Breastfeeding but low weight gain and low percentile weight but top percentile height advice please

[Lostconfidence]

Hi, I know this is a popular subject but I really am hoping to get some advice (Tiktok are you out there?).

I had a breast reduction with milk ducts sparing in 2006. i chose the surgeon as he specialised in doing a reduction and enabling you to BF afterwards.

With my DS1 i wanted to EBF. I tried to BF but he had TT which was not discovered until he was a few weeks old. I had all the symptoms, nipples trashed and hole in one boob, he was never satisfied etc but midwives and HV's did not pick it up. Only the NCT BF counsellor spotted it when he was a few weeks old.

Coupled with that, when I was still in hospital and told midwife he had been feeding solidly for 10 hours without a break and did not seem satisfied (classic TT symptoms) and kept crying she told me that because I chose to have a reduction I would never be able to feed any children I had. This led me to have no confidence in myself.

Anyway the TT was snipped as was a severe case and I tried to continue BF but even though I saw milk and he would sleep I felt that my supply never recovered. He was also top percentile height but low weight and was told to fatten him up by HV so put him on formula.

Now I have a DD who is now 14 weeks and I have been BF a lot more successfully. She will sleep for a few hours between feeds and is contented and active. However, she is top percentile height and although was born in 50th percentile for weight is now following the 9th percentile in weight.

I am so paranoid because of what happened with my DS and what the midwife said to me even though HV and midwife so far ok with DD weight gain but have said she is light for her height. Is this normal or should I top up as I really want to BF but my sister said I should think about my DD's health and future and give formula as well. I have therefore sometimes given formula but only about 8 times in the 14 weeks. Is it possible for a baby to be tall and slim (she is not skin and bone and is a bit chubby)

I am sorry this thread is rambling on but it is a really emotional issue for me as I want to feed my baby as I did not get to last time. However if I need to top up I will. I just need to know what to do.

Please can anyone who has been in same position or has good advice let me know what to do. Thank you :(

Could you try breastfeeding more often rather than topping up with formula - or switching back and forth between breasts during each feed?

Agree with Moon - if all that's concerning you is your baby's possible lack of calories, you can get more milk into her by feeding more often day and night and by using 2,3 4 or more breasts per feed? If you need to top up just put the baby on the breast once more.

Sounds like the only thing stopping you from doing that is quite a deep lack of confidence in bf - that's a shame :(

Thank you for the advice i will try alternating just one thing though Is the differences in the percentiles ok?

Is she following her centile line okay now? If so, I wouldn't worry about her being long and slim.

My DD had issues at first and dropped 15% of her birth weight before starting to stabilise around the 2nd centile. She's now gaining weight fine and HV and GP are very happy with her progress. In my area they don't measure length until LOs are 2, but I compared her to babies in my NCT group and she's as long or very slightly longer than a baby 1 day younger who's on the 91st centile for weight! So yes, it is possible for a healthy baby to be tall and slim!

I don't think ds's length has ever been measured either, but he's always been a slim baby - he never had chubby rolls of fat.

Babies vary alot and it clearly has little meaning for their adult proportions. The shortest chubbiest baby in our group has 2 tall very slim parents! I'm only 5'2 and have this extra long slim baby.

thank you everyone. I feel a lot better about it now and will try your suggestions :)

My DD is 23 weeks now and is on top centile for height but 4th for weight. HV got me worried about slow weight gain weeks ago but advice and reassurance from here, plus measuring DD's height myself and seeing she was on top centile made me calm down. Don't know where DD got the tall and slim gene from as i'm short and curvy! I'm now ignoring the charts as DD is happy, alert and gorgeous.

At last weigh in DD was 0.4th for weight and 50th for length. However, while I was in the UK height was never measured and even here they said it was unreliable.

I've got a tall skinny one too (used to be bang in the middle for both, but has had a spurt recently so is now top of the charts for height, but bottom for weight)

No-one's said anything, and I'm not at all worried - he's alert, active, happy and whilst not chubby, he isn't skin and bones.

I'm not medical, no expert, (and the whole 'you know your baby best' thing sometimes winds me up) but I think that if there's a problem, you'll probably be able to tell.

Penguin - when they do mine, the lady carefully writes down his length to millimetre accuracy - she measures him with a dressmaker's tape and what amounts to putting his head against the wall and stretching out his leg. Makes me giggle to myself everytime

The Americans aren't so clever They used inches!! inches to measure a babies length One inch difference can cross 3 centiles.

same here, no HCP has ever mentioned her weight. Just simply noted it as she's clearly fine.

Tall (90th) sinny (9th) here too, and perfectly healthy at 8 weeks on exc expressed bm. Don't panic!

Thanks everyone and apologies for putting percentile percentile instead of centile!