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.

Also unless there are any symptoms don’t go down the allergy route unnecessarily OP! I remember my DS went through phases of hardly taking any milk at all and always sleeping (lazy boy!). I think you are weighing too much and becoming slightly obsessed (in a nice way), it’s easy to let things like that consume you. People are always going to comment whether your baby is big / small / average.... when you are pregnant it’s the same!

I had a very similar experience; DD birth weight was 6 lb 2. I did EBF for 6 months and she ambled along that 2nd centile line. So, small but fine. Then at 6 months introduced food which she took to like a duck to water. So I thought oooh she's going to move up those charts now! Nope. She dropped to 0.4th, then off the chart completely. It was very worrying not least because I knew she was eating really well.

I got referred to pead. After they'd done blood tests, and dietician checks, (all fine) we just went back every couple of months. By the end she was 18 months and although still small she was developing fine. In fact her language in particular was good and the doctor chuckled as she was clearly able to understand him. So he signed us off with the conclusion that she is "just small". She just about managed to rejoin the 0.4th and there she stayed. I became very good at boosting calories for her and still do. Not unhealthy ones of course, but using full fat everything or adding a spoonful of yoghurt to recipes etc.

She will be 10 in October. Still eats like a horse. Still small for her age. Well, I say small, neither her dad or I are very tall so she isn't either but she's not noticeably small in height. She's very very slim. But she is strong! She does a lot of sport because she enjoys it. I think her weight is now between 2nd and 9th (so in some ways it's all evened out ok)

Oh, and please don't worry that it's anything to do with gaps in pregnancies etc. She was my PFB! I went on to have a 9lb 4 son, 3 years later

I hope all that is reassuring! I know how it feels. It's very worrying but I would just listen to advice and do what feels right for you. Also, if she is alert and developing how she should then that is a really good sign.

@user1480880826 I agree, I don't think she has an allergy either.
I've tried to feed her at night but she will not wake up to drink the milk no matter what I do, she won't even dreamfeed! Can maybe get 5ml into her via just letting it trickle if I'm lucky!
She used to wake up for one feed but now she doesn't want it 😅

@smashamasha Thank you! That is very reassuring! I hope you are right and once on solids she improves :)

@Thursday452poh How was he feeding when little and how often did you weigh him? Did you think the HV helped you?

Haha, I hope her head doesn't get too big! Good luck with your pregnancy :)

Has she been assessed for a tongue tie if you’re having such difficulty getting the milk in?

@officepolitics thank you for your reply! It's great to be reassured and your little girl sounds awesome!
I hope that my LO is the same and just a small baby, I will try to worry a little less whilst I wait for her to be seen by a Paed.

@IDontDrinkTea no she hasn't, fantastic suggestion! Thank you

Here suggests to worry if your baby crosses two centile lines, ie from 25 to 9 to 2. One centile isn’t a change really.

www.babycentre.co.uk/a25012751/tracking-your-babys-growth (Near the bottom!).

Mine was 5lb 9 when born - by the time she was 6 weeks the hv was making noises about not putting on enough weight and she barely put on any for several weeks. She too had little and not very often.
It helped when she started to hold the bottle herself, about 10-12 weeks, no idea why, but she drank a lot more. She also liked food, so weaning went well. She stayed dinky for quite a while - probably until 3 or 4 when she caught up quickly. She is now at 13 definitely not dinky! 5'8 size 12, solid. Try not to worry

My DD had a lot of symptoms typical of allergy, hives, severe constipation, windy, wouldn't go on her front without screaming etc none of which you've mentioned so I doubt it's that in your case, but the point was more that she did gain weight eventually, I do think weaning helped too (we weaned at 4m on hospital advice but tbh she did little more than lick the spoon until almost 6m)

In our baby group three babies were born under 6lb 4oz, one has multiple allergies, one has one allergy and the third has none, they're all above 25th percentile now, some babies are just smaller, some catch right up, some catch up a little. But as long as they're happy and healthy it doesn't matter.

I was born 5lb 10oz I'm 5ft 2 now, so still a little short but not much

But also, I wouldn't be trying to wake her for dream feeds, if she's hungry she will wake up. Enjoy the sleep!

I was born 4pounds 7, I'm now five foot eight and in fine health!
DS was born at 50th centile and dropped to 9th, he also had jaundice, tongye tie and didn't eat much. He stayed around 9th until 4/5 months, he's now 6 and a half months feeds well and hasn't found a solid food he doesn't like, he's an eating machine. He's back at 50th centile hitting milestones quickly and is very active. My cousin was s very small baby she's now in her twenties and very petite but very healthy. Seeing the paediatrician will rule anything out and reassure you, some babies take a little time and some people are just tiny.

A nurse once told me that the centiles were based on American formula fed babies

They're not BTW. The lines in the red book are WHO figures based on healthy breastfed babies.

I think she's probably just small OP. Try to chill, don't weigh her too frequently and keep an eye on things for now.

My DD fell two centiles and was an incredibly grumpy baby. She was eventually diagnosed with posterior tongue tie and once snipped at 12 weeks, was a different baby. You need an expert to diagnose though. Health visitors can’t usually tell, especially with posterior. DD was checked in hospital and they missed it.

I would also recommend getting a referral for a tongue tie check with a proper lactation consultant op. I’m amazed no one has suggested it to you yet as it’s usually the first port of call with weight loss. Like a pp, my DD had a posterior tongue tie missed by everyone and eventually snipped at about 10 weeks (we’d had to stop breastfeeding by then but that’s another story).

Does she ever dribble milk out of the sides of her mouth or make a clicking sound when she feeds? If she’s on the Tommee Tippee closer
to nature teats it may be worth trying her on a different shaped one like the MAM bottles, just to see if it makes a difference.

Good luck!

Another one suggesting checking for tongue tie. My second DS's was missed in hospital - he had both anterior and posterior. Only the fact that I had gallons and gallons of milk meant he didn't drop a lot of weight - it was literally pouring into him (whole other problem with wind etc though)

Been there with DD1, almost 20 years ago. In her first 6 weeks she hardly put on any weight so I used to top her up with formula. The HV was a complete dragon and made me feel like a crap parent, but I knew she was healthy, just petite, even though she weighed 7lb when born at 39 weeks.

Then we got a new young male HV who pointed out that the amount of formula DD was getting should lead to better weight-gain. He tested her and found she had a UTI when she was just short of 4 months old. One short course of antibiotics followed and as she held her head up brilliantly, he advised to start weaning her (it was the norm at 4 months then). She never put on loads of weight but was definitely happier.

She will be 20 in 5 weeks. She's still tiny (just 5 ft tall and wears size 6 clothes) but this is a bonus when you cox for your college at Cambridge! She eats really healthily and does lots of sporty things. She just was never meant to be big.