Baby weight concerns - HV useless - any advice?

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First of all - my local HV team - aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh!

Right, now I have releieved the tension, onto the issue. DS is 24 weeks old and EBF (I plan to start solids in a couple of weeks). He was born at 37 weeks and was 6lb2, he only lost 1oz of his birth weight and has been gaining steadily since then with one jump from the 9th to the 25th percentile. As there have been no issues, I have been getting him weighed monthly. His last weigh in was on 10th November when he was 14lb14. I went to get him weighed again today and he was (apparently) 14lb10, so a drop in weight. The nursery nurse got the HV who looked very flustered, started wittering on about the last person making a mistake, then blamed a roll out of new scales to all the local HV teams as my baby "looked well and like he didn't have weight issues".

If she had left it there, I maybe wouldn't be concerned but she then went on to come out with numerous ridiculous statements:

1. "Don't worry, breastfed babies always weigh less and gain more slowly" (this is immaterial, my baby has always been a small baby but he has gained steadily, it has only been today's figure that is out of the ordinary)
2. "We only worry if baby drops below the 2nd percentile" (I have had friends super anxious as there babies have dropped from the 50th to the 9th and HV has said it is a cause for concern)
3. "Don't worry, he has put on a good amount of weight since birth" (but has dropped in the last month????)
4. "All scales weigh slightly differently" (but my baby has been weighed by different HV scales, a consultant's scales and midwives scales and has steadily gained regardless - today's result was a huge anomaly)

I could go on - basically by this point I had lost all trust in her and when I asked whether this had happened with other babies the nursery nurse said no instantly and the HV very quickly talked over her and said yes it had (but the nursery nurse was doing the weigh ins that day - HV only called as I was concerned.) They have advised me to go back next week and if he hasn't gained they will "send me straight to the GP" but I "shouldn't worry".

I am now, of course, very worried. I have to say that DS seems fine - he is lively and happy and feeding every 2 hours in the day as normal. WWYD? Should I go to the GP anyway tomorrow? I think I will be worried sick if I have to wait a whole week. Or am I just being PFB?

Help please...!

If I was a betting woman I would say your baby is fine! HV's are often as useful as a choccy teapot. My 3rd baby was EBF until I started him on baby led weaning at 7 months old. Like your son, mine gained weight well, but it tailed off and at around a similar age lost a bit of weight. He was also lively, active, responsive and an all round happy little chappy. If it helps, he was 50th centile at birth, dropped down to the 9th and now at 2 years old, he is on the 75th centile, lol! When I had ds2, I was told that dropping across 2 centile lines was cause for concern, but with ds3 I was told they look at the bigger picture. It was obvious ds2 was a sick baby and obvious that ds3 was not. Having had a baby that really was failure to thrive and was having weights weekly/twice weekly, I think HV's can make too much of a deal about little fluctuations and worry parents needlessly. There are lots of things that can make a difference, time of day, scale differences or calibration of the same scales, if baby needs a poo or has just had one, full/empty bladder, etc, etc.

I would try not to let it worry you, but if you are really concerned, take him to be weighed again before xmas.

Weight by itself tells you almost nothing unless there is a meaningful and continuous loss. Yours sounds like bad scales or an off couple of weeks. It is only useful as a kind of warning signal to refer further, but even then not on the basis of one weigh in.

Look at your son. If he is healthy and happy, you almost certainly have nothing to be concerned about. When our son dropped way below the 2nd centile due to reflux (touched the 0.4th at one point) we took him to a paediatrician who basically just looked at him rolling and playing for 20 minutes and told us he was sure he was basically normal ex the reflux.

Do you have the weights on a graph? If so, you may be able to see that the last weight was higher than "expected" and the new weight more what you'd expect. If that's the case, I'd say the scales were wrong, the person read them wrong, or your baby was holding in an enormous wee and poo till just after weighing!

It's the overall pattern of weight that matters more than one odd measurement - if he is eating, drinking, weeing and pooing, seems happy and healthy and interested in stuff, the its very unlikely that there's anything wrong.

Maybe go again in two weeks instead of a month to check that he's gained a bit by then?

I seem to remember that DD stopped gaining weight at 5 months and lost a wee bit, so I started solids at 24 weeks. I gave myself a huge pat on the back for EBF for that long and figured that as she was so active by then that my milk wasn't enough. Also she was trying steal my food!

I found that my HV wasn't used to EBF babies but never worried myself as she was/is very healthy.

Please try not to worry. I have spent the first year of my DD's life worrying about her weight and now I just don't get her weighed anymore!

She had an operation at the weekend on her eye and she was weighed for the first time in 6 months. I was more worried about her being weighed than about her operation which is crazy, but that's what HV's comments have done to me. My DD was born on the 50th centile, was ill in the first 12 weeks and dropped to the 2nd centile and when weighed last week before the op, she's between the 0.2 line and the 2nd centile line. BUT, she's very active, eats, poos, is very happy and bright. So as much as it's in the back of my mind, I'll concentrate on enjoying her instead of worrying that there's something wrong. BTW, in all that time, she hasn't actually lost weight, just put it on slower than the graph shows.

So please try not to worry. You will know if something is wrong.

A drop of more than two centiles is when they start to worry, so 50th-9th is borderline. The most common theme is the HV worry needlessly over weight. Although your baby has been following a line, it's just as normal for them to up one, down one so I wouldn't worry about past behaviour having been steady. Judge the baby.

If it helps my DD was born 6lbs 12.5oz and at 9 months weighs 13lbs, 10oz (we're on the 0.4th line now). Since she's been walking for 3 weeks and always been very active we've tried (and succeeded for the most part) to relax about it. Just after the weighing sessions were our normal wobbles.

Has she been ill lately or suddenly more active? Do you think there's a chance the last weigh in was wrong (e.g. checked the conversions). If you're worried a trip to the GP won't hurt things. They'll probably reweigh there. If it were me and there were no other concerns I'd wait until next weeks weigh in.