Drop from 98th to 2nd centile - am I right to be skulking away from the HV?

[tortoiseshell]

Ds2 - born on 98th centile, is now on the 2nd, age 5 months. He was born at over 10lb, and is now nearly 14lbs. Now, as he is my third, I'm merrily saying to myself that he is fine, it's the same as my other two children (though more dramatic), and hiding from the HV, because I REALLY don't want the whole 'well, he has to put on 1lb by next week, or you'll have to ff/see a paediatrician/have urine tests/wean onto solids' which is what I KNOW I would get (believe me I know my HV!).

But, there is this nagging voice that perhaps I am being too blase about this, and maybe he SHOULD be looked at. What do you think? He's exclusively b/fed, and is very settled/content, is doing everything he should be doing, except growing! He's quite tall, so does look pretty thin.

Just bumping this for any weekenders!

I think you should do what QPH suggested and book a GP appointment, by passing the HVs completely. You've done this twice before and if your instinct isn't saying to you that it's 100% fine and leaving you that nagging feeling of doubt, I wouldn't try to over ride it at the moment. Chances are there is no problem whatsoever, he's just thin as your DH is. But I don't think that you're going to be able to completely relax about it until someone (sensible) has had a quick check over.

Hi, tortoise. Some babies are physiologically light, but I don't think babies of 5 months should be thin....it's normal and healthy for them to be chubby. This is nothing to do with charts or scales. Babies can be below 'their' centile and still be chubby.

I don't think it will harm your baby at all to have more breastfeeding. Settled, placid babies may not 'ask' for what they need, and this sort of baby sometimes fits in beautifully to a busy, active family with older children and just doesn't shout much for what is good for him They can of course tick along just fine, but there's no 'cushion' if he gets a bug and then naturally loses weight as a result of that.

If you have a GP or other HV you can talk to, and who you are confident in, and who is not formula-crazy, then it would not be a bad idea to talk about this with them. I think formula is the last thing he needs - if he needs more milk, you already have it

Tiktok, I think I love you.

Tort, I agree with QPH in that getting him checked out might be no bad thing. Mine was terribly nice about the fact that DD2 wasn't putting on masses of weight (as opposed to the HV, who did the predictable 'ooooh, stuff her full of formula/solids' act with the gleam in her eye of a woman whose Purpose In Life Had Been Fulfilled).

THanks tiktok, MI - I think I will do that, and just ask the GP to give him the once over. Tiktok, I think you're right, he needs more frequent feeding, and in fact he has woken up the last few nights, so is getting an additional night feed. MI - that's encouraging that your GP wasn't all 'panic stations' - I've just heard of so many babies in our area where the HVs have panicked and packed them off to hospital - tiktok, do you remember they threatened him with hospital at 3 days old? So I'm a bit over anxious as well I think.

When I say looks 'thin' - his arms and legs are quite chubby, he's just thin round his middle!

Thanks everyone for the advice - he is the most drastic of my 3 children so far - ds1 started 91st centile and settled between the 9th and 25th, dd started just under the 98th centile, and settled between 25th and 50th (though she is more like 75th now, she is a pig . I think ds2 slipped further down the centiles at the beginning though iyswim, as with ds1 I succumbed to mixed feeding so he always had that cushion of formula to bump his weight up a bit.

Thanks again!

dd 8 months old weighs 16lbs and dropped from 25th centile to 9th. She eats very little, has 4 x 6oz bottles formula, but is strong as an ox.
I was soooooo worried about her failure to put much weight, until someone told me about thrive lines. these are similar to centile, but if your babie is dropping thru thrive lines THEN you should worry. dd was no where near dropping thru these. She is just a petite girl who is very active, crawling pulling up etc, but is destinted to be alittle dot! I now get her weighed every couple of months. My advice, ask HV to check the thrive lines, then if thats ok, dont worry about it. Good luck

i was told at some point when going through similar with ds that actually length and head circumferance are better indicators of proper growth than just weight alone.

agree, Tortieshell, that you sound worried so get him checked out. how old are your other children? thing is, so hard to let subsequent babies feed as much as they want with older ones vying for your attention (ie. ds2 may just be a slow feeder...)

dinny that's a good point - ds1 is just 5, dd has just turned 3, and he does seem to sometimes have his feeds curtailed.

Interesting about length - he's very tall I think - growing out of 3-6 month sleepsuits lengthwise.

I'm only really 2% worried - generally he seems ever so healthy, I would just hate it if we missed something, but equally I would hate him to be 'in the system' iyswim!!!

I'll ask about thrive lines.

my niece was given a 'failure to thrive' stamp at about two years.... she hads been seriously ill and it really really affected my sil badly (dear niece doing brilliantly now but still tiny)

'think' it means they've dropped off bottom of growth chart...?

Thrive lines may be worth asking about - but most HVs in my experience are not trained in interpreting them any better than they are in interpreting the charts, and most clinics do not have them (they are acetates that fit over standard charts), and moreover, I think this baby will also look underweight on the thrive lines too. So for a formula-crazy HV might have even more ammo after using a thrive chart!

The technical term these days is 'faltering growth' not the judgemental sounding 'failure to thrive' but of course that does not stop 'failure to thrive' being widely used everywhere still

I understand your worries about the system, tortoise - support you in seeking GP's advice, and in feeding your baby more! Clearly, family tendency has a lot to do with your third baby's growth pattern, as well.

tiktok, I think the family tendency is really significant - if he were my first, I'm sure I would be really really worried! I remembered that dd really perked up in weight after starting solids, and he's only a few weeks off that. He had two really good feeds last night (sadly for me...!!), and having been sleeping through, he is tending to wake a bit now, so that should boost him a bit.

I looked up failure to thrive, and really the only symptom he has is low weight! He's the right length (if anything, a bit tall), and he's hitting all the milestones bang on time. I suspect ds1 (who has a tiny build) would have been this low on the charts had he not been boosted up by mixed feeding from 2 weeks - I really didn't have the confidence to exclusively b/feed him, once he'd lost so much weight and not started piling it on.

It's rubbish isn't it, that I feel scared to seek advice from the HV, in case she 'makes' me feed him in a way I don't want to. Crazy that a system can make you want to hide from it, when it's designed to help. Goodness knows what happens with more major problems!

Hey Tortoiseshell (SAHMof1 from the May 2006 Babies here). My DS has just totally dropped off the percentile charts too. Real scare-mongering HV freaked DH & out totally. We went to an ?emergency? GP appointment, for him to say he (and I quote from my little red book) ?Happy baby? and ?Baby well?. He recommended fortnightly weight monitoring! Haven?t been back to health clinic, and phoned to cancel HV visit!

I would def. say book to see GP, not HV (really sick of HV!)

Did you go to the GP?

Heya- I know this thread is years old but I was wondering what was your outcome?

I’m going through exactly the same but with pressure to supplement with formula (despite these clinicians never meeting my happy, chatty, strong and cheeky son - I’m not convinced he needs this and I feel I’ve been branded unreasonable for wanting to EBF. I certainly won’t supplement with formula until he has been reviewed by a Dr. I think his build is also genetic and that there isn’t a problem as he’s so healthy.

Anyway - thanks in advance!