so, just got dd2 weighed (7 months) and she is still dropping on the charts...

[silverfrog]

dd2 is 31 weeks. She weighs 14lb 1oz. She has put on 4oz in the last 6 weeks.

she is still bf, at least 5 times a day (all good feeds, no snacking. Have tried to increase number of feeds, but she ends up not taking much at any of her feeds as just continually topping up rather than tkaing full feeds).

She has two meals a day, and just introducing breakfast. She is eating well at meals, having a mixture of finger foods and mushed up stuff (only giving the mushed up stuff to try to get more into her, as she loves finger foods and a lot goes in, but not as much as could ideally). she eats anything, from banana to green beans to spinach, either with pasta (corn pasta as dd1 gluten intolerant) or rice. Mushed up stuff is typically lamb, carrots and potato, or casserole etc. Also fruit purees (whatever we have lying around)

She is now slowly but surely heading off the bottom of the charts. I am starting to get a little concerned. Heightwise she is still around the 9th centile, so not overly tall either.

hv starting to worry as, not counting initial "catch-down" growth where dd2 readjusted to 25th centile (born at over 50th) dd2 has still crossed 3 centile lines.she was vaguely muttering about referring on today.

What more can I do to get weight on dd2? Holding off dairy as dd1 is intolerant, so typical fats are out.

Thanks, and sorry for mammoth post!

hiya. your hv is thinking of referring you to a nutritionalist.hv are very hung up on the charts and soon get twitchy if your dd does'nt follow the appropriate curve!
it sounds to me as if you are giving your dd a good range of veg, proteins etc. why are you assuming that if dd1 was intolerant, that dd2 will be aswell? have you actually tried the foods that you think might possibly make her ill,or is previous bad experience holding you back? sorry im not trying to be aggressive, just trying to help.

What a shame your HV seems unaware of

i. the limitations of any chart in guaging the health and growth of an individula

ii. the fact that standard charts in the UK are almost certainly inappropriate for babies over 6 mths, when breastfed babies start to fall away, perfectly physiologically, on the UK charts.

There is a thread, with links to the more appropriate WHO charts,

here

It should help you judge how seriously to take your HV's concern, silverfrog

great advice from tiktok as ever

can i just say that if you have a family history or dairy intolerance and alleriges, then it is a good idea to wait until she is over twelve months before introducing dairy.

but there are plenty of other fattening foods that she can have, have you tried avocado? that is high in fat and good mashed with banana or as finger food.

it sounds like your dd is eating and feeding well, if she is generally alert and healthy i would be inclined to think that she is fine, just destined to be petite

What buiild are you & your dh? dd is still being 'monitored' by hv (she is 50 percentile for height & just over 4th for weight) but my (very sensible) hv points out that as dh & I are both skinny then we can't really expect to have created a chubba

thankyou all. I am just printing out the chart from that link, tiktok, so I can check her progress (why is it that, having smiled sweetly for the first 6 months when the hv told me that dd2 was looking low on the charts and would look better on bf-only charts, whilst thinking she was a mad fool as everyone knows that up until 6 months there is no difference, I forget about chart differentiation when it matters?!)

As 3madboys says, I am holding off gluten and dairy until dd2 is 12 months, then planning slow careful introduction.

hv did remind me about avocado this morning (she is quite good on most things) - don't know how I could have forgotten about it as dd1 practically lived on mashed banana and avocado for ages. was her favourite thing ever (and so handy for picnics!)

dd2 is indeed well and healthy, bright and alert and charming everyone around her. I was concerned that she was dropping right off the charts, but will now re-plot and see what I think then.

Thanks again

silver frog - just to say my dd2 did the same thing. Born on the 50th percentile for weight, and by about 8 months she was way underneath the bottom of the chart. We had a couple of worrying moments when she became very thin after illness, but now she has just turned two years, and is looking wonderful.

She is still slim, but she has strong arms and legs and her ribs no longer stick out. She is deveopmenty very well, and is catching up weight wise. She has a great appetite, finally.

I know how worrying it is, and of course you do need to keep an eye on her growth as you are doing - but try not to worry too much. It sounds like she is just a slim baby, like mine.

I continued to bf my dd2 until she 'turned the corner' and started putting on weight, because I knew that was the best thing for her.

developmentally, not whatever I wrote!

would love to go by build, funnypeculiar, but dh and I are both the smallest from our families (although not really very small - I'm 5'7 and dh is 5'10) but other family members are huge.

Dh is stocky, i am (usually, but seem to have put on a bit after dd2) slim. and we have somehow ended up with dd1 being at the total opposite end of the charts - born at 25th centile but did the exact opposite of dd2 and slowly climbed to over 91st centile and there she has stayed (both height and weight!)

Bunch of oddballs we are

my dd fell down her charts from the 5oth to just above the 9th. My HV was great and assured me that she was just finding her level-she saying that she was probably born bigger than she was destined to be.
She is now three and very slender but perfectly fine.
I think some Hvs do get hung up on failure to thrive based on charts without considering other things like how well the child is overall etc.

Hi Silverfrog, it was my thread that Tiktok linked to. The HV really shook me up too, but after the advice I got on here, and after thinking about it, I am not at all worried, and have come to the conclusion that HV are, in general, idiots.
It was only a couple of months ago that this issue of charts was all over the news. The government are thinking of switching to the WHO charts as ill-informed HV are advising mothers to switch to formula/top up, to keep babies weight in line with the charts, which (it said on the news) is leading to obesity.
What makes me laugh all the more is that my neighbour's little boy did not grow at all for months and months (he has very serious food intolerences/enzyme deficiencies his mother has now worked out), and all the HV just kept saying there was nothing to worry about . His poo was foming green! He was in pain too. And the health profesionals get in a tizz over perfectly healthy, happy babies who are gaining weight (all be it slower than some other babies).