DS2 has dropped from 98th to 50th centile in 15 weeks - would you/did you stop bfing in same situation?

[porcupine11]

Have posted about this before, but today's weigh in was the worst yet.

Though he looks happy and healthy, and definitely has 'padding' - chunky thighs etc. He also sleeps well at night so doesn't seem to be hungry all the time or anything.

He just seems to be not v partial to bfing, only feeds for a few minutes at a time and has to be coaxed to latch on most of the time then comes off every few sucks to look around.

Sometimes he has wind issues and is very screamy while feeding; other times (and always at night) he is fine.

I guess what I'm asking is how important do you think the growth charts are, and am I damaging his development by not supplementing with formula?

you're doing fine - 50th centile is fine - worrying about a pudgy good sleeper is silly

and formula doesn't help

If you hadn't seen the drop in centiles on a chart, would you be worried? You say he looks happy and healthy, why not trust your instincts?

YOu haven't said how old he is.. He'll probably quite like his solids!

The 50th centile is fine.. Especially if he's sleeping well!

Neither of mine fed for very long periods at a time.. it doesn't matter! I think we hear so much about babies who take ages that we think ours are the ones with the problem.. maybe he's just an efficient feeder!

He started off very big - my ds did this, then put on wieight very slowly as he dropped to the 50% or so. Is he putting on wieght? Even very slowly? If he is, and if he looks fine and is peeing and pooing and generally happy, then he's fine.

There's a phenomenon called "catch-down" growth - when a baby is born bigger than he "should" have been, and the growth self regulates during the first few months.

I know, I just went in feeling confident that I'd cracked it as he'd cheered up so much over last two weeks, then it was the worst gain yet, so I felt silly for my instincts being so off.

I guess I'm worried about the link between him not liking breastfeeding (feeds tend to end in screaming rather than the typical contented, drunken baby), and the very slow weight gain. I can't help thinking maybe he'd like to eat more if it didn't come from a boob. But maybe he'd be the same with bottles.

My DS dropped from 50 to 0.2 then back to 9 which he's following. He was prem, but the hospital are always happy with him and see us as a sucess story as I have never supplmented with formula.

I get so fed up with the pressure for us all to have these big pudgy babies. They can't all be on 90 plus, if they were it wouldn't be 90 plus. Relax and enjoy

agree with everyone else, he is FINE!

has he been plotted on the bf baby charts? if not then ask them to do so, you'll prob have a fairly different result

it's normal for a bf baby to gain quickly and then plateau.

formula is based on what????
that's right. breastmilk. formula companies spend millions trying to make their products more like breastmilk all the time
so i fail to see how it could ever offer any baby anything more than they are already getting on breastmilk

i was listening to a thing on radio 4 the other day about obesity and the guy who had been doing a big study made the link to formula/breastfeeding and said that women are far too pressured to make sure their baby is going up the chart.

mamsnet - he's 15 weeks, was huge at birth. So solids in 6-10 weeks' time.

seeker - so glad to hear someone had the same thing, mostly I hear of big babies who are voracious feeders. He put on 5oz in the last three weeks - his curve looks like it's plateaued. He poos once every two or three days. Will google catch down growth - thank you!

thisisyesterday - thanks for tip about bf charts, will look at that. it's not formula per se, it's whether he'd be happier with a bottle (could be expressed milk, though I doubt I'd have time to express every feed as have a toddler too).

I heard that radio 4 programme too. slightly different though as he didn't start small and madly trying to get him up. I just wondered if it's healthy for him to be shooting down the chart with a cannonball-like trajectory!

thanks for the encouragement. everyone i talk to in RL says 'formula' and that makes me sad and makes me feel a bit mean for bfing

how much does he weigh now?

It might be the worst gain yet, but the key thing is that it was still a gain

My ds was born just under 90th centile and kept dropping down the chart until he was 9th at one year! But he had always gained weight, however little, and was happy, alert and meeting all the relevant milestones. I stopped bf at 12 months and he immediately jumped to 25th centime where he has hovered ever since (now 2.4) I just think my breast milk was skimmed rather than full fat

I can be flippant about it now but it was heart wrenching when he was falling down the charts and only gaining 1-2oz per week and babies that were a few pounds smaller at birth were overtaking him courtesy of their mum's gold top full fat

But tbh he was probably destined to be this way - 50th on height and 25 th on weight pretty much mirrors his dad's tall slim figure.

Please try not to worry,and carry on with bf. It will be doing him the world of good!

No. My dd2 was nearly 10lb at birth (98th centile) and grew very slowly from the start. She took nearly 6 weeks to regain her birthweight, and kept going down the centile lines until about 9 months, by which time she was below the 9th centile. She stayed below 9th centile until she was about 18months and then gradually, very slowly worked her way back up the centile lines. She is now slightly above 50th centile for both height and weight (she's 6 years old now).

