failure to thrive ds being admitted tomorrow. Any ideas before we see pead and dietician?

[noodlesoup]

Ds is 21wks and 10lb 11oz.

His birthweight was 6lb 11oz.

He was 'following the line' until 10wks but has only gained 13oz in the last 11 weeks.

He has 5 (sometimes 6) breastfeeds a day. I tried giving him more on the advice of the bfc but he was much more unsettled and didn't gain weight.

I have tried switch feeding but he won't go back on the first 'side' again.

I do breast compression.

I am feeding him to routine mostly has he does not demand to be fed.

I wake him for his last feed, if I didn't he will sleep 12 hours.

He hardly ever crys or becomes unsettled.

I think my supply is ok.

He doesn't have a thyroid problem, celiac disease, allergy or chromosomal abnormalities. He has had a lot of tests which have shown nothing but he was severly aneamic at birth and is recovering from that. He has slight developmental delay (but not much and he is bright/alert).

He hardly ever poos.

It does look like I am starving him but I really feel like I'm not. I can't make him feed more often or for longer, he just pulls off.

I really don't want to give him formula and I am sure that I will have to have a conversation about it tomorrow.

I am flummoxed so please, please give me some ideas. He is tiny.

At 21 weeks my dd weighed only 9lb 1oz. She had been gaining 2-3 oz a week since birth but began to plateau at about 20 weeks, and plunged below the charts.

Like you, I felt she took exactly what she wanted from me, and no amount of persuasion made a difference. (although she fed much more frequently around the clock than your ds)

There never was any medical cause found, and she was very healthy, although skinny. I chose to focus on what high calorie solids I could introduce at 26 weeks rather than formula, as I felt, rightly or wrongly, that I preferred to give her natural whole foods rather than processed formula. I flung cream and butter into all her foods at first and her weight skyrocketed as soon as we did this.

I believe that some babies just seem to content themselves with far less than others, but biologically they are normal, just tiny.

I completely understand the worry of a slow gaining baby and really hope things look up for you soon.

I remember someone posting something similar about weaning making a big difference, when I was going through this and I really hung my hopes upon things turning out the same way - which they did.

I remember also pleading with my dd to take MORE MILK PLEASE!, to no avail. I still don't really understand why she gained so slowly, but I know she wasn't the only one like that.

She is the healthiest, brightest child I know (biased, obv), and eats everything with gusto. But she still looks very dainty in build next to her peers. I think she may have a very fast metabolism, perhaps.

How are things now, noodlesoup?

Hi Noodlesoup

Hope things are going well for you.

I thought I'd post just to let you know you are not alone. I posted something similar 2 years ago and Verylittlecarrot (Hi!) very kindly posted to me at that time.

DC was 6lb 13oz at birth and 11lbs 5.5oz at 21 weeks. I was in a state constantly for the first 4/5 mths over her agonisingly slow gain. I never actually had her tested but did supplement with EBM in the early weeks to get her on the right track.

Very similar to your DC, she had around the same no of feeds at that time and could not be convinced to feed more/for longer. If I tried to force her (keep her close to the breast for 1/2 hour after she was finished) she would eventually spit up. She actually developed relux (happy massive spitter around 5 mths and was on Gaviscon from 7mth to a year). She took to solids at six months really well and always ate much larger amounts than her peers (in fact I had to learn to stop her or she would keep going and then throw up). I stopped breastfeeding at 14mths as she was still clinging to the bottom line of the charts and I couldn't take the pressure any more. Somewhere between 12mths and 18mths she started gaining and at 2 she was almost on the 50th percentile. At 2.5, she is very slim (but not scarily so) and food is a major issue in that she eats around 3 times what her pals eat. She would eat all day ALOT. I stop her continuously. We went to a mexican last weekend and she ate the same no. of fajhitas as I did. I'm 8st and she is 26lbs! So I think that she has a fast metabolism, both my sister and I do also. I think that some babies are content on less milk, she was such an easy baby and slept so well (still sleeps very well and more than her friends - probably trying to digest all the food she eats) but I would comment that as a 1st time mum I didn't realise that a baby could be too sleepy/disinclined to demand milk and I am convinced that I didn't feed her enough (she didn't demand) in the early weeks and that hence my supply was capped and nothing I could every do would increase it. She also sucked her thumb constantly and hence never nursed for comfort which didn't help.

I'm currently feeding my 7mth old DS and at 4mths he outweighed his big sister at a year! I miss my small baby.

I wish you all the very best and just wanted to let you know that even though my little one probably had the bare minimum of milk, she is absolutely fine and caught up in her own time. She has never been to the doctor (other than for jabs), never had an antib, earinfection etc She was slightly late in terms of sitting (8mths) , crawling (10mths), walking (15mths) but hasn't drawn breath since she started talking (early enough) and at 2.5yrs could negotiate for NATO!

Molly

It looks like he has some sort of metabolic disorder. I still don't really know anything though. I'm even more worried about him now. It just goes on and on. I'm still hoping that it is going to sort itself out when he is weaned. It is very helpful to hear from others in the same situation so thankyou.

That must be very worrying noodlesoup. I do hope they're able to give you some more info soon. If they work out what it is then it might be worth asking or searching to see if there are any patient groups of people with similar things where you could find people who may have been through something similar. Keep us posted too.