Anyone else breastfeeding a baby who is below the 2nd percentile for weight

[Reallytired]

I have a little girl who is nearly 12 months. Her weight has dropped below the 2nd percentile. She was on the 25th percentile at six months. I have no idea what her height or head circumference is.

I don't think she is underweight. She has dimples! She developing well and is very active. She is just very petite.

We offer her 3 meals a day plus snacks. The nursery does the same. My daughter is at nursery 3 days a week. At nursery she refuses to drink any form of milk. She also refuses to be spoonfed.

Maybe breastmilk is merely comfort at one years old. However my daughter has a stinking cold, an ear infection and is teething. She needs all the comforting going!

Being back at work makes it really hard to get to the baby weighing clinic. I got her weighed on Monday and I got a massive telling off from the health visitor. Apparently I GOT to stop breastfeeding. Apparently NHS guidelines say to stop breastfeeding at a year.

I want to breastfeed my daughter until two years old. I am only prepared to give up breastfeeding if a paediatrian says its truely necessarily. Certainly I am not going to stop breastfeeding because of one weighing.

My DD followed a very similar pattern and is still on the 0.4th centile now aged nearly 4. She is just very petite (I am short and slim myself). When she was under a year old I had a lot of grief from HV etc and was referred to a paediatrician, who took one look and said she was completely fine, just small... someone has to be down the bottom of the charts.

WRT to breastfeeding it doesn't sound like you need to change anything - you keep feeding if you want to! If she won't drink milk otherwise, surely she'd be getting less calories if you stopped, not to mention all the other goodies. Wrong info too about the NHS guidelines - WHO says two years and beyond for bf.

Forgot to say, DD was bf to 11 months (self-weaned, had reflux when tiny and never liked it much) and thereafter drank very little milk at all at home or nursery.

When DS came along I just never got him weighed

If you don't know her height as a centile then the weight is hard to make sense of, isn't it? Definitely don't stop bf, I am sure the idea that NHS guidelines say to stop at a year is absolute garbage (and you should perhaps complain about HV telling you this too)

My DS was like that for the first few months, but did start to put on weight with food at 6 months so don't have a directly similar experience. We had a referral to a paediatrician for 'failure to thrive' but the paed was very nice, very pro-breastfeeding, and just told me to carry on. If it would put your mind at rest I would make a routine GP appointment so you can get her height measured (because if she is in proportion height and weight wise then no need to worry at all), and then ask for a referral if you are concerned. But don't stop feeding - no competent healthcare professional would tell you to do that before 2 years.

My daughter is also coming up on 12 months, was ebf until we started weaning onto food, and since about 9/10 months has been having 2 formula feeds x 2 days a week when she goes to her childminder. She is also just on the 2nd centile, and neither food nor formula has made her gain any more weight than when she was ebf. She basically gains 2oz a week, and that's her lot. I was anticipating a chubby baby, and I definitely have a skinny lean one, but a very lovely skinny lean one!

She's also been teething, had 2 or 3 horrible colds in succession that resulted in severely upset tummy for weeks on end (possible temporary lactose intolerance) which made me desperately worried about hydration and weight, but very very glad still to be breastfeeding her, both for the comfort and health reasons. Some babies are just small! My HVs have been lovely and nary a bad word about the bf, so you've certainly had a short straw there with your HV and I would complain loudly that her advice was wrong, I think. Some of them just don't get it, and it's very upsetting and annoying.

I know I'm coming to the end of bf my DD, and I'm a bit sad about it (supply is dropping off, I'm back at work, she guzzles formula) but I know there will be upsides too (DH can put to bed, comfort in middle of night, etc etc!) If it's right for you and your baby, carry on feeding.

hey i wouldn't worry about it.
some people are meant to be not quite average!
My DS was born at 50th percentile, dropped to 0.5th percentile, but i kept bf for 14 months. now, he is nearly 4, and still just well mainly short. all DH's family are very short.
if you are worried get a length assessment done too, don't know why HV are so against measuring length and look at height/ weight ratio and keep BF your DD.

Don't worry about it, people are never happy. My DD is 3 this week and is off the scale for height (115th percentile if there was one) but on the 50th for weight. She is just lanky but does every man and his dog have to go on about it?? Kids are kids, they come in all shapes and sizes. If your DD is alert and bright and hitting regular milestones then she is just supposed to be petite. Jobs a good'un.

I wouldn't worry. DS1 was a lean and skinny baby and DS2 is a chubbly bub (rolls and rolls of fat), I am doing exactly the same now as I did with DS1, they are just different.

I breastfed my very petite ds until he was 15 months old. He had his own unique little line about 2 cm underneath the lowest percentile.

I was referred to the hospital butthe HV said it was purely to put my mind had rest (we had some major problems with feeding post birth) and they were checking that there was no problem absorbing any food, nothing to do with b/f. In fact I was told to carry on for as long as I wished. I had to stop in the end as I had to go on a week's training course away from home.

My DD is pretty small too (between 2nd and 9th) and always has been. She's still BF at 16 months though eats loads too - just has one of those metabolisms I guess. I'm outraged that your HV told you to stop BF, that's just utter nonsense and you should complain about her. What does she think, that if you gave your DD a bottle of cow's milk she'd suddenly pile on the pounds? I don't think ANY paediatrician would tell you to stop breastfeeding a child, specially an active, alert, happy one. BF is about far more than food - as you say yourself she's not been well and has teeth pain so she needs the comfort! You are doing a great job x

Thanks for your posts. Anyway my usual health visitor (a nice lady, not the one at the clinic) came round and weighed my daughter. She also measured her. This time she was on the 9th percentile for head circumference and hieght and on the 0.4th percentile for weight. My daughter also had her 8th month check four months late. Apparently her development is fine. The healht visitor has asked me to take my daughter to the GP.

My health visitor is coming in four weeks to weigh her again. She is going to watch my daughter eat lunch. I feel quite nervous about it.

I haven't had time to read through all the replies but both my DD1 and DD2 dropped from 25th centile to below the 9th at around a year. They each picked back up again (despite me ignoring the HV's advice to add double cream and butter to all her meals (for DD1)) - they are still small children but frankly I am 5'4" and DH is 5'9" so we are unlikely to raise amazons. I put it down both times to increased activity as they were starting to walk; like your DD, their development was just fine.
If you don't want her to come and watch your daughter eat, you don't have to have her round.