Posting for traffic sorry! - 11 week old dropped centile

[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.

I know how anxious having a baby dropping centiles can make you feel. My ds was born on the 25th, dropped to 10th and then 2nd by 3 months, where he stayed until 6 months before dropping off the chart and staying off for several years. I was so stressed about it for the first 3 months of his life.

We too were referred to a paed (although not until he was 8 months and off the growth chart having dropped more than 2 centile bands) just to make sure all was OK as I was sick of the HV asking me to weigh him regularly but not suggesting anything that helped. The paed was not really worried but did tests and referred us to the hospital dieticians (as he was on solids by then... We never got an appointment as they had a huge waiting list). He's now 9 years old and has been back on the 25th centile or thereabouts since he was 7 . My other ds was born on the 75th centile and is now around the 60th. I guess what I'm saying is try not to think too much about it. The most logical reason is... she's just small. It's good you're investigating though. The hospital will probably do blood tests to rule out health issues and then just monitor her.

For us, the only real issue was that ds developed anaemia around 10 months as he was such a fussy eater. It was treated with iron supplements for several years, but otherwise he was ok.

BTW, I breastfed so can't comment on the amount of bottles/volume of formula as I don't know what's recommended at that age. Someone else can probably help with that.

You might find your health visitor more useful? I definitely would contact them for advice as something seems not right.

@Wasywasydoodah I don't find the HV's useful at all as all they advise is coming back every 4 weeks to weigh her 😑

@AugieMarch thank you so much for your reassuring reply! I hope it is the case that she is just a small baby and nothing else is wrong. Good to know your son is doing well now :)

Well, weighing every 4 weeks is a good start, and what is advised unless a problem is identified. If baby drops below 0.4th centile (because that’s dropped 2 centile lines) then that will trigger more intervention but until then, health visitors are the ones to go to about feeding advice. Maybe ask to see if they can visit you at home?

@Wasywasydoodah I see what you're saying, I weigh her weekly so I'll notice if she drops again. Maybe I'm being a big ignorant but I just don't find the HV's helpful unless they can rush a referral through quicker.
Asking more for people's experiences and reassurance really.
But will speak to the HV's as you've suggested as I'd rather be wrong. X

My little boy was born just before 38 weeks and weighed 6lb 5oz, so I think on the same centile line. We also had jaundice for 6 weeks and phototherapy too. It took a month to regain his birth weight dropping below the 0.4 centile for a while. At 8 months now he's around about the 25th for weight, 2nd and 9th for head and length, so small but in proportion. He's also a snacker, even now and rarely takes more than 120ml of milk at a time. We had lots of breastfeeding issues which were probably our main cause, so we always had to top-up with formula. We did see a slight improvement when we switched to an hypoallergenic formula (suspected milk and egg allergies), but I think it was just time he needed. We were referred to the dietician for allergies and they looked at his chart in case it was required, so that could be an avenue for you if needed.

It's hard to remember but centiles are averages, some babies are at the bottom and below, they're just small. A nurse once told me that the centiles were based on American formula fed babies, I don't know how true that is though.

I’ve just dug out my red book for my ten year old to have a look!

He was born at 36 weeks 4lb 7 but is a twin so was always going to be smaller than average. He was a very slow feeder as well - would often drop off during feeds. At 13 weeks old he was only 4.4 kg according to the chart I’m looking at. Him and his brother (who was 5lb 10) were weighed weekly for nearly a year because of it - as I say they are ten now and apart from some SEN (suspected dyslexia) you’d never know there had ever been anything wrong. They’re both normal height and weight now. My third baby was 8lb 6 born and is very short now so go figure!

I also worried it was me as I had some pretty horrible pregnancy issues, but I’m assured it wasn’t.

Also it says in my book that babies with no concerns should not be weighed more than once a month. Probably because mums worry too much.

Easy for me to say now it’s all behind me though. I do think you need to trust the GP and just keep feeding. She’s obviously healthy but has just dropped a bit of weight due to illness.

My DD was born 5lb 14oz at 39+6, she hovered around that line until she was diagnosed with cows milk protein allergy and coconut allergy (coconut was in the first prescription formula we had). As soon as we got the formula right she steadily climbed up the centiles.
She's 1 now and in between 50th and 75th centiles, 20lb!

I got told not to weigh her weekly, to stick to the monthly weighings because weekly can show a lot of natural ups and downs and mo thly is better for the overall picture. If that makes sense?
Also. She would go up and down around growth spurts.

