Percentile drops every few weeks , mix fed baby.

[melsy]

Hv 's suggestion : feed more often or WEAN !??? dd2 is 17 wk old and mix fed , 2 breast feeds in the morning swapping sides each time, mid morning bottle , mid afternoon bottle , breast feed early evening and breast feed bed time & then if she wakes during the night I breast feed. I thought she was doing really well this way and me too , I thought she seemed little and cant put my finger on why she wont take that much milk , shes alert , happy , active (very active according to Hv which is why she may not be gaining), weeing, pooing etc . She was starting to take loads a few weeks back , long bfeeds and draining some bottles of anything between 5 & 7oz.

Well Ive tried feeding little and often , but most of the time shes not interested: You know the arching back , pushing bottle out & spitting milk out pallarver To be honest before HV suggestion to feed in between feeds I didnt do this and dd seemed perfectly happy. Ive calculated shes taking anything bewteen 20oz to 25oz a day as a guess with the combined feeding , but who has any clue with breast feeding amounts.

Sooooooo what to do , I didnt want to wean yet as : a) cant face it yet b) cant face it yet c) she seems to diddee to be sitting in a high chair (although bouncer next to me will suffice right now), d)worried about tummy, allergies in family , but already give formula and she seems fine e) did I say cant face it yet !!!

Shes gone from 50th to 25th to 9th percentile & HV is coming to my house now every 4 weeks to weigh her as I my back is bad and Im also major wobbly in the head so I think shes monitoring me now.

I really didnt expect this as she was gaining amazingly at 1st and seemed a far milkier baby than dd1, so I just feel emotionally like Ive rewound a tape to the days of dd1 not wanting hardly any milk at all.

Maybe she is just little! Before I even thought of weaning I would want a review by a paediatrician. If weight is the only issue then is there really an issue at all? Some babies are small. My DD was a lot smaller than her brothers. This is a problem with regular weighing TBH - creates a problem that isn't necessarily there. If she is otherwise happy then it is most likely she is just going to be a small baby. Some babies are 'large' at delivery and then lose weight till they settle on a certain percentile. Perhaps that is what is happening here. Try not to make feeds and issue. That goes for HV too.

ahh yes thank you for your reply mears , I was totally totally fine for weeks and weeks with no weighing, enjoyed feeling like a good mummy and then at her 1st ims.............. the gp said oooooooooh you should wiegh her really , so I headed off to the clinic and it all started there (although then I was only just starting formula so BF chart should ha?ve been used & a drop not unusual), " oh shes not gaining enough blah blah , U must come back every week blah blah blah " Suffice to say I didnt return for another 8 wks , but then she seemed to not be getting any chubbier , so I called the HV , BIG MISTAKE.

Im thinking sub conciusly Ive done this to test me mettle with HV's or anyone else .

Sorry you are having this hassle. Can see how it has happened though. I definitley would ask for paediatric referral if HV is so concerned by weight gain. A friend of mine switched to bottle completely and her DS still lost weight. Didn't gain on solids either. Bugger all wrong with him but he is small. So what? Are we not allowed small people in the world? Try not to worry though. My DS 3 was fat wee baby then from age 4 didn't grow very well. He was monitored t=etc. but is totally health. He is not having a growth spurt at age 16 yrs. All babies and children are individuals. Your DD souinds fine to me

My dd went from 50th percentile, to 25th, to 10th, to the third, then fell off the charts altogether by about the age of 6months, whilst her height remained at 5Oth percentile. She's always been health, alert and developmentally fine.

As Mears says, some babies just are little. All the babies in my dh's family and mine are small, it's not always something to worry about.

Thank u girls , been feeling like Im going a bit looney like lst time & this was just another worry that had me wringing my hands , so PHEW. Youd think id be ok with all this the 2nd time around with a little dd1 , looks like I have a little dd2 too. She was born smaller than dd1 , but became a right little bruiser now shes a didi (how is this spelt !?) little one. ahh well .