16wk BF baby: born on 75th percentile, now between 25th and 9th

[WildhoodChunder]

I've just has DS weighed, at 16 weeks he is 6kg exactly. This puts him pretty much halfway between the 9th and 25th percentile, although he was 75th at birth and at 6 weeks check the doctor said he'd like to see him back up to around 50th. The nurse today says she has little time for percentile lines unless there is obviously something going wrong with the baby, and she's seen him a few times for jabs and commented that DS is extremely alert and very active and she's not worried - he has dirty and wet nappies several times a day and is in 3-6 month babygros, so is definitely growing. I'm wanting to go with the nurse's view that it's all fine and not to worry but would like a second opinion...

DS's weight dropped from 3.9kg at birth to 3.7kg at 5 days, it took him til 4 weeks to get back up to 4.1kg as he had a chest/cold virus hit him around 10 days old. He's had two more colds since then, nowhere as bad as the first but as his sister is at nursery she brings bugs back, so not much I can do about that. At the 6 week check the doctor said he'd like to see DS back up to the 50th percentile. He was 5.1kg at 9 weeks, so had followed the 25th line moreorless since 3 weeks til nowish. We had hit what I thought was the 4 month growth spurt where he was feeding every 2 hours for a fortnight, but for the past few days he's settled down to every 2 hours in the day and every 3 at night. I have been offering formula top-ups at his 7.30pm and 11.30pm feeds but he's not been interested, although he will take the odd FF bottle on occasion, e.g when I nipped out to get my hair cut, and bottle feeds seem to make no difference to his sleep so I don't think he's hungry. His BF feeds are quite quick (10 mins total, 5 mins per side) and he either comes off on his own or falls asleep. Short of force feeding him, I don't know what else I can do. Is there anything I should/could be doing?

Mine was 75th percentile at birth too, and dipped to below the 25th at 16 weeks. I don't think their birthweight gives much indication of what size they're "supposed" to be, more it's an indication of how good the pregnancy was.

Anyway, from a month or so onwards ds has always been slim and alert, healthy, active and feeding every 2-3 hours. Luckily my HVs also took the view that centile lines weren't important and never mentioned his weight as a problem - I was sent away once without them weighing him since he was obviously fine . Since weaning he has crept up slightly to the 25th centile.

My ds was born on the 50th and dropped to the 0.4th within four weeks. I went in to absolute tailspin and was horrified. Thought I was doing something totally wrong and was so guilty. Thing is, he was the same as your ds, alert, bright happy and doing lots of wet and dirty nappies so with the support of a great HV I didn't do anything, just waited to see what happened. He's 3 now and still eats practically nothing, but he's tall, slim and full of energy. He was walking at 9 months and is very physical.

I think you should go with the nurses opinion.

Both my babies plummeted down the centile charts. I think I overfed them in utero

Thanks, it's good to hear other babies have been fine, and done their own thing. DS is progressing steadily but the 25th seems to be where he gravitates to, and developmentally he's hitting the milestones. DH and I are both tall and well-built but further back in the family tree there's more variety so could be something to do with that. DS seems fine to me, lots of people comment on how happy and content he is, so I will try not to worry about it too much. Thanks!