Breastfed DS weight gain slowed down - help!

[mistressploppy]

DS (5months) has gone from 75th to 25th percentile in about 6wks - seems absolutely fine though.

Should I worry? (also posted in Behaviour/Development - sorry)

My DS also did that and it prompted me to wean him. In hindsight, I was just panicking and he really wasn't ready for solids. Don't give myself too much of a hard time anymore as he had been prem (and under 5lbs), so I was still very anxious about maintaining his weight, but I wouldn't advise anyone else to do it and wished I had had more confidence.

Are you 100% demand feeding? I tried to stick a 3 hourly schedule with DS, but let DD feed whenever she wanted to (sometimes, that was constantly!). Her weight stayed a little more steady between the 4-6 month stage. My friend's DD, however, had very big variations: she would not gain anything for 3 weeks and then put on 8oz (seemingly overnight).

I think that the differentials are so small, though: I have a vague memory of working out that the difference between the 75th and 25th centile was something like 4oz ... which is a single feed or a very big poo!

Anyway, my advice is not to worry. Those centiles are only guidelines and the true test is whether your baby is alert, happy and producing lots of wet and dirty nappies. Just keep an eye on it x

BTW - do you have a 'breast from birth' centile chart? They have been using charts based on formula feeders for YEARS. There's not a huge difference, but I think it is important to recognise that the weight of breast fed babies will fluctuate far more.

I see he's slightly prem, also ... so I really do get why you are keeping such an eye on the centiles. I only relaxed about DS's weight when he was 9 months old, by which time I'd fed him so much that he resembled a pumpkin .

25th is great. With DS, I got rather fixated on 'aiming for' the 91st centile (like it was a competition???!!), but DD has stayed on the 25th for most of her life and she is just perfect. And I am happier now that I weigh her when I have to, rather than being a fortnightly weigher, as I was with DS.

Has he lost weight mistressploppy? Or has he just gained very little?

Is he exclusively breastfed?

It is very common for weight gain to plateau around this time in exclusively breastfed babies. My ds1 did this too and gained an average of about an ounce a week for 6 or 8 weeks (can't remember offhand!). He was fine, didn't actually lose any weight but his chart had my HV twitching, presumably because she didn't know it was typical of a breastfed baby.

As Toastielover says, if your baby is alert/happy/nappies ok etc, then I wouldn't worry about it.

Has he lost weight, or been gaining constantly but just at a slower rate? If the former then that is perhaps a cause for concern, but if the latter then so long as he is generally happy, alert, eating well, weeing and pooing just fine then that is probably just him.

Just to give you my story, my DS went from just under 91st at birth right down to 9th by age of 1! He gained steadily, but just slowly despite generally being a good eater. I stressed hugely about it, HVs kept an eye on it and sort of ummed and aahed about it and had me weigh him slightly more frequently than normal but never really raised it as a huge problem. Now at 2yo, he has bounced back up a little to nearly 25th. He is built like DH - tall and slim - and I think has the metabolism to match as he generally eats like a horse but puts on weight very slowly, just like DH. He has happily met all his development milestones, and is a very bright, chatty, energetic toddler. I've concluded that it is just the way he is and the charts are not really that relevant for him!

Oh yes, mawbroon is right - they do often plateau at 4-6 months. I learnt that after I'd started to shovel baby rice into DS

I don't think you should worry.

I've deliberately stayed away from the weighing clinic with DD5 since her immunisations. As long as she's happy and feeding well I didn't want to risk being pressured to wean early, especially since we have Crohn's Disease in the family.
She's nearly 6 months now so I'll go back when I think she's ready for solids and see which centile she's on. She was 75th before, though we are not a large-framed family.

Thanks everyone. I was worried the hv would say to wean but he really isn't ready (can't sit unaided, and I want to blw)

He hasn't lost weight, just went down to 50th for a bit and now down to 25th.

I'm pretty sure he's fine (wees and poos etc) but as Toastielover says, I am a bit paranoid due to his prematurity and being fixated on weight for the first few months - just when I'd started to chill out this happens! He had a tough time feeding initially, I had to express and work hard to get him to bf, he had low blood sugar and jaundice at birth etc. I was actually threatened by the midwife at the hosp; "if you can't get more milk into him they'll TAKE HIM AWAY FROM YOU - he'll have to go downstairs to SCBU..." etc etc

I do a 3hr rough eat/play/sleep routine but am totally flexible if he asks for food, obviously. He has slept 7-7 for a long time, so was worried that no night feeds could be causing the prob - but he put on weight so well initially I didn't think it could be that...

Sorry, there's just a bit more - both dh and I are really big and chunky, so it's just so odd to have a dainty ds!

Sorry - he is EBF. He put on 4.5oz in the last 2wks.

