Baby not putting on much weight...experiences?

[TeacupTempest]

Our baby was born 6 weeks ago at 6 lbs 3. She dropped to 5lbs 10 and although has gained since progress has been much slower than HV and GP would like. She has now dropped off the bottom centile and is currently 6 lbs 8. We are changing her feeding routine at the moment to see if this helps.

She seems to be developing well aside from weight. She is happy, alert, focussing and responsive. The GP can find nothing wrong with her.

I was wondering if others had experience of having a baby that dropped off the bottom weight wise and how they progressed?

I can find quite a few posts of people who have been in similar situations but there is never an update at the end of the thread so I cant find info on the outcome for these babies.

My baby struggled to gain weight in his first few weeks but that was because he had a medical condition that eventually needed an operation to correct. In my case, if I'd gone with my HV's advice my DS would probably be dead now. I went above her to the GP who had him admitted to hospital. Even then, I had to be persistent with hospital staff to get him the treatment he needed.

So my experience is that you have to persevere if you think something is wrong. I would suggest that you start by following the advice of your GP but get a second opinon or push for more answers if you're not happy for any reason. The GP should have a treatment plan in mind. For example, what is the change in feeding routine designed to achieve? How long should it take? What result constitutes 'success'? What happens if it doesn't work?

Good luck

Thanks Cogito. Glad you eventually got the treatment you needed!

I think the basic plan is to see if the next week sees any improvement. I have another GP appointment the week after. I saw him yesterday for 6week check. I guess by then they can rule out whether it's a feeding problem or something more sinister.

Sounds like you're getting plenty of attention. But don't let them slack off if you're not happy with her progress. Keep badgering and pushing on her behalf because, in my experience, if you hang back and think 'they must know what they're doing' they interpret that as 'everything is OK' and leave you alone.

The obvious question is whether you and the baby's father are average-size people or whether you're small and slight yourselves. As my dog-breeding friend puts it 'You don't get a chihuahua from two greyhounds'. :)

Ha! We are on the small side so DD is unlikely to be Great Dane.

Poor little twiglet. We shall keep trying to push milk into her at every opportunity and keep our fingers crossed for the next weigh in.

If you didn't have a centile chart, would you think there was anything wrong, OP? Does she seem well and look well? My DS went from the 75th centile to the 0.4th in the 1st 6 weeks, but after that sort of bounced back (on the 90th by 6mo check).

We were ebf and had struggled a bit, specially because I was labouring under the impression (Baby Whisperer, anyone?) that the baby should have a big feed every three hours, and occasional sucks were the 'baby using me for a dummy' (wtaf? Boobs aren't dummies, they are the real things that dummies are dummying? Anyway.). At the 6 week check, when he'd gained only a tiny amount and was going through a growth spurt (which terrify you on the best of days) I went into a panic, posted loads on MN, got a load of conflicting advice (RL and MN)...

But in the middle of it all, I thought, hang on - if I'd never had this 'advice' - books, etc. and I hadn't thought baby should be feeding in this pattern, and hadn't thought he shouldn't have occasional 'comfort' sucks so given him a dummy - basically, if he and I were on a desert island with no centile charts, I would just be following his lead and I wouldn't think anything was 'wrong' - fundamentally with him, or with his feeding pattern, or with his 'comfort' sucking, or with him having three short feeds one afternoon and one long one the next... and the only way I'd have of seeing that was anything wrong would be paying attention to him. He seemed fine to me - it was other people's beliefs and expectations of how he should be - how often he should feed, how long it should take, how much sucking he do and HOW QUICKLY HE SHOULD GAIN WEIGHT that were doing my head in.

My advice, ha ha, would be to ditch the advice - your baby will tell you what she needs. If you think your baby is fine, then the centile chart is wrong - IME weeing, pooing and general disposition are what to look at. Of course, if you don't think the baby is fine then chase really hard like the other posters have said. But otherwise, trust your baby to communicate her needs and your ability to meet them. You will not be doing any harm by following her cues - ignore anyone telling you you have to 'teach' her to sleep through, or settle herself, or take x amount in x minutes at any given feed. She knows if she is hungry, is tired, etc.

Good luck

My second was born 7 pound 4 she was breastfed exclusively, she was very slow to gain weight and at around 3 month stopped all together. Went to the health visitors every week to get her weighed and each week she said to me it's fine carry on breast feeding even tho I was a bit concerned. I saw a sure start feeding lady 3 times a week also, and went to what is supposedly THE expert in my area for a feeding clinic. They all told me to carry on as I was. appart from the weight she was totally normal she was happy content slept well and was rolling over.
I was very reluctant to give up breast feeding because I had done so on my first till she was one so I kept listening to the health visitor thinking surely they know what they are talking about. At 4 months old she weighed 8 pound 6 and was still in newborn clothes she was tiny.
Then one night she got poorly and it was around the time of the swine flu so I went to the out of hours doctor and they took one look at her and admitted her to hospital because she was malnourished. I felt so bad and it didn't matter how many times I told the doctors that I was following the advice of health professionals they still looked at me like I had neglected my baby.

They kept her in hospital for 5 days on special prescription milk and only let her out when she had put on some weight. She had the prescription milk till 6 months and is completely fine now. But I would never listen to health visitors again. If you feel there is something wrong just go back to doctors.

Btw, I fed on demand think she just wasn't. That interested in food and took just enough not to feel hungry, Didn't wake in the night for feeding either.

Two conflicting experiences there!

Gosh it's so hard not to panic.

DD does seem fine to me. Without charts and checks i would have assumes all was well. She appears healthy and alert with many wet and dirty nappies. So on one hand I don't want to over think everything if it's just a weight issue but on the other hand I dont want things to progress down hill.

Housework...So sorry to hear of your experience. I think that's what I am most afraid of with DD.

Sorry, darling, that's exactly what happened to me - so many different, conflicting brands of advice! That's why I stopped listening and trusted my instincts. My DS was growing though - just more slowly than the chart said he should. Your GP doesn't think there is anything wrong? Get a second opinion to put your mind at rest - we have done really well in Urgent Care (rather than Casualty) units where for one reason or another the GP wasn't an option. They are more than happy to check babies out and the general consensus is that if parents are worried, then they should be listened to. Hope it sorts itself out.

It can work out totally fine or you can have experiences like the above. I think that the only things you can really do are 1) get a second opinion from another GP 2) ask if they will give you a referral to a paed, 3) pay to see a lactation consultant 4) continue to monitor, get then to do head and lengh measurements as well as weight

Lots of skin-to-skin can help too as it promotes growth hormones (as does sleep but that is trickier to do anything about!)

Thank you both.

Sleep is a tricky one when I am trying to pump milk into her at every opportunity!