hospital.
So not particularly early but definitely small. She's 2.6 now and still small. Average height but very slim.

Anyway, I used to get asked all the time if she was prem and got some odd comments when I said she wasn't.

It never bothered me till I was pregnant with DD2 and the booking in midwife, filling out my consultant referral due to my 'history of low birthweight babies', insisted that I must've smoked throughout my pregnancy to produce such a small, full term baby.
I didn't smoke but she just wouldn't accept it and went on about it for a good few minutes before accepting my answer.

DD2 is more normal sized and weirdly, I kind of miss having a teeny tiny that people get so worked up about!

[yetanotherworry]

If you want some perspective, look around you at the adults you see. They are all different sizes. Some are bigger than others, some are smaller than others. To make the growth charts, someone has to be at the lower end of the scales and it does tend to be the formula fed babies at the top end. I had a BF baby who was at the 90th centile and used to get comments about his size so you can't really win whatever you do.

As long as you don't see any more sudden weight drops then just carry on doing what you're doing. Its sounds like you're doing a great job.

[Eastpoint]

I had three DCs and all of them were over 8lbs at birth & then settled low down on the charts. Dc1 was 18lbs at 12 months. Dc2 was 19.6lbs & by the time dc3 was 12 months I forgot to weigh her! Dc1 ebf to 4 months (different recommendations then), dc2 ebf to 6 months, dc3 ebf to 6 months. Dc1 now weighs 42KG, dc2 33kg & dc3 31kg. Gap clothes have always been too big for their age, I just go by height & rely on adjustable waistbands.

PS DCs all in secondary school now

[GeekLove]

I had a diddy ds1 who was 6lb13 at birth but took 5 weeks to get back to birth weight from a low of 6 lb 2. There was some worry about it from the midwives but as it took me 5 weeks to get to my bird weight.
On the plus side she won't be growing out of her clothes so fast!

[FattyMcChubster]

As long as she's healthy I wouldn't worry about size. People seem to need to say something about babies even if it's rude not well thought through.
Everyone comments on DD's size and sometimes it really bothers me. Nod and smile and mutter under your breath afterwards

[nananaps]

hi. another diddy dot here!
5lbs 14oz at birth, now 13 weeks old & weight yesturday was 11lbs 4oz.
ebf, sounds like the same feed pattern as you op, except my baby does have a tongue tie.

I am not worried at all and have no time for those that raise an eyebrow.
I have a healthy, happy boy

[duchesse]

My daughters were all tiddlers, but no less healthy than their more conventionally sized older brother. All fully breastfed.

Here are their weights at birth and 12 weeks:

DS 8lb12oz--> 15 lbs
DD1 7lbs8oz--> 10lbs 15oz
DD2 7lbs9oz--> 10lbs5oz
DD3 7lbs5oz--> 10lbs8oz

DD2 & DD3 also didn't regain their birthweight for several weeks but were absolutely fine and healthy- alert, weeing and pooing plenty etc.

[Haywire]

Aww thanks for encouragement everyone I am feeling so much better about this now. Of course some babies will be smaller. Think nurses comments caught me at a bad moment and just had a bit of a freak out.

A chubby baby does seem to be what people expect but as people have to think of something to say must remember not to take it personally.

[BimbaBirba]

Another one here whose DS was a slow weight gainer and ebf. Now at 14 months he's truly enjoying solids and eats with much more greed than a lot of his fatter bottle-fed peers
Honestly, don't worry about it. She'll probably surprise you and catch up at some point.
Good luck

[Startail]

DD2 was born on the 9th percentile, fell off the graph at 4 months and wouldn't take a bottle for anyone.

Therefore, she was weaned at 5.5 moths straight on to yoghurt and anything she'd eat. She never did take a bottle, BF way past starting school and has never drank milk. Her Dad hates it too, so I don't think she's being awkward. Mind she has always been on the 100 th percentile for stubbornness.

She reached the 50% line by her first birthday. She is now 12, she's spent the last 11 years being exactly average sized. In those 12 years she's seen a GP once (last winter with earache from those horrid colds everyone had and she didn't get medicine then). So small she may have been, but perfectly healthy.

[BadgerFace]

If your DD is happy and alert with wet and dirty nappies then I wouldn't worry about it, although I know that is easier to say than do, and I need to follow my own advice as well!

My DD was born at 6lb 9 on the 25th line and dropped to the 9th by day 3. We had loads of feeding problems and feeding, milk supply and weight has been 95% of my worries so far but DD has followed the 9th and is happy so I have to have a word with myself every now and then.

At 12 weeks she was a similar weight to your DD. And when I had her weighed last week at 15 weeks she'd gone up to the 25th line so it can change too, and I've done nothing differently!

By the nature of the rankings some babies will be near the bottom and formula fed babies are always heavier I hear so our babies are at a disadvantage to start with on the scale...

This breastfeeding lark is much harder than I envisaged it would be. If only boobs had a measuring gauge in them then life would be simpler...

[RainforestGym]

My EBF baby is exactly the same weights as yours at birth and now! Nappies all fine, very happy baby. Is your baby quite vomitty? Only because mine is and I thought it was normal but took him to Drs and he has reflux, so we're now trying Infant Gaviscon. Not been weighed again since we started it so don't know if it's helping the weight but he does seem to be keeping more of the feed down.

Otherwise I was also told that some babies at just small and often whiz up the percentiles once they're on solids!

[EMS23]

It's not necessarily an EBF = small FF = big thing. My little DD that I posted about earlier, was FF.
Some babies will just be small.