139 - good point about early weaning, as dh has colitis

Oh, sweetie, I really feel for you! It's all flooding back: DS also had LBS and jaundice at birth (the jaundice lasted 6 weeks) and I had a miserable time getting DS established on the breast. I also experienced some of the same threatening crap from militant midwives, who seemed to think my commitment to breastfeeding was a silly vanity. So I really do sympathise.

Re you and your DH being chunky ;) - DH and I were both big babies. I fully expected a big baby. The 5lb scrap that arrived at 35 weeks shocked the hell out of me and it took me a long time to get over that and stop feeling guilty / inadequate in some way. I focused on feeding him because I felt I had something to make up, I think?

A bit of perspective, though: he is now 4 and, if anything, is still a bit on the chubby side due to my Intensive Feeding Programme (just thinning out now). So I really, really think you are doing the right thing in waiting to wean and not over-reacting to what can actually be pretty meaningless data.

Also a big vote here for BLW: I did it with DD and it was so much better than all the pureeing lark.

I think you'll both be fine! x

Sorry, just to explain: I have changed my name from ToastieLover this morning. Am trying out a Russian hat ;)

Thanks Druzhok

I have exactly the same problem with my DD who is 18 weeks and who has only put on 4ozs in the last 2 weeks.

This thread is quite reassuring and explains a lot more than my HV did yesterday. When I queried it, I was told that I was "being neurotic". Just the type of support I needed

It's taken me 5.5 months to truly realise that some HVs really don't know much about certain things....bang goes my blind trust in the medical world

i dont understand the " pressure" from HV for early weaning because the baby isn't gaining weight fast enough according to some chart.

• its a misuse of the charts, they are not meant to be a target where every baby aims to be at the top

• breast milk has more calories that pureed pear or baby rice etc

• the risks of early weaning are well known, especially for babies with a family history of atopic disease

like some other posters, i ended up not going to the Hv at all, to avoid more irritating lectures about stopping bf

It's normal for babies to drop down a bit as they start to become more active. This happened with loads of babies i know. With DS it was a battle to keep him above 0.4th centile during this period.

I did wonder about that too, AliGrylls. Not that ds is particularly active (not sitting or crawling yet) but he is more....wriggly than before

What Kristina says, particularly about the peculiarity of replacing milk with pureed fruit/veg.

I think there is a 'not on my watch' mentality, to some extent. They do not like centile droppage!

My lovely doctor told me recently that as long as DC is alert, weeing, pooing etc to not get her weighed - it's the best bloody advice I've had - not been back and its the happiest we've been...

As everyone else has said mistressploppy (fab name btw) the centile charts are often based upon a mixture of breast and bottlefed babies so do not give a true picture of how breastfed babies gain weight.

In my area we are now using the new breastfeeding charts and I have noticed a marked decrease in babies who show the plateau in weight which was evident on the old charts. It was so noticable that I used to warn breastfeeding mothers about the plateau and not to worry if everything else was fine and they were happy.

Some HVs suggest weaning but tbh there are more calories in breastmilk than in a bit of pureed fruit. We don't advise it in my team but I know from past experience that some HVs don't keep up to date.

Have definitely noticed a difference between weaning advice given, according to age of HV.

Sometimes it works the other way, though: the older and more experienced ones seem to be a bit more relaxed about other issues and more likely to question directives.

Feel quite sorry for HV sometimes; they do a tremendous job in terms of child protection (usually first one to raise alarm, I believe) and yet it's so easy to view them as irritating prefect types or bemoan their lack of answers to those key questions such as, "Why doesn't my child sleep?".

actually druzhok, i dont recall ever asking my HV why my child didn't sleep. But i didnt appreciate her telling me off for still Bf at 8 months. Its irritating enough when it comes from a complete stranger in the supermarket. Its completely out of order when its a HCP who is PAID with public money to give up to date, evidence based advice to mothers, not to dole out her own prejudices/old wives' tales in her employers time.

My story is far from unusual. I understand that it must be hard to hear your own professional criticised so often. But if you cant stand the heat..........

As a HV Kristina I have to agree - it's totally unacceptable for a HV to tell anyone off for BF at 8 months. The advice they give should be evidence based but sadly sometimes is not. There are many reasons for this but a major one HAS to be the chronic understaffing most HV teams now have meaning that they are running just to stand still much of the time. In that situation it is more understandable that sometimes a parent is more likely to have up to date info than the HV. It's not the way it should be at all.

On the other hand there are HVs out there who just should NOT be doing the job. And I am thinking of those HVs who like your one told you off for still BF at eight months. Hell I'd be over the moon and singing your praises. Any HV who needs to be told that a baby being BF at 8 months is a GOOD thing should be retiring.

Didn't say YOU did, kristina. But surely you've overheard the silly questions? Some ladies at the clinic I attend could be taking a faulty electrical item back ... "but it clearly says in page X of my handbook that they will sleep through at 4 months. What is wrong?".