Reassuring stories of babies dropping centiles.

[TradedAtlanta]

My LO is nearly 8 weeks and EBF. He was born just above 25th centile and regained birth weight by 2 weeks, at which point he was between the 9th and 25th - closer to 25th. Breastfeeding was painful and having had a child with a tongue tie already I recognised the signs and got it cut. Some improvement to shallow latch but I really have to force him to latch deeply as he seems to prefer a shallow latch. We've had problems with reflux since week 3 (after TT cut) and got prescribed omeprazole which does seem to have helped a little at a very small dose, which GP has just trebled so hoping that will help more. By week 5 LO was just below 9th centile, where he has stayed for last 2 weeks. I'm hoping that we've resolved the various problems and he'll now hold this line and trying to wait a month to weigh again so that I'm not stressed by natural fluctuations but finding it is consuming my thoughts quite a bit. Does anyone have any similar stories that worked out well to keep me going? I had a tough time feeding my first and really hoped for a more straightforward Breastfeeding experience this time.

He probably has just found his line.

mine also started just above the 25th centile, and dropped to below the 0.4th. No issues with feeding, happy and healthy etc.

because she’d dropped more than 2 centiles we were automatically referred to paed. They took bloods, reviewed, found nothing wrong. Conclusion was she’s just small.

feeding advice was to carry on as normal, as much as possible, make sure I had a good diet etc.

I was actually advised by paeds not to give formula top ups or switch to formula because that can almost “force” a weight gain, which can mask a real problem- for example if they have a metabolic disease.

anyway turns out her weight gain went in spurts- if you look at her red book now she gained slowly for 3 or 4 weeks, so her line was nearly flat, then jumped back up the centiles in a week, repeat. By 5 months she was discharged from paeds/gp as totally fine.

if you weren’t weighing him what would your gut tell you? Happy? Hydrated? Wees/poos etc? With dd it was only the scales that was a concern- as my HV said the real concern is if the baby isn’t well along with the failure to gain weight.

Thank you @Newnamenewme23 - your message is so calm and reassuring. In every other way he's developing well. Lots of social smiles, eye contact, alert and fascinated by his sister, strong, good ability to lift his head.

Definitely hydrated and lots of poos. Lots of gulping and swallowing so not just comfort sucking.

My dd was born on 90th centile, dropped to 25th by 4 weeks and dropped again to 9th. Formula fed. Was referred to growth monitoring clinic and they monitored her probably for about a year but didn't actually do anything. Paed told me that as long as they follow their line and no other concerns then it's nothing to worry about. Dd stayed small/petite until about 10 when she shot up and became within 'normal' range of BMI.

@TradedAtlanta DD lost a lot of birthweight between the hospital weighing and her first HV weighing. It got people in a bit of a tizzy until the area's only sensible HV came round and said, 'Look at her - she's a good colour, well hydrated, strong and lively. She's fine.' And she was. She stayed on that same centile from then on.

If you can say the same about your DS, and it sounds as if you can, then it's probably fine. Just keep an eye on it.

I find the growth chart really hard to understand. I know that the 'old' growth curves
Were based on formula fed babies and current ones based on breast fed babies. But I think only 1% of UK babies are EBF from birth to six months. So does the graph include those who have some formula here and there or is it only based on the 1% of babies whose parents had few worries - so likely the champion feeders/growers? It surely would be unethical for the researchers to insist that parents continue to EBF babies with faltering growth so does the research that results in the growth curves actually just exclude those who naturally grow more slowly? Or does it mislead by including combi fed babies?

with my second I just didn’t get her weighed. Went on how she was, rather than a number. Solved all the weight gain worries 😂

my HV was actually trying to get the weighing clinics ditched in favour of “well baby” clinics. Said you can see with your eyes when a baby is failing to thrive, all scales do is worry parents and trigger unnecessary investigations. He also said weighing was likely why a lot of women switch to formula, and the bf rates in this country are so low.

