7 week old diagnosed with Failure To Thrive. What the hell!

[aimeeeleanor]

I’m so deflated right now & need to know if anybody has been in a similar situation

My son is 7+1 weeks old. He was born on 13th July weighing 7lbs3oz. Born on Dropped down to 6lbs9oz at first weigh in. Then has verrrrry slowly been gaining weight since. Approx 10g per day. He now weighs 8lbs2oz & is small

• He is EBF
• Had a tongue tie cut at 2 weeks old

He seems otherwise healthy - Alert, has started to smile, seems strong (can lift head for short periods etc), tracks objects in front of him, makes cooing noises

The only issue we seem to have with him is wind. He burps a lot after a breastfeed (despite having s good latch) & seems to struggle some of the time when passing gas from his bottom or pooping. He writhes around when on the breast & also when trying to poop on his changing mat. Plus he goes A LOT. Like 10+ dirty nappies a day. Mostly yellow runny poops with one green one on an evening every other evening or so

Health visitor said he has dropped 3 centiles from birth yesterday on weigh in, he’s now on the 0.4th centile

She sent us to the GP who sent us straight to the Paediatrician at the hospital for peace of mind. Paed commented on him being a long but skinny baby who didn’t seem unwell in the slightest. She said he seemed ok & it wasn’t uncommon. Have suggested I cut out dairy & soy, though i’m not convinced as he doesn’t seem to have any symptoms of an intolerance or an allergy

Also said to stop letting him sleep through 5-6 hours on a night & to feed him every 2 hours during the day, 3 hours on a night

I was feeding on demand before but didn’t realise timings were from start to start, so he was definitely going longer than 2 hours between feeds (sometimes napping for 3-4 hours during day). I was also taking him off the breast whenever he pooped & seemed to have gas, which i have now been advised not to do.

Blood tests & pee / poo samples have also been taken to rule out anything related to that

Has anybody else had their child be diagnosed with FTT & they’ve turned out ok? I’m devastated thinking I have failed him. Unfortunately babies don’t come with a hand book & I thought we were doing a really good job. Obviously not :(

thank you x

You're doing so well! My baby was born on the 25th centile then dropped to the 2nd, and took a month to get back to her birth weight. I was put under a lot of pressure from the midwives and it was very stressful. In the end she just started feeding more efficiently from around 6 weeks and now she's 5 months and quite chunky. On reflection I think babies are on their own trajectory and sometimes don't fit neatly onto the charts. If the paediatrician isn't concerned then please don't worry!

Wow, this has gone crazy!

Thank you so much to everybody for the advice & kind words! Just to clarify a few points

I actually went Dairy free by choice myself 12 days ago, as had read it could make a difference. Visited doctor for 6 week check & they agreed right decision & also prescribed ‘Aptamil Pepti’ formula incase i wanted to top him up. Have only given one bottle of this so far. No difference seen yet, which is why I wasn’t convinced about an intolerance but I’m also going to cut out Soy as Paed recommended to see if this helps

So far I’m now making sure he gets fed every 2 hours during the day from start to start, 3 hours at night. Tough though as he doesn’t usually break away from me himself & can stay on the breast asleep for the entire time. So I’ve barely been getting 10 minutes to myself - worth it for him of course, but tough! Fingers crossed this improves now he’s getting more regular feeds

Thanks everybody x

@mathanxiety yes I know, I said there were in one of my posts. They are prescribed by doctors. If the paediatrician that the OP has already seen had thought they were necessary then they would have prescribed them.

@aimeeeleanor it will take about a month for the milk to get out of your system - crazy I know. We have been down the same path with both our girls. Feel free to message if you want to swap stories. Not a medical professional just an allergy mum.

Sidetracking slightly but why does everyone on MN say ‘petite baby’? In real life people just say small. I’ve only ever seen newborns described as ‘petite’ on here.

Em, that's not actually true.
My daughter just had her 4th birthday and starts next week. Quite a few other august babies in her class and only one of her NCT buddies is delaying to start next year

Why would you think the solution to a potential allergy is formula?

You haven’t failed your baby! Digestive issues are really common, especially if there’s a sensitivity to a good group. They are also horrendous to experience as a mother. Watching your baby struggle with something that impacts every aspect of their experience is soul destroying.

I do think you should cut out dairy if you want to continue to EBF. I would consider adding in formula as well. I’ll share my experience to show why

I didn’t realise there was something wrong with my DS1 digestion because he was my first and it was subtle. I now realise that whilst EBF poos can be runny he actually had diarrhoea. They were explosive, ruined an outfit daily. Also had a period of green diarrhoea - sign of intolerance/allergy. My DS2 had major digestive issues. Suspected cmpa, colic, reflux. Was on gaviscon, antihistamines, had to be put on neocate. We found out when he was a year old he was severely allergic to our cats. He’s just had food allergy testing and it all came back clear. I do wonder if being continually exposed to the cats damaged his system. He still has digestive issues but he is better than he was. He can’t tolerate egg or dairy despite not being allergic.

I was desperate with my DS2 and I went to a kinesiologist when he was 13 months. He identified that both my children had an intolerance to the A1 protein in cows milk. This cannot be grown out of. I switched my eldest to goats milk and all his digestive issues cleared up overnight. If I had my time again I would have gone to a kinesiologist when my DS2 was 7 weeks old. Every appointment through the NHS (which has taken over a year to come through) has backed up what the kinesiologist has told me.

