16 weeks and dropped two weight centiles since birth

[motherinferior]

I've just been to the baby clinic, which I very rarely do; I wanted to check out dd2, who's been sleepy and crotchety and out of sorts (although I suspect it's a mixture of the cold bug dp and I have had, compounded by teething. Anyway, they weighed her and she has apparently dropped TWO centiles on those curves where they measure babies, in the 16 weeks since she was born (and her height has stayed constant, so she is getting thinner).

So far, she's been exclusively breastfed; she has a bit of a routine, roughly every 3 hours or so, and doesn't feed at night between 10.30 and some godawful hour like 5.30 (or later if we're lucky). I feel strongly that it's too early to feed her solids, which was suggested...and anyway, would that make any difference? I'm a bit stuck - will start instituting an hour-long feed in the evenings, but I can feel myself starting to panic.

Help!

Oh, and I will take her to the doc as well...off to stick boob in gob now!

DS dropped from the 98th to just above the 50th around this time. He was sleeping through the night and was breastfed during the day. I had started on solids by this time too, tiny amount of baby rice with expressed milk.

DS (15 months) is long and slim. I think his birthweight was due to his height if you know what I mean. Both DH and I are tall and slim so we were never going to have a chunky baby.

When she's over her cold I'm sure you'll see she's fine. Try not to worry and don't let it change your routine.

don't panic MI - ds went from 90 at birth to 75 three weeks later and at 16 weeks was on 50, where he stayed until at least 2. what did the hv/clinic nurse say? how long has her weight remained constant? babies do plateau, I believe.

I started solids then MI

MI - ds went from 98th to 25th, and then stayed on the 25th. Dd is heading the same way. I wouldn't worry if she isn't showing any other signs of not getting enough milk.

The charts get increasingly inaccurate precisely because people panic and supplement with formula or introduce solids. As long as she is putting on weight don't worry about the centiles. Shop around for growth charts too - look at the ones for breastfed babies, and also some in other developed nations. You will see your baby is all over the place. The charts are not what is healthly (unlike say a height weight chart) they are just what has happened in a particular country. Breast milk has more calories than baby rice anyway so that wouldn't help.

Yes those charts are total nonsense and in my opinion responsible for far too many panicked mothers doing silly things because of them. If your child is exclusively breast fed, I'm sure she is healthy and happy. My ds would eat virtually nothing for as long as a week or more when he had a cold (still does). And then would more than make up for it afterwards. If he had been weighed during one of those weeks he could easily have dropped from 95th to below 50th. In fact although he was born average (8lbs), he shot up to 95th and now at 3 is totally average at 50th. That is very normal for an exclusively bf baby.

There centile charts are based on formula fed babies. If baby is happy, peeing and pooing - ignore it. Someone, somewhere devised a breastfed baby chart but I can't find it at the moment. Breastfed babies have a different chart. Keep up the good work motherinferior and stay away from the scales

My ds dropped from 91st centile down to UNDERNEATH the centile charts! This was progressively over about the first 3 months - he never actually lost weight (after his first, and significant) post birth dip) - he was just extremely slow to gain weight. He was exclusively bf, but I was fortunate to have excellent support from the bf counsellors/midwifes at the bf support group at the maternity hospital. All they did, just for reassurance, was refer him to the consultant paediatrician, who was more interested in what my dad was up to, than worrying about the manifestly healthy baby in front of him.

One thing I did for a while was "supplement" with additional EBM, (this was at about 2/3 weeks)and also gave him every alternate feed as EBM for a wee while - but I think that was more to do with giving ME confidence in "seeing" how much I was feeding him - the consultant told me to "stop bothering with all that faff"! (As it was, it had been quite useful, as it got me into the habit of expressing and ds into the habit of taking a bottle, so I didn't have any problems when I went back to work, and went on to feed him for over a year).

I was never under any pressure to supplement with formula - but then I did avoid HVs!

He did eventually start creeping up again - along the 25th centile for a while and then (I think) along the 50th, but I now have now idea where he is, or how much he weighs - he's just a healthy 3 year old.

