Precious DD not gaining enough weight - Help

[LadyBird25]

Ok this is my first post so pardon me if I ramble on for too long??. I am first time mum and my DD is just over 15 weeks. I took her to get weighed today and seems she's not gaining weight as I thought she would??. She is currently on the 25th line and this is worrying because when she was weighed at 9 weeks she was in between the 50th and 25th line. Now I'm beginning to think she's not feeding properly. I feed her BM & EBM although it I now find I work twice as hard to feed her the bottle. What is the best way to feed my DD and ensure she is well fed? Should I introduce Formula? Ooh one more thing, she sucks her thumb after a feed sometimes, is that an indication that she needs more BM? Thanks a lot??

[PotteringAlong]

Unless she's crossed 2 centile lines it's not worrying at all! Is she putting on weight? Does she look healthy / meeting milestones? If you throwaway the chart would you still be worried?

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

What did the HV say? Doesn't sound like anything to worry about IME

[CharleyBear1]

Throw away the chart!! Honestly it has almost driven me mad with worry but in the end as long as baby is creating wet and dirty nappies and is alert when she's awake then it sounds fine to me xx

[PotteringAlong]

Charleybear is right - and I say that as the mother of an 11 week old who has dropped from the 50th to the 9th centile but is, fundamentally, completely and utterly fine (just small!)

[NotSpartacus]

If she's 25th centile that means that out of 100 babies, 24 would be lighter than her. Basically, that makes her entirely normal.

[DoggyDaycare]

Charts aren't always right- if you have no other worries I'd ignore. If you do think the baby needs more food I'd see a specialist for help.

Have you got a breastfeeding drop in / milk spot near you?

In my experience the specialist breastfeeding consultants are a thousand times more knowledgeable than the health visitors are.

Have a google, there may well be a local health authority funded drop in at a children's centre you can visit for advice.

They can suggest lots of things that may help such as breast compression, switching breasts when feeding, dropping the expressing in case that is making baby too lazy to such etc- different things might be applicable in your case and others not so it is difficult to advise online and why I would suggest seeing one.

My DS is 15 weeks and has had a lot of problems with feeding, he is on the 2% line...HV thinks this is the end of the world, breastfeeding midwife thinks it is perfectly OK and he is growing and doing fine.

(FWIW Babies like to suck- a dummy/sucking fingers does not necessarily indicate hunger)

[DoggyDaycare]

sorry that should read too lazy to suck not such

[Dinosaursdontgrowontrees]

Sounds fine to me it's normal for weight gain to be in spurts. What did your health visitor say?
Can't imagine she is still hungry after a feed if she seems settled she would cry if she was hungry still. Please try not to worry and enjoy your perfect little baby.

[hubbahubster]

Same as my DD and I'm not worried, but then she's my second. A little fluctuation is normal, as a previous poster said unless it crosses a couple of centile lines it's nothing to cause concern to a HV.

[tiktok]

She sounds fine. It doesn't sound as though the clinic is worried.

[squizita]

I had exactly this panic last week.
Just went to the GP for a check up (not weight related) and the measured dd and checked her over and said there was no problem at all. Babies grow in spurts and have lulls, and some just grow slowly. She measured her and referenced it against her weight (and looked at my height) and declared though she grows slowly she is "in proportion " therefore healthy.

So worrying at those rushed hv clinics ... but actually all was well.
Malnourished babies look thirsty tired and unhappy. A happy baby, small or big, is usually ok they told me.

The GP got to check out her poops cuz she did one on the mat lol

[squizita]

...I also bf and find it eases my mind to offer every 2 hours in the day if she hasn't asked. She doesn't always need it and asks at other times! But it just means I don't have any doubt in my mind she's accessing food regularly. BF makes this easy just wave a boob at her face lol!

But the GP even said that was good for my nerves but "babies cry if they're too hungry" so not to worry.

[TwoLittleTerrors]

Your little one is fine if she's just dropped from 50 to 25 centile. Like others say doctors only get worried if they drop over 2 lines.

I only EBF mine and don't worry too much. I don't follow a routine to feed and instead just put to breast when DD2 looks like she needs milk. I tended to use the breast as dummy though!

If you find the expressing hard work, then by all means use formula. I dos express for DD1 but gave up when around 3-4mo when she started bottle refusing (I went back to work at 7mo so was keen to introduce bottles. That's another story). This time with DD2 I didn't bother with bottles. I know how hard expressing is and no way I'm to do it again. So I am not surprised you find it a struggle

[RightyTightyLeftyLoosey]

HVs are conditioned to measure by charts, but no one has ever told babies!
Honestly best thing I ever did was throw the damn thing away!

DS was tiny anyway and I got loads of crap advice because round here everyone FFs so I think HVs had lost the knowledge about BF babies a bit and compare to FF.

Luckily my mum is an expert and kept telling me it was all normal etc and I was determined not to give in to ff, he still feeds now at 2.7 and is a good size and weight and very boisterous!

The rule is.... if the nappies are wet and poo filled and the baby is generally happy and alert- then they are getting enough to eat, thats it!

for you though!

[RightyTightyLeftyLoosey]

Oh and expressing is v hard work. DS refused all bottles after 6 weeks anyway so I just gave up and was much happier just feeding on demand.

