Baby not hungry

[Bee14]

12 week old, almost exclusively usually 100-300 ml under minimum daily recommendation. Weight gain but below recommended (eg 100 ml in 2 weeks), otherwise happy and normal. Health visitor and GP have run out if suggestions and say this may just be her routine . Has anyone else had similar lack of interest slow weight gain ? Did you find a reason? How did it work out?

how much is she taking and how often? She may just be small

Do you mean weight gain was 100g in 2 weeks? And is this a breastfed baby? Weight gain ought to be around 20g per day after the first three months to stay on their curve. (30g per day for the first three months). If your baby is breastfed I would say book an IBCLC lactation consultant asap to get baby transferring more milk and protect breastfeeding in the process. They will study the weight chart and do a full medical history (a good one will!). Meanwhile you could check out the ideas in the Increasing Your Milk Category of this website. And you could ask for a referral to a paediatrician just to make sure there are no underlying health conditions. Hope that helps.

I assume formula as the OP mentions a daily recommendation. The guidance on the formula carton is just that, and based on weight. My DS is 6 months and still only has 4-5oz bottles not the 8oz (!) ones suggested on the carton.

My dd has always had under the recommended amount. She was 25th centile to begin with but dropped to 9th after a few weeks. The hv was a bit concerned but she has stayed on it since so they are happy enough.

It used to stress me out but she was always alert and generally thriving otherwise. She is now 6 months and still only having around 700 to 850 mls a day.

Dh and I are reasonably small so she is never going to be massive. If they are otherwise thriving try not to worry and enjoy your baby.

The amounts on the formula tin are just averages. Is she on the small side generally? I wouldn't worry too much as long as she's taking some of each bottle and she's generally alert

Our now 9mo has always had a small appetite. Just not interetsed in food. Always only ever had about 500-600ml per day and went from the 25th to below the 0.4 centile. Hubby amd I were going out of our minds and demanded a paediatric referral (our HV was crap and just kept saying that any weight gain was good and not to worry). Paed confirmed that he should have been referred waaaaaaaay sooner. The tried a hypoallergenic formula but there was no change, and he's on high calorie formula and a high calorie weaning diet. He's still only on the 4th centile, and we have our next appointment in October, but they pretty much think he's just a slim baby as he's happy and healthy otherwise.

A good book to read is My Child Won't Eat by Carlos Gonzales. It really helped us to relax about feeding (as we dreaded each bottle and meal). Sure enough LO is eating more and I think us relaxing about it has helped. Only time will tell, but I think ours is just meant to be a little one, and I've spoken to lots of parents with little ones who have shot up later, and big ones who have suddenly become fussy picky eaters.

I would say though that if you are concerned you should ask for referral just to put your own mind at ease. I was in the school of thought that I'd rather LO be seen and investigated that not be seen at all and then find out later if something was up.

I still think there might be something else at play with our LO, but am glad he's being observed x