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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

How to "fatten up" an EBF baby who isn't very hungry?

12 replies

Flingmoo · 18/10/2014 23:14

4 months old, EBF, dropped over 2 centiles now, seemingly happy and healthy but not particularly hungry. HVs and GP also at a loss for an explanation. HV told me to eat more myself but I'm not convinced this will help.

A typical 24 hours: feeds at 5am, 8am, 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, 10pm. Every 2-3 hours, sometimes more. Doesn't take long feeding. No obvious feeding issues. Never really seems overly hungry unless I try to leave longer between feeds. 5ish wet nappies a day and poos every 3ish days.

I wonder if he'll start to fill out when we start solids in a few weeks... Until then, any tips? I have been worrying a little.

OP posts:
sleepingdragon · 18/10/2014 23:40

I'm not an expert, bit am trying to feed up my 16 week old who has also dropped percentiles and is also happy and healthy. Do you offer both sides at every feed? I have started letting DS feed from one side untill he seems satisfied, then offering the other breast at the point I usually would have assumed he was finished (then starting with this breast at the next feed). I had been told one side at each feed, but DS takes a lot more when both sides are offered.

He is a couple of weeks younger than your baby, so you may have already overcome this, but also in the last few weeks DS has started getting distracted and feeding a lot less in the day. I have started lying down with him before one of his naps each day and having skin to skin while playing or feeding him to sleep. This feed is always his biggest of the day by far.

hollie84 · 19/10/2014 07:07

DS1 dropped just over 2 centiles in the first 8 weeks (from 75th at birth to between 25th-9th). He was always healthy and happy too, just small! Although he did chub up briefly when we started solids he was back on the 25th pretty quickly and is still 25th centile at 4 years old.

Is he still dropping centiles or has he found a line? If you go from the point at which he regained birthweight rather than birthweight itself, did he still droop +2 centiles?

McBaby · 19/10/2014 07:46

Dropping centiles alone does not mean there is a problem. Some babies have to find there level after birth. Dd1 was born on. 98th percentile and dropped to 50th by 4 months. And is still there at 2.

Dd2 opposite born 50th and up to 90th.

As long as happy, alert, looks healthy, wearing etc. I think you need to follow what your gut says.

If you concerned offer milk more often and switch sides regularly to try and get more milk.

lisucbgiberiocnha · 19/10/2014 07:58

This particularly seemed to happen to my friends who were generally a little large or put on a bit of weight during pregnancy. They must have had super excellent placentas which well fed their babies as they were all born on higher percentiles, then dropped to a more natural lower percentile. I'm sure he eventually will rest on he right percentile for him and stay on it for years. It's much better to be slim in the long run, although there is a very silly obsession about heavy babies being healthy. All 4 of mine were tiny but a picture of health

lisucbgiberiocnha · 19/10/2014 08:00

agree with the poster who said to look at the baby and see if they are generally healthy and happy. don't stress too much if baby seems happy in itself

tiktok · 19/10/2014 09:28

I would wonder about the knowledge of an HV who tells a mother to eat more in order to help her baby gain weight :(

Good suggestions, here, OP - but main one would be to switch nurse (swap sides frequently during the same feed) and you could also try breast compression google it). By 4 mths, babies often know their own mind and resist attempts to keep them feeding. This usually means they are ok :)

UntamedByName · 19/10/2014 09:56

Sounds like my DS at the same age. I second the suggestion of always offering the second breast if you don't already do so. I didn't think he needed to feed from both, as he would happily drift off to sleep after one, but found that around the same age he would start accepting the second breast - and it seemed to help his weight gain.

Some medical professional do spout a lot of crap when it comes to breastfeeding. I remember one nurse telling me that if I ate more salad, it'd help my DS's constipation. Erm, yes, I'm sure all that insoluble fibre is miraculously going to make its way into my breastmilk...

Carrie5608 · 19/10/2014 10:02

Has your baby been checked for tongue tie? It is very hard to spot and can lead to this kind of problem.

Original poster
Flingmoo · 19/10/2014 21:33

Yes I try to always offer both sides. He is distracted easily these days but still seems to feed okay if I keep quiet and avoid stimulating him.

I don't suspect tongue tie because he's always been a great feeder. Put on weight very well during the first couple of weeks or so.

Fingers crossed it's just his natural development then... He's very happy and very strong - almost sitting unaided already. Maybe he's just burning the calories! Weighing him again this week or next so I'm really praying he hasnt dropped another centile.

He was on 75th at first and is now below 25th...

OP posts:
Imeg · 20/10/2014 19:43

Mine really didn't follow a centile line: he was born on 9th, dropped to 0.4th until about 12 weeks when he started heading up the chart, and at his last weigh in around 6 months he was nearly at the 75th centile. I know this is in the other direction to yours but just as an example of not doing what the chart says!

Hadeda · 20/10/2014 22:31

Mamushka my DD1 was a lot like this, and I had the HV and the GP both advising me to switch to formula (she was EBF). She was a very happy baby, active and engaging with her surroundings, hitting other milestones. It caused me a lot of heart ache at the time as I truly felt she was fine but the charts showed her slipping from the 50th to the 20th percentile. Once she started on solids she moved up a little, can't recall how much now but it wasn't dramatic. At nearly 7 now she is only a kilo more than DD2 who is just 5. She's a long skinny kid, a lot like I was at her age.

So that very long story is to say it may just be the way he is growing and there may be no need to worry, esp if the baby in front of you is healthy and happy.

(And you have proper expert advice here from Tictoc who I remember posting so helpfully on my threads when I was struggling back then.)

SaucyJack · 21/10/2014 11:48

My DD2 was like this. I mix fed her as I was quite worried about it at the time.

In hindsight, I wouldn't have bothered. She's a sorry looking bag o'bones who picks at her food even now. It's just the way she is.

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