Worried about small DS (6 months)

[Palendrominca]

I am worried about my son, he is 6.5 months old and only weighs 6kg (~13ibs), this puts him at the 0.4th Centile. When he was born he was 7ibs 14oz, he was only weighed at the 6 week checkup and then recently when I became concerned with his size. The HV is telling me to go and see the Gp urgently for a referral for him.

So I’m really worried, have I missed something? Is there something wrong with him that I should’ve picked up? Have I failed him?

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any words of advice?

I think you need to follow the HV's advice and see your GP urgently.
How do you think he is doing re feeding and sleeping?

Does he respond/interact with you? Is he active?

I have seen my GP already, (sorry I cut down on the OP because it was becoming unreadable), he prescribed ranitidine, this was about a week ago. My son is still being sick even though he is now on this medicine. I have a repeat appointment in 3 weeks but the HV was not happy with that and told me to go back on Monday.

He is breastfed and is a really quick feeder (~5 mins) but has lots of feeds still, I’d say 8 a day. I also started solids at 6 months so he is now having 3 meals a day, which he really enjoys. He has wet and dirty nappies, and he is a content baby, and has met all his milestones, he can roll/ sit/ grab etc.

He sleeps ok, wakes at 10-11pm, 3am then between 5-7am.

Yes, he is really responsive, laughs, gurgles, he is a charmer always smiling at everyone.

Which is part of the reason why I’ve only become concerned recently. As he is such a happy fellow, I just thought he was a little bit small, but I had a shock when I weighed him at home just before starting him on solids.

Hmm, he may well just be small. Since he hasn't been weighed often, there's no way of knowing whether he has been settled onto the 0.4 centile for sometime and that's his normal. My eldest settled onto a much lower centile than that of his birth weight, it was normal for him. Incidentally he was a silent reflux baby and on ranitidine and domperidone too. He's now six and still slight, but muscly.

I do think it would be wise to follow the HV's advice and get him checked over, but try not to worry too much, it won't have been something you've done, you're just a Mum doing the best for her baby! He's hitting milestones, which is great and reassuring.

He sounds lovely and happy.
He is below his expected weight gain but maybe the reflux is the problem.
It would be good to get the referral to rule out any problems and to monitor.

The HV was a bit shocked that he was still being sick on solids and the ranitidine. So it could be that and he needs something else to help with the reflux.

I just feel really anxious, and I’m generally not an anxious person so I’m finding it quite difficult to deal with.

Thanks Air it’s reassuring to bear about other small babies, I seem to be surrounded my ones on the 95th centile.

He could be small (I am, 5ft 1) so it wouldn’t be a complete surprise.

I will call the gp on Monday, at least I will be being proactive.

Get him checked but it may not be an issue. Mine both started on 50th centile and moved down to 20th and 4th. I just birth them that size and then they get small. Both have continued to be smaller than average and are 11 and 8.

How much of his feeds is he vomiting? My DS had reflux. He vomited a lot. He was.marginally better on solids, but not a lot better. He dropped down the percentiles. The HV and GP actually told me not to worry. But I did and my intuition was right. I eventually videod him vomiting a feed up for the GP who agreed it was actually quite a lot of milk and that if he was bringing up that much, I'd need to give him more after to help replace what he was loosing.

I got the end of my tether with it, frankly and I switched to an anti reflux formula (he had been fully bf). It made a difference instantly. He stopped vomiting, he started sleeping a bit better and seemed a lot happier. My milk (and regular formula) was just too thin for him. He couldn't keep it down. Even at 12 months old when we tried to move him onto cows milk, he couldn't manage it. He was 18 months before he grew out of it.

As soon as we started formula feeding, he went back up to the 75th percentile, which is where he waas when he was born and where he remains to this day!

Hard to say, he doesn’t do big projectile ones, but it’s pretty constant between feeds and he still vomits after he’s eaten solids. I have a daughter who was quite sicky as well, but her weight was more stable and she stopped being sick as soon as I started her on solids.

I think I need to go back to documenting everything so I’ll be able to spot if there’s anything I’m missing.

If you aren't averse to formula, I would try an anti reflux one. It honestly changed my DS. I am totally all for BF vut for my son it wasn't best.

He didn't projectile, but he bought up feeds for hours after. I couldn't ever put him on his tummy because he would just be sick instantly even hours after a feed.