I've just had my DS3. He had diarrhoea and seemed upset when going to the toilet. When he was two weeks old it was flagged he was losing weight. I had EBF my other 2DC but I don’t think my breastmilk had come in in the same way. Sometimes you just don’t produce enough. I decided to switch to formula. He will have the same A1 protein intolerance (it’s genetic) so I went for goats milk formula - nannycare. It’s amazing. He is happy on it and thriving. This is the first time I have a baby who isn’t in pain. I am so relieved. If I hadn’t had the information about the A1 cows milk protein, from the kinesiologist, I would have put DS3 on cows milk formula and would be going down a similar route to you now.

Your baby will be different to mine but there are options and your baby will be ok. You’ve got this.

This! Well done.

The wary weeks are so hard with BFing, but it does get better. Your baby will thrive

Just one thing to add, having had a cluster feeding baby, literally glued to me, it was that that got my milk supply up, which then allowed her to ditch the cluster feeding until the evening. If I had given formula, she wouldn’t have got my milk going more, as the need to cluster feed wouldn’t have been there, so I would just be wary of that. These are the hardest weeks but when your gets to about 9 or 10 weeks, which is only a couple of weeks away, it will be worth it. Don’t forget, if your baby needs feeding more than every 2 hours, do it now, just whilst you sort out his weight. Perhaps even, call a breastfeeding charity or NCT for advice. WHatever you do, you are a very caring mum and your child is lucky to have you. X

Given the criticism of the “formula cheerleaders” on here I’m going to clarify my earlier post. When my DS1 was diagnosed with severe reflux he was prescribed three medications by the hospital; an anti-sickness drug, liquid ranitidine (Zantac) and infant Gaviscon. I was alarmed at the anti-sickness drug. It was the same one that my SIL was prescribed when she had chemo. I wasn’t happy about putting that into my baby. At the time I was bemused by the liquid Zantac as I had terrible indigestion whilst pregnant and I would have given my right ear for some but it was contra indicated in pregnancy - but was fine for a tiny baby to have!!! Infant Gaviscon is very difficult to use with breast fed babies. It doesn’t mix into the milk so you have to make it up into a paste and give it to them via a syringe. Mine just spat it out.

A kind neighbour who I barely knew at the time mentioned that she’d had a reflux baby and wasn’t able to breast feed them despite having no problems with her two other exclusively breast fed babies. She told me they not because she was anti breastfeeding but because she didn’t want me to beat myself up about it. I decided to give my baby the Gaviscon in formula. I continued to breast feed him as well for a while. We also bought thickened formula. We found it was much easier to sit DS1 up to feed him with a bottle and that,plus the thickened formula and Gaviscon meant that it wasn’t coming back up nearly as much as the breast milk. We were using both so could see the difference! We quickly dropped the anti sickness medicine and liquid Zantac. And I am so happy that we did. To my horror around nine years later Ranitidine was withdrawn from the market due to it containing potential carcinogenic compounds.

For me it was a choice between giving my baby a cocktail of drugs and continuing with exclusive breastfeeding or giving him formula (something that was actually designed for babies). It was a very easy decision.

I am not anti-breastfeeding. DS2 was exclusively breastfed but I don’t believe that it’s the answer to everything.

@ChiefFinderOuter, the doctor prescribed Aptamil Pepti.

I should have worded my post better to underline the importance of waking little DD every two hours to feed. This meant I had about an hour's 'sleep' at a time for quite a few weeks, with four other children to care for, but the doctor was clear that if she failed to gain she would have to be hospitalised. Also, my mum had come to help after DD was born so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

OP, it will take several weeks to get the last of the dairy proteins out of your system and your baby's. Don't switch to soy alternatives unless you're sure your baby can tolerate soy. My DS was allergic to both dairy and soy.
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Goat milk was prescribed for my two younger Dsisters way back in the 60s for their CMPA digestive issues. It doesn't work for all babies with allergy to CMP but it worked for them.

That is, don't switch to soy alternatives for your own diet.

Because there are specific formulas designed for CMPA and unless you're cooking everything from scratch it can be impossible to exclude certain ingredients from your diet?

And even if you can exclude everything, it takes time for the proteins to leave the milk so it's a good tool to use?

I second calling in sick and not letting inlaws know. Once you've caught up on sleep, take turns sleeping in car.

The mention of coughing stood out to me - asthma investigation seems appropriate. And yes, sleep train if you haven't tried yet ( sounds to me like you have though, and I know some kids just won't settle).

You say he doesn't like company falling asleep, does that worry you? It is confusing as you say. Any chance he's neuro-atypical? Sorry to bring up such a big issue but better to know.

It's hellish being zombified like that. Don't beat yourself up for how it makes you feel.

New research shows that cows milk protein leaves the body a lot quicker than originally thought (days).

The 4-6 weeks is for the gut of the baby to heal from exposure to CMP.

There are different types of formulas for babies with CMPA. The GP under NICE guidelines will make you try extensively broken down formula first. In most cases this works. In severe cases this doesn’t. Then you try the Amino Acid formulas.
It can take time to find one which suits your baby.

Soy protein is very similar to CMP. In a lot of cases babies who react to CMP also react to Soy. So I would eliminate Soy as well from your diet.

As a mother of a baby with CMPA, it was quicker for me to eliminate Soy and Cows milk and go onto EBF then to find a formula that suited my baby (I was mix feeding originally).

There are great support groups on Facebook with mothers in similar situation. Breastfeeding - CMPA support being one.