Help! Breast fed baby dropping down centiles!

[HappY2013]

Hi all,

Help and advice much needed.

My four month old exclusively breasted baby boy (who won't take a bottle) has now dropped down 3 centiles which according to health visitor means I have to go see the gp. However because I had mastitis and nipple thrush and he had a toungue tie all in the early days from birth to 8 weeks, health visitor said to wait another 2 weeks, get him weighed again and if still dropping then book gp appointment.

Has anyone experienced similar problem? He seems happy enough, sleeps at night and three sleeps in the day. Feeds 2 1/2 to 3 hourly. I sometimes offer breast more often but he's not interested.

Should I try to increase my milk supply by pumping or herbal remedy?

At a loss now :-( scared he's going to carry on dropping down those centiles.

I had similar problems, mine started on the 9th and by 3 months was right below all of them! He's now happily above the 25th. It sounds as though you've had a lot of issues at the start which are now resolved, so do you think he's on the way up or still dropping? How often are you weighing him? It doesn't sound to me like you're doing anything wrong. Sorry, that's not very helpful is it. The thing that really did it for my boy, after getting the reflux and latch sorted, was when he hit a massive sleep regression and started feeding in the night. It was horrible, but he'd previously been going at least six hours at night with nothing and when he started waking more often he really started to chub up. Could you try a dream feed just before you go to bed, see how you go for the fortnight until you weigh him again?

Hi, happy - can you give a few more details about the weight? It's unusual for a baby to fall down 3 centiles - are you certain this has happened? It would not be surprising that your HV wants another opinion to check all is well - and of course it may be. Sometimes babies who start off really chunky have 'catch down' growth which may be what's happening to your baby.

whatever.....the easiest way to boost your baby's intake if this is what he needs is to offer feeds more often, and to make sure you offer at least 2 breasts each time. That's a whole lot easier than pumping and more effective than any remedy. And you know already, I guess, that increased frequency of milk removal is the same as increased supply.

How does that sound?

Has his tongue tie regrown again? That would be my suspicion as sometimes they do partially reattach which will mean he cannot get the milk out and your supply dips. So feeding more often will only have limited affect as he physically struggles but can get just enough.

I'll add - my dd had tongue tie and she never fed as much as my ds who didn't. She struggled as it took her ages to get enough milk. I had to feed her 2 hourly night and day until we weaned onto solids properly and she got established onto meat etc.

Thanks mynameissuz, I think he's still dropping :-( I do dream feed him now. He goes to bed at 7pm and I dream feed at 11pm then he usually goes through until 3 or 4am then wakes again/day starts at 7am.

Thank Tiktok, he was 2 weeks overdue,started on 91st centile and is now just below 25th. I have also been offering him breast more often but he just gets annoyed and doesn't seem to be interested! I always offer both breasts at every feed too, mostly he takes both but sometimes not.

That's a good point steamwisher, maybe I'll take him to a breast feeding cafe and see if they can take a look. His was anterior tie and not picked up at his checks in hospital when he was born. We took him to private clinic in the end and the lady that cut it said it was quite a severe tie, one at the front and one behind.nreally hope that's not the case!

On that info, my guess is he's fine - he's 'catching down'. It's not a bad idea to get the doctor to check all is well, though.

If you are offering more often and he is not interested, then that tells you he's probably doing ok.

Thanks Tiktok, I do wonder if maybe he wasn't supposed to be on 91st. Both me and his dad were small babies so I was surprised he was so big. Still worries me though so if he's still dragging after next weigh in ill take him to docs just to be on safe side. It's so much harder when you're breast feeding as you can't tell how much they are getting!