9 week old poor weight gain-GP isnt helping

[Amelia0]

Hi, im after advice about what may be the problem and what I should do. My daughter was born at 37 weeks weihting 6lb5oz. She is now 9 weeks and only weighs 7lb4oz she has not gained anything since 1 week ago. She has gradually fallen through the centile lines since she was born and is now below the 0.4th line (so is off the scale). Problems with her feeding started to happen 1 month ago: she will latch on fine, drink for a couple of mins then come off the breast and arch her back whilst screaming and somtimes doubles over in pain when feeding her and then starts screaming. After these episodes she is starting to refuse to return to the breast and will even refuse an expressed bottle. She usually feeds for 15min approx every 2 hours (shes demand fed) but now its down to somtimes 2 or 4 mins and then the episodes of pain and screaming happen. Lat week she projectile vomited twice. I eventualy got some baby gaviscone from the gp (after 4 trips there) but it dosnt agree with her and she vomits it back up and it didnt help at all. Had her health check today and GP dosnt think there is anything wrong with her even though she is in pain (i think she thinks im exaggerating). Anyway they say they are worried about her weight but wont refer her for tests or give her anything. They keep implying its my feeding thats wrong but its all been checked before and its only when she gets pain that she wont feed well.
Has anyone had any experience of this? Im worried, my baby had no spare fat on her and had stopped gaining weight and is in pain. Would it be a good idea to take her to childrens hospital?

sorry its a long post

Sounds like reflux should be investigated

Can you get a second opinion from your GP urgently?

it's all very well your GP worrying you about poor weight gain but then to not do anything proactive or positive towards it is poor

If it is reflux then breast milk is usually the best thing for them as it is easy to digest and more gentle on their digestive system

Do you have a good Health Visitor?

I agree it sounds like something is not working as it should be here.

I think it would be really helpful to get the feeding looked at TBH, can you go to a local breastfeeding group, so that you can get help with the attachment and make sure there is no tongue tie etc? Or ring one of the BF helplines?

The weight gain is not great - do you feel she is actually drinking good amounts of milk? Are the poos yellow and often, nappies wet and heavy or not so much. I feel that if you can get help quickly there is a good chance that skilled help will enable you both to carry on with breastfeeding, but this needs reviewing by someone really knowledgeable and promptly.

If your GP doesn't believe you, record it on your phone and show them.

Amelia, sorry things are not going well and you have difficulty getting help.

I agree with you that this is a situation worth a lot of concern and attention.

It's not possible for a talkboard to say what's wrong, but like the others, I'd suggest you get your bf observed and assessed and back that up with another medical check.

I agree this help is needed quickly.

Can you record it on your phone to show the GP?

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies :)
I think i will record an episode on my phone (cant believe iv never thought about it before) to show the GP.
Iv had the latch checked by a breastfeeding nurse and its all ok, apart from when she is having an episode of pain.I know she isnt getting enough milk as she simply cant feed for long enough anymore. The two health visitors i have seen are not the most pleasant people, they keep trying to insist it must be the latch even though it has been checked by many people but they wont listen and its realy starting to make me feel like a failure. The only advice they have given me is to try formula but I really dont want to do that. Iv struggled to bond with my baby and if i stop breastfeeding i doubt i will have much to do with my baby and it will just make bonding harder for us.
I think I'll see if she feeds any better tomorrow, if not, then I think I'll have to take her to the childrens A&E because im sure its the pain causing feeding problems. Im really upset about this, I feel as though they are waiting for her to start loosing weight before they try to do anything :(

By the way i forgot to mention that poos have gone down to 2 per day (previously 4) and wet nappies down to 4 per day (previously lots and lots lol). Iv told GP and health visitor this, but they say that amout is fine :(

This sounds exactly like my little girl, she's 14 weeks now & were backwards and forwards to peds, GP, hospital they seem to have no urgencies in such little bubs :( Mine is the same really poor weight gain, screaming on bottles and throwing herself around refusing to feed (well done you for keeping on the BF, your stronger than me I couldn't cope so went to formula... And just so you know it's no better so ignore them tellin you to change) my bubs screams and screams like she is in so much pain it's horrific, she's been diagnosed with silent reflux & given meds ranitidine and domperidone which have done absolutely nothing to help either. Keep nagging hun, that's what I'm doing its rediculous how much we have to pester them to do something. But have a look at silent reflux there's a lot of support groups & advice, unfortunately from what I've read we have to wait it out until they grow out of it :( xxxx

I think you should ask, no demand to be referred to a paediatrician. It took me 4 months to do this, with my daughter in pain and as soon as I did they took one look at her and diagnosed severe reflux and prescribed appropriately. In my opinion, gaviscon is fiddly and fairy ineffective in breastfed babies.

Forget health visitors here, I think most assume all mums are hysterical and over exaggerating. Same with some GP's (luckily mine was great).

I think you need to do this urgently, especially if you are concerned about wet nappies (poos do tend to regulate a little now). They also really need to rule out pyloric stenosis which is a very serious condition.