Feeding difficulties 9WO baby

[Italianshark]

My 9 week old baby is only 9lb 13. She's growing along the 5th centile but feel under pressure from the world telling me how tiny she is, for her to chunk up a bit.

Anyway on top of that 2 weeks ago she started finishing 5oz bottles and I thought we turned a corner but for the last week the most she'll take is 3oz.
Only had her jabs yesterday and the decrease has been way before that.

What can I do to help encourage her to take more? I try everything obvious like keeping the bottle in but she just starts gagging.

She's very very good with wind and burps like a trooper so it's never wind stopping her taking it.

Help!

Hey, no real advice....but we are in the same boat. My boy is following the 1% line though...eek.

He sometimes does 5oz but mostly it's around 3...He isn't interested in feeding any more than 4 hours apart. That's the first thing I would suggest....trying to feed more often? It's more about what she is getting in a day. They say 2.5 ounces per pound of weight. So for you that's just under 23 oz. If your daughter is getting about that in a day I wouldn't worry.

Whatever you do,don't force her to drink as this can easily cause a bottle aversion and make things much worse.

We have been referred to hospital for our little man but they are happy with his health and say he is just small. They were clear that he will only drink what he wants to drink...they might decide to give us higher calorie formula but we are not quite there yet. My boy was only getting about 18 - 20 oz a day...we are now management about 24oz but then there will be days where he drops down again.

X

I am having to work VERY hard to tune out other opinions on how small he is. He is absolutely perfect and the happiest baby I know so for me,that's far more important. The only thing that really worries me is that he has no wiggle room to lose weight if he goes off his food (illness, jabs, teething etc). But I have learnt that I just need to be guided by him...and when he is full...then he is full and I can't control that.

Plus side...we get a lot of use out of clothes! He is 12 weeks...10lb...and only just growing out of newborn clothes!

Sorry....one more point to add...my son also goes in phases of drinking more and we always think we have turned a corner but then he drops down to 3oz bottles again. I put this down to growth spurts

Ahh good to know I'm not alone. Yeah my little girl is sooo happy never cries, doesn't have colic. She will cry for a bottle no less than 4 hours apart and I think oooo she's gonna do the lot and she does 3oz 🤣 I guess she is gaining weight and will eat when hungry! Just older generation being pushy.. ie my mum and mother in law saying 'keep it in there she WILL suck'... she's doesn't she gags and gets the hump!

If she is gaining weight and not losing or staying static then I think we need to trust that they know how much they need. I agree with you that babies won't just drink if you keep the bottle in when they are full. Honestly I did this for about a week in sheer panic trying to get him to drink more...it stressed him out so much he would cry as soon as he saw a bottle. We then had to completely change our strategy to make sure he was relaxed whilst feeding again as if he stopped taking the bottle altogether we would be in trouble. He loves feeding time again now but if he only wants 3oz...then I don't push it any further. I will always offer again once burped but he hardly ever wants it. Some babies guzzle down their milk and so I just expected him to....so I am changing my expectations of him. I get paranoid when I see other babies his age who are so much bigger...and I do worry about his future weight gain being so low already...but he is who he is and I wouldn't change him for the world. Sounds like you are doing an amazing job x

One last idea...are you feeding in the night? Ours is a a great sleeper but we feed him every 4 hours still over the night and have been told we need to keep doing this because of his weight. It's hard because he is always so fast asleep so waking him feels so wrong!

@Hopehope20 yeah our little one already sleeps 6/7 hours through the night which I guess may impact her weight gain but I've always been told not to wake a sleeping baby! She's 9 weeks and probably 10lb now she was 9.13 on Monday!

I think as mums we know what's best and if the HV aren't worried, I shouldn't either x

DS2 hit 10lbs at 11 weeks and followed the 1st centile right up til just before Christmas when we started weaning. He’s on 3 meals a day plus snacks and is 18lbs (8 months) and abov le the 25th centile. Sometimes it takes a while before they hit their stride. Ignore comments about them being small.

@shelly54 that's really encouraging to know weaning made a difference after so long on the 1st centile. Gives me hope