7 week old FF baby not gaining weight

[EmmaCate]

DD is 7 weeks tomorrow and has gone from 50th to 9th percentile. In last week she has put on just 3g - I am weighing weekly since discovery of slip (was a bit slow getting off mark as have toddler DS and never seemed to be able to organise myself to get to clininc in time). She has had a cold in the last week and HV seemed philosophical about things as DD is alert and smiling etc. but I'm still worried. Anyone else experienced this?

She doesn't wake much for food (e.g. last fed 8am and now 12:45pm) - should I be worried? I've always held that except for tiny babies they should be left to sleep if they want.

That said I'm going to get her up now as with the weight issue I think over 4 hours is a bit much for a gap. She doesn't and never has had jaundice BTW. I had poor supply (tongue-tie, and the rest, stymied things) and topped up from week 1 but dropped BF/EBF completely week 5 as couldn't re-establish supply and mixing the two was too much with my 22m DS as well.

It could well be that your DD is having catch down growth having been born on a higher centile than she will be as an adult, or the cold has suppressed her appetite/burning up more calories fighting the cold rather than growing.

How much formula dos she take a day?

Was the TT snipped or did the swap to ffing mean it wasn't considered necessary?

How does she seem when feeding - is she calm, does she fuss, is she a 'messy' feeder?

Thanks TruthSweet - the 'catch down' thing is possible as my son was born on 95th and moved down to 75th, although being a tall person myself I'd be surprised if she was that little. However my DH and his family are all quite short, so she may have more of those genes!

Once feeding, she's OK but she frets about the teat for a little while before champing down on it. She doesn't dribble once going but has been known to posset; sometimes a lot. It's not projectile really but sometimes can be sudden and in reasonably large quantities (e.g. dripping off your leg into a puddle on the floor).

TT was snipped as I wanted to try and re-establish BF; it just didn't happen. HV said that about the cold too. I kept a feed diary last week; she started low because of the cold (worst on day of weighing actually; probably only about 5-10oz actually stayed down) but ended up with three days taking and keeping down about 20oz (what she should be on). I'm sure this is why her gain over last week has been low but I just wanted to post anyway, since she's gained an average of just under 3oz a week since birth (topping up since week 1).

Does her feeds look anything like this? Bottle being chomped on, pushed out, tongue bunching up....

From what you describe I wonder if some excess tissue under the tongue has come forward when the initial TT was cut (some bands of tissue can 'unbunch' after a TT is snipped). Has baby been checked to see if the TT needs redoing or if there are adhesions from the original op?

Anyway just an idea not Diagnosis Internet!

are you sure its only 3g?

The scales at my Dr / health visitor only measure to nearest 10g

even if 30g though not much

was he weighed just after a feed and before a poo and last weigh in and before a feed and after a poo this time? that can make a difference

watching with interest as my 11 week is very similar. dropped from 50% to 9th, swapped to ff about 2 weeks ago due to poor weight gain, topping up and expressing too much with 3 year old also. he doesn't feed comfortably a lot of the time. not much advice but just wanted you to know your not alone.

Oh yes you're right nannyl; I'm being an idiot. So yes, 1oz - still too low though!

I think in terms of feeding/pooing was pretty similar both weeks, unfortunately.

TruthSweet - not really. She does piss around at the beginning but once she realises what she has in her mouth it stays in and she sucks on it OK. She doesn't push out regularly like in this video.

Thanks dribbleface - hope your situation improves as well.

That's a very good sign then .

Have you tried stroking her lips with the bottle teat and gently sliding it in when her mouth gapes? Some babies accept a bottle easier that way (not all though but worth a shot!)