Slow weight gain

[Member741788]

Sorry, it’s a long one but I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas we could try!

My daughter is 11 weeks old and has been gaining weight but dropping centiles slowly since birth, she is BF with formula top ups but we’re really struggling to get her to take any top ups unless she’s hungry, so only getting an extra 60-100 ml a day, despite trying after every feed.

She seems to feed well most of the time, is alert and active etc. She looks fine and is growing out of 0-3 clothes, I wouldn’t have any concerns if I didn’t know her weight. Loads of wees, 3-4 big poos a day. Sleeps very well, which might be part of the problem. She would sleep all night if left, and I try to wake her for feeds but she just has a couple of sucks and then goes back to sleep. I’ve tried undressing her, changing her nappy etc but she either refuses to feed or falls asleep as soon as she starts.

She was born at 88th centile and has now dropped to 12th. She’s been measured twice at 2nd and 20th for length and so I think 20th is probably about right, she’s certainly not tall and so I think that something around 25th percentile would be her ideal weight, which would be similar to my older children.

So far I’ve tried to increase my supply with pumping which might have worked but has presumably dropped again as she doesn’t feed enough to sustain it. She feeds well (I think) for 10-15 mins a side but will often only take one side. She usually feeds every two hours during the day and tends to have one longer sleep (4-6 hours) at night.

I have been pumping to give her top up feeds but have pretty much given up on this as I end up throwing so much away. She will take a bottle instead of a feed, so we have had some success with this but then she just won’t bf afterwards and so I’m not sure she’s getting any extra milk and I now have mastitis.

I am thinking I might just have to give up on any breastfeeding and go over to formula entirely so I can monitor what she’s having. I wanted to try just expressing for a few days, again so I could monitor what she’s having but won’t be able to manage that while the schools are still off. Anyone else had similar issues? We have Health visitor and GP support at the moment the main suggestion is just to offer top ups after every feed which clearly isn’t working. She was seen at the hospital about a month ago to see if there was any other reason they could see for slow growth and they couldn’t see anything, just said again to offer top ups. At the moment I feel like we have the worst of both worlds, having mastitis while also constantly washing bottles and sterilising...

Hi, sending hugs to you, I know how stressful it can be. I had a really similar scenario with youngest who’s now 17 months. She didn’t start off as high up the chart as your baby but was born just under 50th, was 25th once she regained her birth weight and eventually settled on 2nd.
From your description of her, she’s sounds like a really content little thing and her output sounds really good. This was the same picture with my little girl too and I said the exact same thing as you about if I wasn’t getting her weighed, I wouldn’t have been worried at all.
I found the support of a lactation consultant really valuable as they’ve got so much more experience than the best HVs/GPs. Is this an option for you? In our area, I know you can still access them within the NHS service although not sure if it’s via video calling. If it’s an option, could you access a private IBCLC (lactation consultant)?
From your post it sounds like she’s perfectly content with the volume of milk she’s getting and just doesn’t want the top up as she’s full? Which I know doesn’t help matters when you’re worried about her weight.
Could her birth weight have been artificially inflated by any fluids during delivery? I’ve heard a lot about babies being born at a higher weight either due to fluids or that the placenta almost did too good a job so their birth weight isn’t necessarily on the centile they’re naturally going to stay at.
Sorry to hear about the mastitis, is that from giving her the bottle feed you mean?
In regards to switching to formula, from what I read about weight gain, it’s all linked to the volume taken. So potentially you could swap and she might not take any more in volume than she’s currently taking from BF?
I’m afraid I don’t have any ideas for getting her to take the top ups but it almost sounds like you need someone like a LC to look at the whole picture and advise further perhaps?
Hope you get the mastitis cleared soon xx

Thanks so much for this, just knowing someone else has had similar issues is very helpful.

I have seen a private LC a couple of times but the focus was very much on boosting my supply, which I think we managed but presumably I would have to pump regularly to maintain it is she isn’t feeding any more than before and I don’t really have time. It didn’t seem to make any difference to her weight gain, she just stopped feeding after one side. I might try again and see if they can help with getting more down her generally, not bothered where it comes from at this point. What you say about ff is exactly what I thought, it’ll be annoying to switch only to have the weight issues continue.

I think her birth weight was oddly high, no fluids or anything but a very fast labour and all of my babies have been big and then dropped significantly.

I have antibiotics for the mastitis so that seems to be clearing now, I think I just need to be careful to pump if she does end up taking a big top up feed and not rely on her feeding afterwards!

You’re welcome, I know how nice it feel to know someone else understands what it’s like as I didn’t have any friends that had experienced it and it was a bit isolating.

That’s interesting about the supply boost/only then having one side. My little one would mostly only take 1 side too so I used to use a haakaa pump on the other just to keep my supply up and then to have something to top her up with as there’s no way you can pump regularly with other children around (I’ve got 2 others who were 2 and 4 at the time)!

How did it pan out with your other children in terms of their weights? Did they settle on a centile eventually?

Yes, I think if it was me and I could afford it, I’d see a LC again just to see if there was anything else they could suggest now that you’re a bit further down the road.

Glad the mastitis seems to be improving, that was the only feeding hurdle I didn’t encounter although there’s time yet 😬 as I’m still feeding.

Let us know how you get on x

Have you considered a potential allergy?

What is considered slow weight gain? My DS1 gain 3oz per week and dropped from 50th to 2nd. As the weight gain was consistent and he was happy my HV fought my corner with bf. Then strangely just as other babies slowed down their weight gain DS gained 1/2lb per week from 18 weeks! He’s now 9yo but wears age 11-12 clothes and is 90th centile for height! Try not to worry 🙂

@Member741788 how’s it going? I started a similar thread, baby is putting on weight but slowly, and I fear she is slowly moving down the lines. But she’s so happy in herself and sleeping well. I’m seeing the health visitor in two weeks and we will discuss everything then.

Hi, sorry you’re having similar issues! We’re still the same really, still consistently putting on weight but slowly. Had a follow up with the paediatrician and she didn’t seem bothered, said she might just be ‘catching down’ as the dropping down centiles has been very slow and she is also quite short. Advised just to keep an eye on her weight and come back for a proper consultation if the weight gain slows or stops.

Hard to know what else to do really, she isn’t keen on taking a bottle now and so is having almost no top ups despite our efforts, although will do so if she’s hungry so I think my next step might be to swap a daytime feed for bottle/formula altogether and see how that goes!

Good luck! I hope your HV can suggest something helpful.

@Member741788 why did they think there was a problem with your supply?

I’m not sure, I think that’s just the first thing they say when a baby doesn’t gain weight quickly! Everyone we’ve seen has just said to either try to increase supply or give top ups/bigger top ups but the baby doesn’t want to cooperate. I don’t think supply is really an issue, as the times I’ve expressed a feed and given her a bottle I’ve been able to express more than she’ll drink. I suppose it’ll probably drop anyway if I manage to get her to drink more formula but at least then I’d know how much she was getting.

Hmm. I feel like my baby is having plenty of milk! She wouldn’t be going five hours at night after a breastfeed if she were hungry. When she has a bottle it’s 6oz now. I’ll see what the HV says in a couple of weeks.