Worried about babies weight gain

[Npie123]

My LO is 9 weeks old and only currently weighs 7llb 14 oz below the 0.4th centile . He was born at 39 weeks at 6llbs 6oz and dropped to 5llb 14 oz . He regained his birth weight within 2 weeks however since then we have had a lot of problems feeding. He is struggling with reflux and constipation and is medicated for these. He was breast fed but my production dropped so he is now bottle fed He has now been referred to paeds but i am so worried this is going to affect his development and i feel its my fault. Has anyone else had any problems with this ? Any advice and shared experiences would be very helpful. From a very worried first time mum

Hi OP. Congratulations on your new baby! Are you pumping and feeding him breast milk or formula feeding, or a combination? I had problems with weight gain and still have slow but acceptable gain. But I'm exclusively breastfeeding so I'm not sure my experience is relevant

None of this is your fault @Npie123, please don't feel bad about anything, you're seeking out the support and help you need and that's what a good Mum does

One thing that might be checking out is Tongue Tie. Do any of the symptoms sound like this?

Don't worry OP you're doing a fantastic job as a mum. It can be really stressful trying to figure out the cause. It's absolutely not your fault. My DS was on the 0.4 centile for a while and it had no impact at all on his development.

It might be CMPA - an allergy to cow's milk protein. My DS had reflux and constipation, which are both symptoms of the non-IgE mediated type of CMPA. His wasn't picked up until he was over 1. They can offer dairy free formula for this which may help if that is the cause. Like the previous poster said, tongue tie (my DS also had this) could be the issue and needs to be looked at.

Whatever the cause, Paeds will help and you need to stop blaming yourself - there might be a cause and if there isn't he'll just be a small baby. I beat myself up for months and months over my breastfeeding so I don't want you to do the same.

Thank you so much for your replies ! I was combi feeding and trying to increase my milk supply with expressing however I was finding it very stressful so he is now fully bottle fed.He was feeding for 10 days until we realised I wasn't producing enough milk so he didn't gain any weight for 10 days. He was then moved onto reflux formula and it was great he put on 8llbs in a week but it made him very constipated so he had to go to hospital. They said there that we were over feeding him and advised 80ml or normal non reflux formula every 4 hours with omeprazole for reflux . 10 days later my HV came and weighed him again and he was exactly the same. She was mortified and said he should be having far more than 80ml. I felt so bad as he has essentially lost 3-4 weeks of nutrition and food altogether but we placed our trust in the paediatricians at the hospital but they were completely wrong ! He definitely doesn't have tongue tie and we have tried an anti cows milk formula prescribed but he was even worse . It has been such a journey and I feel I should have pushed for paeds far earlier xx

* sorry I meant 8oz not llbs ! That would be a miracle haha

I’d double check tongue function with an IBCLC and then go down allergy route.
Reflux, constipation, lack of weight gain all sound like allergies to me!

Who's said there's definitely no TT @Npie123?

Unless it was a Tongue Tie Practitioner, I'd be taking what they said with a pinch of salt.

@PritiPatelsMaker He has been checked by a few different clinicians but not a specialist I don't think so I will push for that . Thank you so much for your advice , I didn't know there were more specialist professionals for tongue tie so that's really helpful.

Hi OP, I’ve had a year of hell with my daughter, severe reflux and failure to thrive. She is currently tube fed her reflux is so bad. I strongly recommend asking to try either dairy free milk- neocate, alfamino or puramino, and if BF then cut out dairy. Allergies are one of the biggest causing of failure to thrive and reflux. 100% if you can afford it go to a qualified tongue tie practitioner, it’s causes reflux even in bottle fed babies. Omeprazole did naff all for my daughter we switched to lansoprazole and it helped. If you want to try a thickener, avoid carobel and look online for “magic mix” I got from French pharmacy online. Look at the infant feeding specialist and rock a bye reflux on Instagram for lots of helpful hints and tips. I’m just sorting dinner. It feel free to message me and if I can help at all I will, reflux destroyed my first year of my daughters life it’s completely taken over our lives until we figured out the cause so I really feel for you x

@SnailonaWhale @Hatscats I agree . I definitely thought he may be allergic to cows milk or something. We were prescribed aptamil pepti but his reflux was even worse. I don't know if it's because it is very watery , it just came straight back up. I'm wondering if he might need a thickener and to try it again

@Npie123 it could be like you say that it needs thickening but there are several different types of dairy free formula and it could be that your DS is just not tolerating the Aptamil pepti well. It's a hydrolysed formula so there are still milk proteins in there but they're broken down so more tolerable to CMPA babies. There are amino acid formulas which contain no milk which they give if babies don't tolerate the former well.

It still could be something else entirely but worth being as pushy as you can to get help - I really regret being fobbed off by "all babies have reflux" etc. It is tough when you just want them to be ok! 💐You're doing the best you can for him.

Hello, my son was put on aptamil pepti one because he had terrible reflux and a suspected milk allergy however he still had the same symptoms but I would say less aggressive. Pepti one made his reflux so much worse, We ended up at the hospital by referral from our gp. He hadn’t gained any weight since birth and is 6 weeks old. He’s now been put on Alfamino hasn’t been weighed yet but he doesn’t have mucus diarrhoea after every feed or reflux, he will actually lie on his back now!! I wasn’t convinced he would take to it after reading so many bad reviews about the taste but so far touch wood things have settled and know it’ll take 2/4 weeks!! But it’s doing something - Alfamino is for a severe cows milk allergy - we’ve had smiles this week and I feel so relieved that something has helped. My gp said. He could keep giving us Gaviscon or omeprazole but it would just mask symptoms and then mean baby is another week behind not gaining! I know it’s so scary and you are knackered and worried, but if your instinct is telling you something isn’t right it means it isn’t - hope you find some answers ❤️ take care xxx

How are you getting on now @Npie123?

Thank you for all your replies and reassurance ! My little one has been seen by paeds now and has been placed on carobel a thickener and this is working for us ! He has gone from 8,4 to 10llbs in 3 weeks so steady weight gain and I am feeling much better about it ! We are waiting on the dieticians and they still think he may have a cows milk allergy but I am not sure as they advised us to thicken his normal feed u told we see them and he is managing fine. So we will just have to see

@tytysonthekittycat Oh gosh. What a journey you have been on! So glad you have found what works for your baby !