Excl BF-22 weeks and gaining very little weight.

[Itcanwait]

Just wanted some experiences/advice really before I make up my mind..

DD has had no formula/bottles at all yet. She had been creeping happily up the 25th centile until today. I had her weighed and she has gone down to the 9th centile and only gained 10grams in 3 weeks. HV said I must wean her straight away. Although I am completely exhausted from the feeding, I have been determined to make it to 26 weeks before introducing anthing else.... I know I haven't been eating/drinking well recently following an incredibly stressful month so I guess my supply could be low.

The question is-am I taking chances with her health by putting off the weaning for another few weeks? I know I'm probably being a martyr about the breast feeding and should take medical advice but I've come this far now and I had planned to wait until the magic 26!

Anyone else had this? What did you do?

TIA

Has she been ill or teething. If so this will reduce the amount she will feed and she won't grow so quickly.

The calories she will get from food will be LESS than the equivalent in breastmilk - it's one of the highest calories foods a child can have so your health visitor is being a twonk!

Suggest you try feeding more often and for longer for the next two weeks, see if you can spend a few days in bed with her to increase your supply and yes eat and drink healthily yourself. In two weeks, if she's not gone up in weight, then yes of course consider supplementing her diet with food but four teaspoons of baby rice will not solve this and if she has an underlying reason for the lack of weight gain, it won't be fixed till you address it.

Apart from weight is she her normal self, does she seem fine to you.

Here's what I did: I asked for a referral to a Paediatrican on the basis that I needed DS to be assessed independently.

And the Paediatrician after assessing DS suggested that H/V focus on at risk children rather than being concerned about DS who is healthy

We saw Paediatrician again last week, and he said, 'remind me why you're here?'

Oh, and he wrote in red book, 'breastfeeding to continue as long as mother and (DS) wish to do so...'

God, I love that man!

But really - don't accept your H/V's opinion. Ask to be referred. If nothing else, it will shut her up

Thanks whomovedmychoc.

I know it's going to be impossible to take it easy and rest over the next few days (excited 4 year old, xmas dinner to cook etc, etc) so I was wondering if I should supplement with formula straight away considering I may not be able to address my supply problem for a few days-should I be really concerned about the lack of weight gain? Yes-she has been teething, by the way.

Well you've answered your own question, you neither have the time or the inclination to start mucking about with bottles and/or solids in the next few days so don't worry. I seriously doubt she will entirely fall off the weight chart before the new year, despite what your HV may say.

If it makes you feel any better, our HV told us to wean before six months because DS shot off the top of the weight chart on breastmilk alone! So you can't bloody win!

If she is teething, it may help to apply teething gel before breastfeeding so she is not in pain and up her supply of Calpol or preferably Neurofen for children (because the latter has an antinflammatory agent which works on the gums and it works in 10 minutes, not 20 like Calpol).

I'm guessing she's also started moving about a bit by now so will be using more calories? What is your build like, are you slim or is her father, some people are lighter. Just because she's on a low centile isn't necessarily a problem, some kids take ages to find their right level (apparently DS doesn't have one ).

Also, were the scales the same?

And length? DS has varied wildly depending on who measured him

It might be interesting to see what her current growth looks like on the World Health Organisation child growth standard charts based on bresatfed babies only. They do show a slower rate of growth after the first 3-4 months compared with the red book charts. The biggest difference is actually seen at 14 months, with bf babies being significantly leaner. This is healthier .

Weigh is only ever a possible symptom of a problem and not a problem in itself. So if there is a problem, simply getting the child to gain weight is not the answer. The answer is to find out why the rate of growth has slowed and address that cause. If your HV is that concerned then I agree that the appropriate course of action is a paediatrician referral. If there is some issue with the breastfeeding, then the solution is to conduct a full breastfeeding assessment and see what can be done to improve the breastfeeding, not to suggest supplementing with less nutritious food such as babyrice or formula.

Rapid weight gain in infancy is known to be unhealthy and associatied with problems later in life. We really need to get away from the culture of the "bonny" (fat) baby who is "good" because they down huge bottles, pile on the weight and sleep all night from a very early age. Ooops... some of that's a bit O/T .

The only question to answer is "is she happy?"

If she's miserable and fretful and easily upset and often in a bad mood she may be hungry.

Then you can

either

increase your milk supply (by tradtional methods - feed all the time and go to bed?)

or start solids

or introduce formula.

IMO none of these 3 suggestions are poisonous to your baby.

So IMO you could look at your baby and decide whether any of these courses of action are needed/advised. And then do the one which feels right!

But if your baby is a happy little thing IMO it doesn't matter where she is on her weight chart - as long as she's happy and content [wink}

Itcanwait. It is very common for exc breastfed babies to have their weight plateau around this time.

My ds only gained an average of less than 1oz per week from (IIRC) weeks 16 to 24. I listened to the blah blah from the HV about baby rice and ignored her. His weight shot upwards at weeks 24 to 26 and then I started him on solids. So, although he never lost weight, his chart could be seen "plummetting" from 25th to 2nd centile which of course was misinterpereted by the HV.

Remember that the weighing can vary tremendously depending on whether your baby has just had a feed, or done a dirty nappy or whatever.

Can I ask why you think your supply has dropped? You say you haven't been eating/drinking and have been stressed, but these things don't normally affect your supply unless they are very extreme. If you have been feeding when your dd needs it, then there is every chance that your supply is just fine.

Is she otherwise fine? Would you have been worried if you didn't know her weight?