9 week old baby dropped a centile in weight

[Hbennett1210]

Hi

My little girl is 9 weeks 4 day old and is exclusively breastfed. We have been lucky with such a good breastfeeding experience ... no soreness, good latch and no mastitis etc. her weight journey is as follows
Birth 8lb 4oz
5 days old 8lb 7oz
9 days old 8lb 14oz
1 week 6 days old 9lb
3 weeks 3 days old 10lb 2oz
5 week 5 days 10lb 11oz
9 weeks 4 days 11lb 8 oz (TODAY)

She has been in the 75th centile until today when she dropped to the 50th bracket. The health visitor is coming back in 2 weeks to weigh her again. She has been feeding fine the usual 5-10 mins every 2 - 2 1/2hours some days recently going every 1 1/2 hours. She has not being feeding as much in the night she used to feed ever two hours but has been sleeping from 8:30-10 then 10:30-3:30 then 4-5 and 6-8:30.

Should I be feeding her more often or for longer ? Is she getting enough milk? Should I wake to feed her or top her up with formula? Could my water intake or diet effect my milk supply. I am worried and don’t want to be starving her but she always seems content or sleeping after being fed. Please help I don’t think I can wait for two weeks should I see a lactation consultant to double check my latch as this hasn’t been checked for a month.

Could where baby was being weighed affect the measurement. All previous weigh ins were on my living room floor and this weigh in was in the local clinic.

Thanks In advance

Yes, the weighing set up can make a difference but I suppose it's impossible to say if this is the case and how much if so unfortunately!

Is your HV worried? Is it a routine visit in 2 weeks or because of today's weigh in? (Asking because you seem to have had home visits and this one clinic weigh in). The centile charts say that it's not uncommon to cross one line; they start checking a bit more when you cross 2 ime. (it's tricky to plot on a phone but it looked to me that she was 5.2 kg and somewhere between the 50th and 75th- does that accord with your understanding?) And was she between 75th and 91st before or on the line?
Some babies correct down a bit (e.g. mine went from 75th to between 2nd and 9th which was a worry but she was late and I had a lot if IV fluid in labour so chances are she was extra big when born- I was told it waa unlikely she would have been 75th really if born at term. Not saying this is the same for you.) I also had problems with feeding tbh which once resolved gave her a bit of a bounce. Even then I didn't top up with formula (pumped a bit and fed more + weaned off nipple shields) I doubt very much at this point you are anywhere like needing to do that.

If she is having wet and dirty nappies and is content, I would probably not take any drastic action at this point. Do you have any reason to think your latch needs checked? It sounds like you are doing really well- no weight loss (and in fact a gain)at 5 days is amazing!
It looks very much like she's waking to feed overnight; there's only one period when she's really going longer than 3 hours without a feed I think- I'd let her sleep personally (assuming nappies are all ok). If she is not actively feeding when on the breast you could try breast compressions to get a bit more milk in but please do have a look at the notes next to the charts- especially "when to weigh" and "what is a normal weight gain" bit. Gives a bit of context and chat for you.

Hi

She said not to change anything or be too concerned yet as it may be with LO sleeping longer without feeds at night. She is coming back in two weeks due to baby’s weigh in. All our weigh ins were done by midwifes or HV at home but have discharged us so now we only needed to go to the baby clinic for HV to weigh LO.

I have attached a photo of her chart to help so she has dropped a bit in between the lower centile.

Baby has luckily always fed really well but her lack of weight gain is making me paranoid that maybe she isn’t getting enough milk from me maybe we have both became lazy with our latch over time and it has affected the amount of milk she is getting. On the odd feed she has started to fuss by pulling off and on but I think this might be to help with her wind as She usually fills her nappy not long after.

Thank you so much for your help

Your baby has gained weight but just not as much as her graph says an average baby should be gaining. I won’t be worrying yet. Babies don’t always do what the average baby is doing.

If you are worried about your latch then get it checked and you can always offer her more boob during the day and see if she wants it.