He never succeeded though as weight is so entrenched all the parents wanted their babies weighed, as to most weight gain=healthy. It’s not that simple.

as for the graphs they’re just an average (I think it’s a very small sample? About 100 babies iirc, usually formula fed).

as long as he’s gaining, even if slowly, and you feel he’s well in himself I wouldn’t worry :)

Ah @Newnamenewme23 the non-weigh route was my intention - wish I'd had the courage of my convictions. I learnt all this with my first but somehow got sucked back in to the weight is the most important metric narrative!

My girl was born 95th percentile and was ebf!
the thing about those graphs is that they were plotted with formula fed babies.

as previous comments say, if they are happy, gaining weight at a pace that suits them and are having healthy poops and pees, your doing amazingly ❤️

My DD is now 10 months old. Born 6lb 15.5ozs. She lost weight but regained within a week. She was seen by 2 HVs and GP because she went from 25th to 9th to 0.4th percentiles over about 12 weeks. I was using nipple shields because of the damage she caused. I was referred to paediatrician at 14 weeks but are still waiting for the appointment! This was meant to be in January, got cancelled without informing me and is now in March. I have been combi feeding since 14 weeks because of HV and nursery nurses telling me she wasnt gaining quickly enough. I was also having to get her weighed fortnightly. At around 20 weeks she just stopped using shields and her weight did shoot up. She is now on 25th centile, has 3 bottles and 3 meals a day and as much boob as she likes in between and at night. I think I will go to her appointment in March and they will wonder what all the fuss was about!

My daughter was born at 50th, regained birth week in 2 weeks, then dropped as low as 2nd. Turns out she had a bad tongue tie that five different people missed- had to go private to get it done in the end, and also had to combi feed. She’s now a robust 18 month old in the 60th!

Exactly same with my dd1. Health visitor even threatened me with baby would need to go to hospital! Her weight had dropped from around 25th to below 9th then not on the chart. Luckily a sensible health visitor came round and said she’s fine- thriving and alert.
My dd remained slight and is now thriving at uni!

I can’t remember the percentiles or the actual weights but my son weighed less at 9 months than he did at 4. Although as I type this my memory is clearing, at 4 months he was in the 25th percentile must have been very low by 9 months. He was a very happy cheery baby, just didn’t like milk or food particularly. Most oddly he gained a love of milk around of 3 and has loved it ever since.

Thank you for your stories everyone. I'm reading them whilst I feed an LO who is very sorry for himself after his jabs. I particularly love the references to sensible HVs who can tell a thriving baby. Mine really looks thriving to me. He's petite but proportionate with little chubby creases on his arms and legs. He doesn't have that too big head, scrawny limb look they sometimes have when they're struggling to put on weight. Having said that his latch is particularly pathetic tonight but I'll forgive him just this once on account of his jabs

I just wanted to return to this thread to give my thanks again to those who helped to settle my nerves about how my baby is growing. He's now 12 weeks old and taxing my arms and back trying to carry him. I've still not weighed him but he's grown out of all his 0-3 clothes and filling out his 3-6 clothes well. I'm no longer obsessing about his feeding and weight and feeling confident we've established bf well. So thanks again to you lovely posters who helped me to relax!

Aah that’s lovely to read! Glad you have relaxed into it. It is stressful at the beginning.

I know this thread is old but I just wanted to post in case anyone else was frantically googling and freaking out like I was.

My baby was born on 75th centile, 10 days “late.” It was quite strange how big she was as I’m 5ft 3 and husband is 5ft 8 but we laughed it off.

She lost some weight post birth (normal) but regained by day 10 and we were sent on our merry way. I was EBF her.

