20wks old, not gaining enough weight, should I introduce formula???

[MumToAPiglet]

My 20 week old DD is exclusively bf which I am really enjoying and she seems to like. She was on 98th percentile when born (9lbs 4oz). She quckily dropped to 91st but then followed that line until 6 weeks ago. In the last 6 weeks she has dropped to 50th centile (never losing weight, just gaining v slowly). She still wakes at 10.30pm and 4.30am for feeds but during the day she is so interested in everything around her that it is hard to get her to feed for long periods. My breasts were really engorged and leaky until 6 weeks ago but now they are much less so - I am not sure why.

Our HV says I must start formula top ups or solids. I wanted to bf exclusively for 6 months but maybe that is not what is best for DD. I really do not want to introduce solids for at least another 4 weeks. Do you think my HV is right that I must introduce formula? If so which one and how? DD hates bottles and will not suck them no matter what.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Piglet, I don't know which link you mean, but I will have almost certainly made it clear that it is not usual for young babies ie under a few weeks old to go days without pooing....in fact most well-fed young babies poo several times a day. If there is no poo, then the feeding needs to be checked out. After that time, going several days is not at all unusual and is not a problem. Hope that clears it up

Piglet,

I wanted to add that formula does not mean weight gain. My ds was formula fed from two weeks old and stayed in the 25th percentile. Introducing solids did nothing to help him gain weight either.

My point is there is no guarentee that formula and solids are going to fix the "problem" your HV says your DD has.

I introduced formula for the same reason although dd was much youger (3 weeks)but she had dropped from the 50th to the 9th percentile. her weight gain still dropped (she is now on the 2nd) the formula aggrivated her reflux,she developed eczema, my milk supply dropped (but bf wasn't well enough established for us) and when dd figured out that ff was less or a hard slog than bf she got really lazy and that was the kiss of death for bf (I gave up completely at 4 months) PLEASE don't do it for that reason! And if your dd is distracted when bfing it won't take her long to get just as distracted when taking formula..... just find a quiet place to feed her with minimum distractions (i have yet to find a way of stopping dd from being distracted by her own feet during each and evry feed! (it helps to have nothing touching her feet during a feed btw, didn't really realise how distracting she found her feet until someone on here suggested it as something to try.)

sorry haven't read whole thread-struggling with boob/wt issues of my own.

Don't do formula unless you want to. my ds1 hd wt isses and is a healthy three year old now. m/w actually fed him formula when he was 4days old and had lost "too" much wt.we b/f to nine months and he is/was/will be dinky. your lo is 50th(ie average) I'm surprised DS1 stayed on any chart! Luckily my hv was of the "he's happy.let's not stress " variety.

Ds2 (one week old today)is following in big bro's footsteps and I am not letting anyone make me do something I don't want this time.

I am not saying formula is evil,BTW