Gosh don't panic. He sounds very healthy. My ds was a 0.4 centiler. He's still a shorty but strapping with it iyswim.

DD tracked the 0.4th centile throughout. Now a healthy 8 year old, skinny but eats us out of house and home!

@triangulator that does sound similar to my son actually, especially on his tummy, he is always sick no matter when he last ate.

I am not adverse to it as such, but I enjoy breastfeeding, both the closeness and the convenience, he does have the odd bottle of formula though, so I could give it a go one day and see how he does on it.

Thanks for all the messages of your little babies growing up to be healthy children, it is really reassuring to me. I know that the most likely outcome is that he is just a small child, but I’m finding it hard to be completely rational about it.

If he has the odd bottle already I'd definitely give it a try. The main brands all do anti reflux formulas.

That said, with my DS I just knew he wouldn't be small. He was 8lb when born at 37 weeks. They plotted him on the 50th centile but if he had been born a day earlier he'd have been plotted on the premature chart and would have been at 75th. So when he dropped down to below the 25th I was worried. Both DH and I are tall, and my DH is broad. My instinct told me my DS was not destined to be on the smaller side. And I was right.

However, like PP's have said, it's not unusual for babies to drop and doesn't always mean something is wrong. I just knew in my case that it was iykwim. He is still prone to sickness and weirdly though he can drink milk etc fine so it wasn't an allergy.

IM 5 foot also and French. My kids started on the 50th and 25th then all went to the very bottom percentile. All at primary school now and healthy bright and short like me.

All good points. My instinct is that he is on the small side (7ibs 14oz but born at 40 +13), I am small 5ft 1, my DD is smallish (between 25th and 50tg centile) but husband is average, 5ft 11, and his side seem to have massive babies (his DM is tall and all her brother are over 6ft). My niece who is 10months is heavier than my 2 year old!

So part of me wants to make sure I don’t just write it off as being small if he is actually meant to be taller, I want to give him a chance to reach his growth potential.

My ds2 was 7.7lb when born and soon slipped to the 0.2 percentile where he has stayed ever since. He is now ten and fine, just small. We were under the growth clinic for a while as he also has Noonan syndrome but he is healthy and eats like a horse but is just on the small side. Try not to worry .

One of my grandsons was like this, the HV was concerned that he was not thriving. At his 15 month test she said he was plump!! so try not to worry too much. You are a small person yourself.

Ask about growth hormone deficiency- my bil has this and was extremely small as a child.

If your instinct is telling you he's just small then I'd trust that, a lot has happened since 6wks and you can't know when in that time he dropped centiles.

Also I'd put at least as much faith in your gp as hv. I presume that your gp also weighed him and saw the chart before writing the prescription, that'll need chance to take effect before potentially investigating other things.

Hey just wanted to pop in and say hi! I totally understand that it doesn't take away the worry, but my DD was 7lb 13 at over a week late (50th) and then crashed through all the centiles and off the bottom. I exclusively breastfed and had very similar issues you describe with your boy (very quick feeds, sicky, on ranitidine etc). At her one-year check up she only weighed 14lb 3. My HV diagnosed failure to thrive and panicked me rigid and kept guilting me about breastfeeding, at 12-months we were referred to a paediatrician (who was MUCH more sensible than the HV!) and they ran a few blood tests. All came back well. She's just about to turn two now and only weights 19lb but we've been signed off. Someone does have to be at the bottom end of the spectrum after all!
If he's happy, otherwise healthy and following most milestones I would trust in yourself as much as you can. However I do recommend taking tests they might offer as well as it'll hopefully give you peace of mind, if nothing else! Having said all that, I drove myself out of my mind with worry for well over a year about it. So I do understand where your coming from and I didn't always find people telling me about their small babies that reassuring (what if mine was one of the ones?!) - and yet here I am now, the filthy hypocrite!

@spacerangerspace it’s ok, I am finding it reassuring, although I think I’d prefer stories which ended and now my child is huge. but I know that’s unlikely.

Mine is! Nearly 6ft tall, constantly has his head in the fridge now at 15!
He was miniature until he was about 7.
He was teeny at birth, a wee 5lb baby, I bf until he was 7 months and never worried at all about him as he thrived but was small.