Poor weight gain at 13 weeks

[HeyJudex]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice for my 13 week old dd3.

Dd3 was born weighing 7lb and she is ebf. She regained her birth weight at 2 weeks. I didn't bother with baby clinic and she wasn't weighed again until she was 9 weeks and had her check up and jabs. She was 9.4lbs and the hv was not happy, told me to come to baby clinic. So I go back 2 weeks later she is still 9.4lb.

So I've spent the last 2 weeks offering her the breast in between usual feeds and loads of skin to skin. I did try expressing with a hand pump but didn't get much milk, she does a much better job. Went back to the clinic today and she is 9.9lb, which is apparently still not enough. She was born on the 50th centile and is now below the 2nd.

The hv suggested introducing formula or considering early weaning. I told her I was not happy with either of those suggestions and asked if she had any alternatives. She said no and she was going to refer dd3 to a doctor due to her poor weight gain and I quote "as you are obviously too stubborn to take my advice onboard"

Dd3 is a happy, contented, smily baby. She feeds frequently throughout the day and sleeps for 6/7 hours at night. She has recently started to take a dummy when she is tired. She has plenty of wet and dirty nappies and has started to outgrow her 0-3 month clothes so she is obviously growing.

I'm small (5 foot 2, 7.2 stone), my other children are small but within normal range.

Am I doing anything wrong? Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do to make her put on more weight?

TIA.

Sorry to hear your health visitor wasn't more supportive. It sounds like you're doing everything right to me. If you are small perhaps she's just sort of correcting her weight down to around about where she'd naturally be? My ds was born 7lb1oz (25th centile for a boy) and was EBF, and by 8 weeks was on the 5th centile. From week 3 to week 12 the health visitor had me terrified as she said he wasn't gaining 'enough' weight. He did put on weight consistently, but not as much as the charts would have liked. But suddenly at 12 weeks, when he continued around about the 5th centile, she decided he was 'just small' and everyone I spoke to (bf counsellors, other health visitors, my gp) agreed that he'd probably just been moving down to where he is naturally meant to be; my GP and the midwives at the local breastfeeding cafe also said that birth weight is often more of a reflection of the way your placenta has worked than what size/centile a baby is meant be.

It is definitely worth speaking to you GP though to see what they think - and if they suggest referring your DD to a paediatrician then that can also be a good thing as they can rule out anything more sinister and confirm that she's doing fine. My son was referred to a paed (at my request as I got sick of the scare-mongering health visitor and wanted to know if there really was a problem) and she said that she would generally go by the baby's weight and centile at 8 weeks once the baby gets a little older rather than birth weight. In the meantime you could try feeding super-frequently to see if that makes any difference. My health visitor also suggested I top up with expressed milk after a bf, which I tried - DS didn't want it, so I reported that back to the health visitor and she agreed it probably meant he was full (could have told her that myself, but it was a useful experiment as it helped rule out hunger). I hope your doctor is helpful. I'm sure your DD is just fine.

Can understand your concerns, Jude. In fact, I'd agree that a paed referral is appropriate - paed will check there is nothing organic preventing the weight going on, and that your baby is just an 'outlier' on the charts, healthy and developing normally and just physiologically on the small side (as is normal in your family from what you say).

A drop from 50th centile to 2nd does warrant a careful look, and it might be reassuring all round.

Weaning is a strange idea - net calorie intake at this age will prob be less .

Formula would add calories if you were adding it to the bf you are doing, but it would not be necessary for a healthy baby....as the doc may well confirm :)

I think your HV was out of order in calling you 'too stubborn' and what she said borders on rude.

Thanks for your replies. I'll keep the appointment with the doctor and see what they have to say.

To be honest I don't really eat properly myself and alot of dd3's feeds are done in a sling while running round after the other kids. I'm going to make a real effort to correct this. I don't want to harm my little girl.

Well, your own diet will not be affecting anything, but just sometimes, babies with older siblings do miss out a bit....I have certainly counselled mothers with baby no. 3 or more, who have a similar tale to tell as you, and the baby is usually very laid back, happy and content, and enjoys the attention of the older sibs so is not very demanding. They feed enough to tick along, but might benefit from some proactive serious feeding once a day or so :)

Might be worth a try for a week?

Yeah I have 2.5 hours every morning on my own with her, I'll spend them on the sofa for the next week. I've just found a breast feeding support group local to me so I'll go along there on Thursday, see if anyone else has the same problem.

Thanks for the support, I came out of the clinic feeling so down!

Yep, my number 3 was exactly as tiktok describes, plus I found I was cutting short his feeds to pick up one of the other DCs from school or preschool.

I glued myself to the sofa every morning for skin to skin, expressing and lots of switch nursing and things soon got back on track. (and I also held off the HVs advice to wean early and did blw from 6 months)

I'll try giving her a really good feed every morning! Shes actually number 4, also have a ds so you'd have thought I'd have the hang of it by now!

My supply seems really good though. Even if she doesn't feed for 2 hours I get really full of milk. Breast pads are soaked when she wakes after her long sleep at night. Maybe shes just going to be small.