Get her checked out by your GP if that will reassure you - but apart from that, just go on having confidence in your body and its ability to feed her. As bobthebaby says, breast milk has more calories than baby rice anyway!

DS is now almost 4yo. He went from something like 40th percentile weight wise at 12 wks to 7th percentile at 16 weeks; he only gained 3.5 oz that month. I started solids, including things like sausage fat. But he has stuck resolutely to 7th percentile ever since. Despite being a generally "good" eater. [I don't understand anybody with children who don't eat; mine are veritable pigs despite being near the bottom of the weight charts.] And DS is 25th percentile for height, so supposedly "out of proportion". Later the HV pointed at his early weeks near the middle of the weight charts and said "Oh that?! That was just a growth spurt!"

You know if your baby is happy & content after meals, and steadily outgrowing clothes (mine was).

THis site has breastfed baby charts which might be of interest.
here

Remember that the 50th centile represents average, but most people aren't 'average' and it's normal for people to range from small and thin to large and chunky. A friend's baby dropped from the 50th centile at birth to below the 9th centile, but he's just naturally tall and skinny and so are both parents.

I remember a midwife telling me that birthweight is very unrelated to the eventual size of a baby (more related to you and how your body grows babies). So that babies can be born large - 75th centile for example, but if the child is going to be naturally thin they will just drop down to their natural centile which could be 25th or lower (and vice versa). So maybe your dd has just found her natural weight now (or centile rather), having been born larger. Don't know if that quite makes sense, but it's obviously something that stuck in my head!

I'm sure, like everyone else says, that it's much more important to check that your dd is happy and healthy and peeing and pooing etc. and not overly hungry between feeds.

Thank you very much. I think I need to go back and look at those charts; I know that what concerned the HV was that her weight has progressively dropped, over the time - she was last weighed about 8 weeks ago and had dropped then, and has now dropped further. However, the lovely doctor I saw today (who was 37 weeks pregnant herself!) said she seems absolutely fine, that the fluctuations really aren't that great - but as the issue's been raised I should probably come back in a couple of weeks and we'll see what's happening then. I also have to take a urine sample, which should be fairly hilarious (they give you this little bag you slot into their nappy. Will let you know how this goes!).

You've really reassured me. She is quite lovely - alert, chirpy, adorable smile, a fair bit of padding on her thighs and cheeks - and I don't really want to faff around with mashed banana and suchlike till I have to, IYKWIM.

Thanks again! Will update as time passes...
MI
xxxxx

we really cant in with Hv can we. today i was told to cut down on what my dd eats as they think she is too 'large'. makes me angry

in/win opps!!

motherinferior, at least you got the little slotting in bag. At one point one of our useless gp's (we have a great one now), sent my dh home with a little pee pot and asked him to get a sample from ds (5 mo. old at the time) and get it back to her by 6pm (it was 3pm when he left her office). Dh propped it under his willy while he was asleep in the hope that he would pee into it before waking. Well he finally did, but unfortunately also did a poo all over it at the same time.

Checked her out again at the doctor - weight stabilised (oh what a surprise); I'll get her weighed again in about a month and then I hope that will be the END of it.

Except that I've got to do that urine sample again because I had NO idea what to do with that little bag. Turns out I have to stick it to her. How bizarre. I can see the logic but am quite convinced this will set her up for expensive perviness in later life

Do you know Motherinferior, I really wouldn't bother with the wee bag. Her weight is stable, she is a completely ravishingly beautiful picture of health and hydration and anyone with eyes in their head can see it. Seems far more faff and worry than it is worth, IMHO.

we had a stick on one for dd when she had a uti at 3 months . dr did the first one - fine, but I had to do one to provide a sample a few days later. Guess I must have been a little more coy about sticking it to her bits and must have left a gap as she pooed and made a real mess! dr then fitted another and I had to drop the sample back later in the day - how embarrassing is that. btw once you have some in the bag you just snip a corner and let it drain into a sterile bottle.