5mo lost weight over last 3 weeks, could my milk supply be going wrong?

[MrsMaguire]

I've been getting by DS weighed about every couple of weeks and his weight gain has always been a bit varied. However I had him weighed today for the first time in 3 weeks and he has actually lost 300 gr. That seems like more than can be explained by scales varying or the two dirty nappies we had this morning.
I had been exclusively breast feeding, largely because he refuses to take anything from a bottle. We had the 4 month growth spurt about 4 weeks ago and then he settled down and started sleeping through from his 7pm bed time feed to about 7am. Then 10 days ago he started waking earlier and wanting to feed more frequently during the day. I thought that might mean he was interested in starting solids and, as he was 20 weeks by then I have offered him one solid feed a day. He didn't seem much taken with baby rice but seems to enjoy pear and sweet potato. However, now I know he has been losing weight I wonder if he was actually hungry because my milk supply has gone wrong rather than because he wanted solids. Any suggestions? The HV said to carry on with a feed of solids a day as I've started and to try to squeeze in an extra milk feed. I did try that today but he wasn't hungry so didn't eat well and then was ravenous after his bath. Is there anything else I should be doing?

Thanks!

MrsM - if you're confident the weight is accurate, then yes, it's worth investigating. It is quite a lot of weight to lose.

Id he's basically healthy, then it's likely to be a lack of 'calories in' and that's explained by the early solids he had - pear and sweet potato have fewer calories than milk, and his net intake of food is likely to be less than it was.

Easily dealt with - drop all solids and feed extra breastfeeds whenever you can

MrsM - how are things today?

Much better thank you! I got a bit thrown by his losing weight and it hit my confidence quite badly. I was just thinking I'd got the hang of some of this mothering thing! I guess it will probably be like that until he's about 18, or maybe longer...

Also, I looked at the red book again and it's "only" 230 gr he's lost. Obviously not good but better than I thought on Tuesday.

In the last couple of days we've managed to sneak an extra feed in late afternoon which will hopefully help, it also puts him in a better mood for bath time with Daddy which is definitely a good thing. I'm going to take him to get him weighed again next week just to check we've got things going in the right direction again.

I've also been letting him take his time over feeds. They still take forever as he is very easily distracted. Even if I sit in slience he finds the window, traffic, light fitting etc far more interesting than feeding once he's taken the edge off his hunger. Are there any magic tricks to make them focus on eating?

Thank you for your help.

He sounds normal and healthy and inquisitive

Fitting in more breastfeeds is the key to getting more calories into him, and that's what you're doing - have you dropped the solids? He doesn't need them and the risk is they take the place of more calorific breastfeeds.

I have dropped solids, yes. It seems like a shame as he was enjoying it but it's only for a few weeks.

Presumably there is a risk of weight loss whenever you introduce solids isn't there?

Tank you again for your help, it is brilliant to be able to "talk" to someone about this stuff.