Failure to thrive

[Paris88]

My DS was only a week early so not really prem, but at 6 mths old he weights just over 6kg, when he should be atleast 8kg, his older brother was 9kg at this age. He wont take a bottle of formula and isnt interested in eating much food, just afew spoon fulls of blended fruit then turns his head away. I am living in a non-english speaking country so cant readily access docs for advise. Would appreciate comments/advise/shared experiences etc Thanks

[fitchusa]

www.kellymom.com is great for info like this. it's ok he's not in to his foods just yet, don't worry bout that part. the only thing i can think of is pumping/expressing before a feed, so when he latches on, he's straight in to the higher calorie breast milk. also, though might not be poss, would be a "bf holiday" where for 24 hours you and ds don't get out of bed, just nurse, A LOT, get skin to skin, etc. and all the extra nursing will add up to weight gain.

[Paris88]

Thanks fitchusa. Hes sick with cough and cold so I will take this the time in bed with him and feed as much as he can. Will check out the www too

[lulumama]

how much is 6 kilo? FWIW, my DD was not 9 kg until over a year old.... there is a difference between failure to thrive and a baby who is naturally smaller than average...if he is getting lots of breast milk, happy, alert, weeing and pooing, meeting his milestones then he sounds ok .. for there to be an average size, some babies have to be smaller and some have to be larger

[Paris88]

He is very happy and active baby. The dr here at his 3 mth check said she had never seen a baby hold their head up and lift the body - hes a very normal baby for european, but here, most babys are held and not put down to play, so they get very chubby. EVERYBODY comments on how slim he is but I thought he was ok for him. Thanks for the reassurance, I really needed it

[lulumama]

sounds like he is just fine..my DD has just turned three and can still fit into 18 - 24 month clothes... some children are smaller than others,

[TinkerBellesMum]

13.22 lb.

I wouldn't worry about it, if he was an adult you wouldn't be saying what wait he should be.

My daughter is about the size for half her age, she was very premature, but I know a little girl about six months older who is the same and she wasn't early. Babies vary in size as much as adults do and as long as the input/out put is OK, the soft spot isn't sunk, he has bracelets... then he is doing OK.

Have you tried offering finger foods? He may have decided he wants to do it himself.

[FfreckleFface]

Little Ff is 6 months and not 13lb yet. I am SICK TO DEATH of the expression 'failure to thrive'...if the baby is happy and hitting milestones, then surely it is thriving.

Use your instincts - you'd know if something was wrong

[Paris88]

Thanks everybody. We feel alot better about telling people hes fine, just normal for him now we've had some re-assurance