Getting the referral can be the biggest battle, it took me so long to get her referred for her allergies, but once she was seen the dietician was right on it, so helpful and even wrote a 'strongly worded letter' to our gp. So hopefully once your appointment comes through you will get some good advice. My sister rang the department my niece had been refered to every few days to see if they had any cancellations until she got one. My niece was born 6lb 2oz and dropped a LOT of weight at first (again allergies).

In my experience hvs are best nodded and smiled at, then ignored. But you might have a good one, give it a try. As long as your DD is happy in herself and reaching milestones that's the main thing for the time being. It's might just be that's she's small.
I hope you get sorted.

With it taking an hour to feed it makes me think maybe she needs a bigger test size? What size is she on?

My eldest was born between the 2 and 9th centile at 41 weeks. He was fine but was always petite as a younger child, he’s now a teenager mind you and built like a brick shithouse

With it taking an hour to feed it makes me think maybe she needs a bigger test size? What size is she on?

Yeah this happened to my eldest too, HV said it was perhaps too much effort to get milk from the teats so he perhaps didn’t bother. We got variflo teats which seemed better.

My first was 6lb 1oz & we went through the same as you and a few other issues.

I agree with Pp,try the next size teat,small babies get tired easier when sucking so that might help.
Also,I noticed you said she sleeps through the night? We were told that we should wake our baby & not let her go any longer than 4 hours at most without a feed ,even at night.

@Lovescookies Thank you for your reply and I'm glad to hear your little boy is doing well now.
Interesting that people are mentioning allergies. Did you notice any other signs of allergies from him? And is the hypoallergenic formula readily available? My LO is on Aptamil.

@ElizaPancakes Thanks for digging out your red book for me!
Glad to hear your boys have turned out fine (must have been hard having twins to worry about!)

@LokihasafryingPan Thanks for your reply. When you say that she had allergies, other than the slow weight gain were there any other signs?

The referral is a while away I reckon! But I've just remembered my OH gets Bupa cover with his work! So I'm going to ask him if he can put her on his policy and maybe we can get her seen sooner.

I've always weighed her often, admittedly I didn't with my son but he was always 50th centile and I wasn't constantly getting comments on how small he is! I don't think it's doing me any harm to weigh her as I'd rather pick up a potential problem earlier on, and i can also feel more positive if she's gaining. (maybe I'll compromise and do it every 2 weeks! Haha )

HV's in my area aren't great! . I just can't be bothered to see one, but I'll give them one more shot !

@Louiselouie0890 she's on the size 3 Tommee Tippee teats! We have the Avent bottles too, which we've tried a couple of times or so but she still stops at 60ml.

@MrsMiggins37 That made me smile! Thank you for the reassurance!

@MrsMiggins37 She is on the size 3 Tommee Tippee teats. I will look into the Variflo ones, thank you!

@WatcherOfTheNight We have tried to wake her to feed her at night, and we have tried to dream feed her but she will not take anything! It gets to 10pm and that's it, she's gone! Tried the whole stripping her down into her nappy, tickling her, talking to her etc etc

Then when she wakes in the morning after 8hrs of no milk she will only take 60ml!

Please don’t get caught up in the allergies cycle. Nothing that you have described sounds like an allergy, you just have a small baby who doesn’t eat much.

If I were you I would feed during the night. Your baby is very young and very small to be going so long without a feed.

My now 12 year old was 7lbs6oz when born, right in the 50th percentile.

Over the next 4 months she dropped to off the chart, below 0.2. She was ebf.

Once we started feeding her solids her weight soared. She's now 5ft 4 and an incredible dancer and athlete.

In my case I think I wasn't producing enough milk but she was a placid child and didn't complain. When the same thing happened with her little sister I got her on formula.

What I'm trying to say is - kids drop centiles and are usually absolutely totally fine!! Dropping one means pretty much nothing - it can be the difference between having a big poo before being weighed or not.

I know the awful feeling of 'my baby is not ok!' But the experts are there for a reason - listen to them and don't worry: one day you'll be me, answering question on a forum like this, unable to believe you ever worries so much!

My little one is now 4.5yrs born slightly over full term 2nd centile.
He dropped off the chart at one point when he was little but it HV said just keep an eye on his feeding.
He’s 4.5 years old now, he’s slim but not skinny. Has a good appetite but I think he just has a good metabolism as he doesn’t seem to put on huge amounts of weight but I’ve got zero concerns re him.
We all come in diff shapes and sizes op, I’m small myself (slim) and always have been so he was never ever going to be massive.
Pregnant with my 2nd now and have growth scans, she’s 10th centile (although has a fat head.. haha) but I’m not concerned