Luckily she was my 3rd child, so I was pretty laid back about it all, plus I had a very sensible GP who said, "See these little creases in her thighs? As long as you've got those, and she's feeding well, and contented in the day, there's unlikely to be a problem." Just one of those things, apparently -- maybe she was born larger than she was genetically 'meant' to be and took time to work back to her natural weight. I found out years later that her medical notes did actually say 'failure to thrive', but luckily no-one had thought to inform me, or I might have mildly done my nut.

I was fully bfeeding until 7 months, and then added solids as well. Adding solids made no difference to the shape of the curve on the chart, nor did adding in follow-on milk or full-fat milk from 1year onwards.

Unless you have very convincing medical evidence from a source you trust, I'd be inclined to tune out all the panic mongers and keep going with what you're doing.

If he's happy, alert, weeing, pooing, sleeping etc. then I think you have a perfectly healthy baby on your hands. Are you and DH around average size? If so, it would be very odd for you to produce a baby who continues to be unusually large once outside the uterus. As long as there's some gaining going on and - apart from the charts - nothing else is worrying you or the HV then I'd say step away from the charts and the scales for a few weeks.

In answer to your question re: what I'd do, I'd do nothing - often the hardest thing to do. Sometimes it's worth trying to take a mental step back. You are NOT mean for bfing - you are in fact doing one of the best things you could do to ensure your child's optimal health. He is growing on your milk, he is developing and he is happy. You are doing a great job. Were you to add formula / expressed BM to the mix, what would you gain (excuse the pun) other than extra stress? Maybe he'd become a bit fatter - and there's every chance he wouldn't - but even if he was a bit fatter, it wouldn't make him happier or brighter or healthier.

meg and frogs, it was very reassuring to hear your experiences. Yes I am worried that his 'smaller' peers are now overtaking him!

His dad is 6 foot and very slim, and I am about average (may even have been slim in the old days before pregnancies) so I guess it would be a bit odd if he stayed massive.

and he does have thigh creases!

Stop weighing him, it will only mess with your head.

Lovely podgy thighs are a good indicator! (and very good for squeezing )

It's classic catch-down growth. Just stop getting him weighed and go by how happy and podgy he seems.

(It probably wouldn't be much different on the exclusively bf charts as they are very similar in the first few months to the undifferentiated feeding charts (and in fact bf babies on average put on weight faster to begin with than ff babies; it's later on that their rate of gain slows relative to ff. But that doesn't matter because he sounds absolutely fine )

He really does sound fine, I know it's hard.
What does your Health Visitor have to say?

Ds was 10lbs 5oz when he was born - dropped over a lb during first 5 days - then started to put on gradually. I would say that he probably never had squidgy thighs - all his weight went into length, head, and muscle - he was sitting pretty much unaided at 4mo. Lots of his peers that started A LOT smaller than him overtook him in weight quite quickly.

He's now 5. He is the tallest boy in his reception class - despite being an (early) 'summer born'. Whilst he's not fat, he is sturdy. (I think he might have the bone structure suitable for a rugby player if that gives you a mental picture...)

I think that the HV told me that I only needed to pop in for weighing if I wanted to after about 10wks - and as he seemed absolutely fine, I didn't bother - just had the checks when he had an official appointment.

Dd has dropped from ~80th centile to 50 in her first 16 weeks. Clearly have the most sensible HVs going who said perfectly normal for breast-fed babies; clearly happy and thriving; no concerns. To go back when I feel like it.

DS was the same (though he started at 50th so the drop looked more worrying when he ended up at the 9th) I reckon he's stayed at the 9th ever since really (he's 4) it was explained to me that birth weight is the result of the state of the pregnancy but everyone has a genetic/metabolic predispostion and he had to 'catch down' to it (DH is slim and was small as a child)

FF wouldn't help, if he won't BF much he probably wouldn't FF much either.

Its fine, provided he seems content and sleeping well indicates he's not hungry.

Not all babies who are huge at birth are destined to stay huge. Just like some babies born weighing 5lbs then catch up.

If you want some support for the screamy feeds, then come join my shiny new support thread here

Oh he sounds delicious

DS was born just above the 75th and dropped to the 9th - he was 5 weeks before he came back to birthweight, but he was happy, pooing, weeing and gaining weight (albeit slowly) during this time. He gained more rapidly then from weeks 6-16 but then there was a real plateau which is completely normal for BF babies. He gradually plodded up the centiles, and now he sits at just under the 50th for weight and is dead on the 50th for height.

It doesn't matter if they don't follow the centile they were born on. I would say that if he is happy and has thigh creases then all is well