Reassurance please - excl BF DS dropping percentiles

[nickymorris]

I'm probably obsessing about the graph a bit but my DS hasn't really gained in the last 4 weeks. At birth he was 10lb 6oz which is on the 99.6th percentile line. He stuck to that line like glue for the first 10 weeks by which point he was 16lb 10oz.

We're now at 14 weeks and he's 17lb 7oz... He's dropped from the 99.6th percentile line and is heading towards the 91st. We weighed this morning and have been asked to go back in 2 weeks and if he's dropped below the 91st percentile line the HV said that's when we should start to worry.

I'm wondering if there is anything I could/should do? He's happy and enjoys his food. However he does feed quickly (6mins for his pre-bed feed this evening) which I've always put down to my milk coming down quickly but am now worrying that the volume isn't there for him.

mermaid - is this really what the HV said? That pnd affects the quality of the milk and this in turn causes a slower weight gain?

I think she should be challenged and very strongly on this. It is so wrong, and harmful...part of me wants to think that maybe her communication skills at that moment were lacking, rather than she actually thinks this and is telling it to mothers.

Here are the facts:

• plenty of babies have irregular weight gains and a healthy baby may have times when weight slows or even plateaus. It's the trend over time that matters, coupled with judgement about the other signs of growth and health

• pnd has no effect on the milk in any way at all - unless the mother is so ill she is not able to respond to her baby's cues and so does not feed him often enough (this might happen with a very seriously depressed mother) and so this might impact on quantity of milk, over time, as well as obv on the nutrition of the baby

• quality of breastmilk is reasonably consistent ie all mothers make the same quality of milk (this does not mean the same as saying their milk is always the same with the same proprtions of 'ingredients' but this does not lessen the quality of it)

Have you thought about asking her to justify what she said? It's awful to think she coud be spreading this rubbish among other women who feel crap enough about having/having had pnd

Glad to help, Mess

DD had been consistently putting on weight and actually moved up a centile, I hadn't had her weighed since she was 6 weeks and didn't actually intend to unless I felt there was a problem.

Then I went to see the GP about feeling low and anxious so she suggested I see the HV and told me to go to the clinic, so I went yesterday and although I wasn't there with any concerns about DD she decided it would be good to weigh her as we were there. DD had put on just under 1lb in 6 weeks, not perfect but I wasn't concerned.

She feeds really well, she's contented and smiling and sleeps all night.

As I tried to explain this the HV said I obviously wasn't feeding her enough and I should wake her overnight to feed her.

Also she suggested I express milk so that they knew she was getting enough and she was 'disappointed' that I hadn't been expressing already.

She started on about formula, which is rididculous as DD is happy and contented.

So then she said if I felt I was feeding enough it must be that my milk quality has reduced due to PND.

I really feel that DD is fine, surely if she wasn't getting enough or poor quality milk she would be screaming the house down???

I was crying to DP about it last night.

Its just one more stress I don't need.

I would not worry to much, my baby is off the scale at the top end, and I will not take him to clincs to be told he is too fat.

I would reccomend a book called 'how to raise a healthy child inspite of your doctor'. by Robert S Mendelson. He was a leading childrens doctor in the US and basically says that these graphs are 'crap' as they do not take into account, ethnicicty, and environmental factors. The are also massivly out of date. Both my boys where exclusivly breastfed, they are what you would call 'fat' as babies (one still is a baby. I have heard it said that BF babies can't be fat, well thats not my experience and not that of others. As long as your baby is gaining weight and happy I would not be concerned at all.

Iwishiwasamermaid BIN YOUR HEALTH VISITOR.

I had 'severe' PND for 2 years and was told my baby was 'so fat' he would not walk for a long time, well he walked a month after she told me that.

Mermaid, she is dangerously ill informed.
Very worrying indeed to know there are professionals about peddling this tripe.

Graphs in the UK are not the same as the ones in the US - our UK charts are ok, and it is the skills of the person interpreting them as a blueprint for every individual baby that are lacking.

Mermaid, your HV should not be practising, it's as simple as that.