[WillkommenBienvenue]

Baby might not be able to suck. It happened to mine, she had various health problems and just didn't have the muscle tone to suck enough. I am riddled with guilt years later having been channelled into thinking by well meaning but non medical people that 'everything's fine, don't go by the charts'.

She was literally starving. Poos are not an indicator as they can poo even when there isn't enough going in.

See a doctor OP.

[squizita]

Willkommen yes - but urine is an indicator as is alertness, being "in proportion", moist eyes etc (which a HV or nuse cab check). Most health issues cause a drop greater than the OP described in the time (well over a month). You are correct poo doesn't indicate much as many bf babies only poo every few days!

However the OP is clearly anxious - as someone who suffers from anxiety I always say 'get it checked' but if the baby is alert and hydrated it will probably be ok - because although there's a small risk from what she's described a check up will confirm it's ok.
I have a rare often ignored condition myself, hence my anxiety, and I am saying get a GP appt if she's worried: but that it is likely if wet and bm nappies ate ok AND baby is alert and active that it is merely a blip.

OP did the HV check the suck? Mine did just to rule that out - it's a quick check.

[WillkommenBienvenue]

I would go to the GP, health visitors are a mixed bag and have notoriously got things wrong. This is a medical matter, don't want to alarm but it is the right thing to do by the child. Parent's instinct is that there is something wrong, never ignore or dismiss that.

[cogitosum]

Ds dropped from 25th to between 2nd and 9th at 10 weeks. He's renained on the same curve ever since! I think sometimes the weight they are at first is not their real weight and they find that later!

I think what willkomen describes is very rare to have slow weight gain as the only indicator of an issue but if in doubt speak to Dr or breastfeeding counsellor and trust your instincts.

[WillkommenBienvenue]

The way to test poor suck is to give a bottle with a wider teat and see if she feeds more quickly.

Never assume the suck and swallow is strong is all I'm saying.

[squizita]

Yeah I said clearly to see the gp if worried.
Being someone with health anxiety, I can also recognise triggering thoughts and anxious behaviour.
Your posts are triggering. I'm sorry but thats hoe they read - thsts your anxiety at play.

I post "see your GP but don't worry..." and you react as if I have said something else.

It's like if I went back to the pregnancy board and told everyone worrying about a pain or spotting they should see their midwife because they probably have a rare blood condition risky to pregnancy because I do ... OF COURSE op should ask her GP if worried. Said that! But you seem to not be reading that ... because I'm offering some words of comfort too?
But trying to make her more anxious won't actually change whether her child is ok or not. And could trigger PNA or cause heartache in the meantime.

[tiktok]

Wilkommen, you're scaremongering now :(

This baby is 15 weeks. She is (apparently) thriving. The clinic (apparently) has not expressed any worry at all. The mother in the OP absolutely does not need to test the baby's suck. She absolutely does not need to be concerned (at almost four months??) that the baby cannot suck.

All that lies behind the OP's concern is the baby was between the 50th and 25th centile at birth, and is now (almost four months later) on the 25th centile.

This is NORMAL.

She is also sucking her thumb,

This is also NORMAL.

It sounds as if you had a really worrying time and some genuine health concerns that were ignored....and that has understandably made you sensitive to other people's worries.

But this case seems nothing like your own.

[capercaillie]

Both mine started on 50th and ended up between 2nd and 9th. Where they both still are several years later. I got some hassle from health visitors the first time but not second time round. As long as baby is happy, alert etc then they find their own line

[LadyBird25]

Wow!! I'm so overwhelmed by all your replies, thank you all very much.

It's so reassuring to know that other people have had similar worries but all was ok in the end.

TBH prior to our visit to the health centre yesterday, I didn't have any worries about my DD. She is so cheerful, always smiling and very playful.Her energy shocks her sometimes - such a cute little being with so much strength. She wees and poos regularly and is generally well although she had her first cold last week and had very little appetite so that may have affected her weigh in yesterday.

I'm taking her to the GP tomorrow just to ensure all is well.

Seriously I understand that the chart is a guide but the way it is interpreted sometimes by the HV's is just disastrous. Always seems to be a nail biting moment when they flip the pages to plot the graph! If you 'pass' you would be like phew! Otherwise worry like I did yesterday and like most mothers.

CharleyBear I think I will just throw the chart away lol

My DD was born on the 75th so that's probably why I got worried. The HV gave some tips on BF and said to come back next month and if my DD's weight dropped below the 25th then it will be a worry. Well I'm not going to let that happen as I plan to make the boob and not the bottle her best friend. I'm putting a break on the expressing, whilst it was done with all good intentions I think I misjudged how best to use the expressed milk. In would usually giver her a bottle of say 90ml and if she finished it and fell asleep I assumed she was satisfied and didn't offer the boob.

Thanks DoggyDaycare, I'm going to look for a BF specialist in my local area as i definitely need some guidance.

The ?? made me smile RightyTightyLeftyLoosey thanks x

Squizita, the HV didn't check my DD's such, she just said awwwww she'll outgrow it! Like that's what I wanted to hear. How can I get het to stop?

Thanks again