At four weeks, she was weighed and despite gaining had dropped a centile to 50th. She was weighed again the week later and had dropped to 25th. Cue panic stations from the health visitor and “process” kicks in. We were sent to sick kids at the hospital for multiple tests (bloods, urine sample, general check over) and nothing came back. My gut always told me that she was born bigger than she genetically “should” be and was just finding her curve but the regular weigh ins continued (I wish I’d declined after a certain point as it started to stress me out) and she continued to drop centiles but never lost weight. She was just gaining slowly. Each time, I was called by the hospital and answered the same set of questions: how many wet and dirty nappies, is she settled after a feed (this one really wound me up. OF COURSE SHE IS OTHERWISE I WOULD FEED HER MORE), do your boobs feel softer after a feed, how often are you feeding her, is she meeting milestones otherwise. Only this week (week 14), after tracking on the 5th centile for 3 weigh ins, have they left us alone and confirmed that she’s “probably just small.”

So all of that is to say- trust your instinct. You know your baby and will know if they seem unwell. If they’re producing wet and dirty nappies then they’re taking milk in. Don’t let it question your milk output. And don’t use how much you can pump as a good indicator for milk supply!

Wow that’s reassuring my baby started on the 75th line and dropped until the 9th. Tounge tie which we had cut but didn’t seem to make a difference, possibly my supply went down by that point. Bought a pump but I had nobody around to help me at the time she was clusterfeeding. I needed an extra pair of hands as she needed me all the time and I couldn’t pump. Then by that point I had to top her up with formula started to pump and aimed to give her as much breastmilk as possible. She was falling asleep at the breast often before bottles and after bottles even when I pumped (increased supply)

So anyway, she self weaned at 3 months. I still try now she’s 8 months to get her back. She tries sometimes but doesn’t go all the way.

I’ve been worried about her growth - steadily on the 9th line since 3.5 months. Try to give her food to encourage weight gain, but she’s only slightly gone up the 9the tunnel ( nearer to 25th)

she sleep feeds! It was t like this before! It used to be eat/play/sleep but as she never wanted to finish her milk. I started to take her out with the sling and bottle and get her to finish it in the sling(would fall asleep drinking) I knew that was a habit I was creating but I thought at least she drank her milk. Now I find it hard to give her milk when she’s not about to sleep. 🙄

it’s stressful. I hope she grows. I aim to give her 800mls a day but often it’s less and she drinks a lot at night often, still aiming to get her sleep trained. Maybe tonight I’ll start as it wasn’t a bad day of naps.

sorry for long message I just want her to get back to her 75th line even the 50th I’d be happy

ps she enjoys her food

@Sarahpoet please please don't worry about getting your baby back to 50th or 75th. She has been following her line for 4.5 months. You have the benefit of formula feeding so you know there is always more milk available should she want it. That growth curve shows average growth patterns. Some babies grow down the centiles initially until they find their curve.

By way of an update we discovered mine had a cows milk protein allergy after he fell to just above the second centile. I cut out dairy and soy and he began to maintain his centile, hovering just above 2nd. Now 10 months so been on solids for 5 months as early weaning was recommended by his paediatrician because of his reflux. He enjoys food, eats almost everything but has a small appetite. He's still not quite back up to the 9th centile. Paediatrician discharged him at his first appointment. She said "you've done our job for us" and "nothing wrong with small!"

Thank you TradedAtlanta. Nice to know your story and well done for getting him back to the 9th centile!
I think Sophie will also gain weight slowly and probably go back up a little.

TBH I am seriously still grieving about breastfeeding, I either need therapy or something to sort me out. Still with hopes she will go back. Good news I know a time that works for her is bedtime with lights low after all the hyperactivity has dwindled. She latched on a few times and gave it a go. This time I’ll try expressing A little before bed. Ahhh oh what a journey! Should have done this should have done that rubbing through my head today. Domperidone worked I should have used it before she hit theee months by which point it was really too late she had had enough of trying to breastfeed with what I had was a low supply. Trying to pump and not getting anywhere, maybe doing it wrong back then and not long enough. I’ll stop here.

you never know what will happen tomorrow the best thing we can do is walk as if it is all working out and be happy and grateful