9 weeks old baby is consistently undereating - help needed

[iloveorange]

Hello,

Once again I'm looking for wisdom from more experienced mums, as I'm a FTM here.

9 weeks old DD was born a large baby at 4.3kg and was very hungry during her first 2-3 weeks, she was mix-fed from the beginning for reasons I won't go into here. BF didn't work for us for many reasons, but one of them was that she was very, very fussy and started crying inconsolably, then would often continue to cry with the bottle, I assumed because she was so distressed coming from the breast. About 3-4 weeks ago we decided to stop with the breastfeeding, and she has been EFF ever since.

We have been tracking her intake for the last 6 weeks or so, but because of the BF it was hard to quantify how much milk she was getting. Now that she's on the bottle, we're able to see exactly how much she's taking - and it's not a lot. Given her weight (5.5kg) she should be having AT LEAST 825mls every 24 hours, as per the NHS guidelines. She has never reached that minimum, and is usually around the 650mls. She's been eating even less than that during the last 2-3 days. She had dropped a percentile (91st to 75th) when we went to the GP two weeks ago, and we are weighing her again on Tuesday - I expect her to have dropped another percentile given how little she's been eating.

She's now eating every 4 hours; we try to offer her a bottle before that, especially if she's crying (which she does a lot of, and quite hysterically), and the result will be that she will either start crying (if she'd been calm) or continue crying. It is rare for her to drink her bottle the first time she's offered it, so we save it for her to drink within the following hour. It is often the case that we will have to throw out the entire bottle because she will continue to refuse throughout that following hour.

GP and HV seem unconcerned and health insurance rejected the referral to see a paediatrician - I'm at my wits end here. I've been trying to have her checked for feeding issues practically since she was born, to no avail. I need as much information and ideas as to what this could be so that I can bring them up to the HV on Tuesday.

CMPA

So my baby never drank "x" amount of mls that was on the side of the milk or as advised by the nhs. He was always under. It's just an average. If she's not looking dry then I wouldn't worry to much. However as other poster has said I would potentially look at CMPA esp with the other stuff you have described.

Just feed her when she's hungry and stop when she's had enough

Stop looking at percentile charts and NHS guidances

Sleep when you can and step away from all the so called advice

You sound like you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown

You've seen the GO and HV who are medically trained and not concerned

They will however be very concerned at how neurotic you are coming across 'I'm at my wits end' there is nothing wrong

You are doing a great job, you're doing everything right.

It will be fine. You're a good mother.

*GP

She will also very very much be feeling your anxiety and stress

CMPA or reflux - or both. She's not enjoying feeding and seems to be avoiding it

Also coming onto say CMPA and reflux. My first baby was exactly the same.

Could be reflux or allergies or could be that you're worrying when you don't need to. Sometimes large babies drop centiles and find their true size if that makes sense? Then they stay with the centile they settle on.

Best thing to assess is wet / dirty nappies? Enough wet ones? Are the dirty ones particularly explosive / any mucus / etc. If that's fine and then baby is alert, healthy looking in terms of not too skinny and is generally well you probably don't need to insist on seeing a paediatrician. Hope your worries are resolved soon.

My son had reflux (GORD) and at times wouldn’t want to feed as much as recommended as it caused him pain.
paediatrician said as long as he had plenty of wet nappies and poops having less formula was ok. He also had tongue tie and struggled with breast and bottle feeding.

I could have written this myself. She’s nearly 7 months now and still averaging 22oz a day. Sometimes she’ll be hungrier and have up to 29oz (a few times) and as low as 19 oz.

My advice is take a step back and try not to worry, if she’s happy in herself then just go with it. My girl should be having loads more but she is a fantastic baby, so content. (Dropped down to 4 bottles a day and we’re getting there with some weaning now she seems to be eating a tiny bit).

Thanks everyone for the replied! I understand that some babies (and people in general) eat more than others, but she also cries a lot and I would not describe her as a 'content baby'. I also don't want her to continue not gaining weight.

Reflux (the silent kind) was something I had thought of. CMPA I doubt she has as she doesn't have diarrhoea or vomiting, and her skin is mostly fine.

I know she's going to be ok eventually as she gets older, but I wonder if there are things we can do to make her more comfortable now.

Honestly, I know when I'm being neurotic and this is one of the rare instances when I'm not (my very non-neurotic DH is also concerned now, after weeks of seeing this behaviour).

I want to think you were trying to help but unfortunately your message came across as both condescending and harsh. And you are wrong in your assumptions, which makes sense because you don't know me.

I have a child who cries very, very much and who does not enjoy feeding times. She's now also not gaining weight. This has nothing to do with what kind of a mother I think I am.

@iloveorange have you tried going up a teat size? This helped with our intake a little :)

Could you change the formula you are on OP? Some babies seem to refer one over the other. It does sound like silent reflux. Does she have any of the other signs of silent reflux? I’d speak to the GP about that.

I know this was a few years ago now, but your little one sounds just like our 9 week old son and we’re currently exhausting ourselves trying to fight his case and change up everything to help him out. Did you ever figure out what the issue was?