Failure to Gain on 15 week old child

[YvonneMarie]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here has been in a similar situation.

My daughter was very chubby when born (I had gestational diabetes) but gained very little over the last 3 months. She was born 9' 4'' and is now 11' 2'' at 15 weeks. This means she's crossed 4 centile lines on the charts and is waiting to be referred to a hospital. We don't know how long this will take to come through.

She is breast fed. We also give her a little formula as instructed by the Health Visitor but she hates it and drinks very little of it. She drinks fine with the breast milk - regularly and sometimes for a while. But when she's not hungry or had enough not a force on this planet can persuade her to drink anything. She's really strong (lift her head off the mat and hold her own weight when supported) and very energetic and alert.

I've been told by the health visitor that early weaning could be detrimental for further weight gain - even small quantities of baby rice. But I've heard "third hand" that a local some pediatrician says it's the normal course of action to give a little baby rice morning and night babies failing to gain at this age. But third hand information isn't exactly reliable.

Has anyone here had a hospital referral for failure to gain appropriately? If so, could you let me know what you experienced, and the kind of advice they offered. Especially what they did or didn't advise in relation to early weaning.

Thanks so much - Yvonne

Yvonne, personally I would seek out advice from an NCT or LLL breastfeeding councillor. I don't think the formula thing is helping either but don't know the reason for it (do you?).

How often does your dd feed, and how many sides per feed?

Generally baby rice has less calories than breastmilk so to replace milk with it would be a bit silly (it also can fill up the baby and prevent them from taking enough milk too).

Babies birth weight is an indicator of how well your placenta fed them before they were born, many babies fall down the chart as they settle into thier correct genetic weight. As long as baby is feeding well, weeing & pooing, content and growing out of thier clothes at a steady pace when all is well.

Weaning early does affect weight gain, for the worse. Baby gets alot more calories from milk than solids and the solids fill them up so they don't want as much milk, they put on much more on milk alone. Baby rice has next to no nutrition in it and certainally won't make baby put on any weight. It's standard advice to give it to reflux failure to thrive babies when medications don't work and it only helps with weight gain then as it weighs the stomach contents down so they can't be thrown up.

Your baby sounds fine and healthy, you are being refered to hospital because thats standard procedure, not neccesarily because there is something wrong.

I am not an expert on GD but I have read that weight gain should be calculated from lowest known weight, especially in the case of GD. So, what was your babies lowest weight? And how has the weight gain been since then?

I would not worry too much if your baby is feeding well and looks happy and lively.

thanks Starlight. I've already spoken to an NCT counsellor and following all but one piece of advice: They told me to supplement with breastmilk instead but the health visitor instructed me to ignore this and carry on using formula. I hate using the formula but don't want to be labelled as ignoring the health visitors instructions.

plenty of breast swaps unless she falls asleep or gets distracted by a anything (even a white wall is enough to fascinate her)

Yvonne, It sounds like you are doing all the right things (and I just about dare say it) except for supplementing with breastmilk.

Unless you can get a half-way sensible 'reason' from your HV (and I bet you won't) then ditch the formula. It interferes with your body's ability to make the right about of milk and to the right consistancy.

Tell the HV that the breastfeeding councillor recommended it and give them the contact details if you need to. They are WAY more experienced at feeding issues than HV who are more generalist.

thanks everyone. she really does seem happy so I'll try to stop worrying.

Her lowest weight recorded for her was 8lb 6oz but the graph started recording from 9lb.

thanks starlight. the HV knows the advice but specifically told me to ignore it as she thinks the problem is in the quality of my milk. I'm scared to ignore the hv so am hoping the hospital will reassure me that its ok to do so.

OFFS, - sorry, not directed at you.

Quality of milk is pretty much standard the world over, even in countries with famine. This is a HV that you need to ditch. Putting doubt in your mind about the quality of your milk is one of the surest ways of stopping bfing. There is nothing wrong with your milk. It is fab and FAR superior to formula.

Ask her to show you research that backs her silly advice. Ask her where you should submit your sample of breastmilk for analysis. Ask her to go on training!

Okay, I'm just a random internet person who's credentials you can't possible be sure of but please, at least demand that this person backs up her claims and possibly call for tiktok on here to verify what I am saying (she IS a bfc, and an excellent one at that).

Honestly, I would put in a complaint against that HV, that is one of the most stupid and damaging piece of advice I've ever heard of a HV giving. Your breastmilk is perfect, your body prioritises baby so if anything starts lacking in anything it's your body as everything thats needed for your milk is given to your milk.

Starlight said it perfectly, that is a HV you need to ditch, call the HV team and request a new HV who has real Bfing knowledge and not fairy stories.

thanks all, I'll give it some serious consideration.

Does she seem happy? Is she having enough wet nappies? If she is I wouldn't worry too much about it.
She's too young for weaning, vegies and as the poster put above baby rice have little calories and won't help weight gain.
However, if you are worried, no breast feeding counsellor in the world is going to help you with formula, they just don't do that, even if its the best thing for your baby.
Try a different formula, they do taste a little different. Express and mix with formula. You will still be able to breast feed even if you do that.

Thanks. She's very happy. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies too.
So I'll not worry and wait for the referral

I would wait for the referral. As the mother of a DD who was born on the 50th centile and actually fell off the bottom of the charts in less than 3 weeks I know it is hard to wait. However, my DD is now a lovely healthy nearly 8 year old. She was and still is a bizarre one who never really gained weight until she was weaned, she also gained weight whilst in hospital fighting a life threatening condition there were a lot of [hhmm] paeds doctors about her.