Worrying about 7 week old slow to gain weight

[Clobberella]

My 7 week old is my 3rd child (DS 9yo, DD 5 yo). Things had seemed to be going well, breastfeeding seemed to click and stopped being painful around 5 weeks and I was happy with how things were going. Health visitor weighed him and he is slow to gain weight - just above the 0.4th centile now and dropped one centile line. He was 3kg at birth so a small baby at 39 weeks.

I’ve moved from being relaxed and ready to go out into the world again with the baby to worrying loads about this. Baby has always had lots of wet and dirty nappies and I think maybe he has had a viral illness of some sort from one of the older ones, but now my milk supply and a posterior tongue tie are all being questioned. He seems otherwise well. He started smiling in the last week (very early morning smiles in select situations!) but now I find myself worrying about his feeding and development and thinking my instincts are wrong as a mother.

Finding it tough managing a newborn with the other two and I feel so guilty for saying this, I almost regret having another baby because it’s turned everything upside down when we had some stability in our home at last.

Did anyone else’s baby have slow weight gain at this stage, and if so how did it get sorted out?

Hi. Yes we had really similar, bf seemed to go very well but for mystery reasons baby didn't put on weight well. It was a stressful first year because the HVs made a big deal about it, we had to go to the weighing clinic every two weeks up to 18 months, then a new HV declared that our child was healthy and the nonsense had to stop. Ours was born 25th centile, down to 0.4 at 1st birthday. Unfortunately they didn't take well to solid food which made the situation worse, they drifted down the centiles through the year and became anaemic (fixed with one round of supplements). An NHS dietician prescribed us high calorie formula at some point, which helped a bit and we were referred to pediatrician who wasn't too worried.

Anyway.... Our child is still tiny but a very healthy active happy 3 year old, no developmental problems, no health concerns, back on the 2nd centile. She'll be a small adult presumably. Turns out that all along she'd basically been fine, in retrospect there was a lot of panic and stress about nothing. She wasn't ill she was genetically destined to be tiny. I was exactly the same as a child and my mum told me similar horror stories of everyone around her worrying and nothing actually being wrong, she discharged herself from the HVs because she got fed up of it.

Keep an eye on it, follow GP advice etc but also remember that it might be nothing and some people are just small. I guess it's impossible to tell at your early stage. As a bonus for small babies, the clothes will fit for ages. Inexperienced HVs default to panicking if they go down centiles but it might be nothing. I hope that's the case for you. BF well, wet nappies etc all sounds positive x

I should say the prescription formula was at 14 months age and we used it as a supplement to BF and food, it tasted like cream. I stuck with breastfeeding and was under a lot of pressure to supplement with formula all along. I bent to the pressure and tried several times but my baby refused the bottle so it was not a viable plan. Anyway, I don't think it was a milk supply issue, in our case I think it was just genetics and she was her healthy self. The mixed range of views from healthcare professionals was crazy, especially the pediatrician who basically said "I don't know why the GP referred you,anyone can see your child is healthy". Vs the HV on her first birthday who told me to get a same day GP appointment and go to A and E if I couldn't because she was that worried after the weighing.

In the first instance just feed more. More feeds per day and more ‘sides’ per feed. A few days of that can boost intake and therefore supply.

Have you explored cows milk allergy? I was told my daughter was just meant to be small. She dropped to the 9th percentile having been born just about the 25th. I was told she was just a 9th percentile baby. I did eventually take out dairy and soya from my diet and she moved up to the 35th percentile. She is 3 now and bounces between the 25th and 50th percentile for weight and 2nd percentile for height.

My sister dropped way below the 0.4th percent and was just 7lb10 at 10 weeks. She has severe projectile reflux but on reflection she probably had a dairy allergy. She didn't reach the 0.4th percentile until 1 and between 18 months and 2 she moved from the 0.4th percentile to the 50th. This is a typical age of outgrowing a dairy allergy. She continued to be randomly sick after eating but this all stopped in her mid 30s when she became a vegan. I am one of three sisters and this sister is the tallest of the 3 of us!

If nappy output is good chances are there is nothing wrong with your milk supply, especially if you have successfully fed your first two. Milk supply tends to increase with each child. Again good nappies and no pain would suggest tongue tie not too likely. You are an experienced breastfeeder and you know what a baby looks like when they get a let down and are swallowing. Another vote for trying cutting dairy and soy. My boy dropped 25th to 2nd. He did have a tongue tie and a high arched palate and reflux. Getting the tie done and a dose of omeprazole didn't stop the drop. Cutting out dairy and soy stopped him vomiting, resolved his ridiculously frequent bowel movements, made him clearly much more comfortable and also kept him on the 2nd centile. 6 months into weaning, despite being keen on solids he's not quite reached the 9th centile so likely meant to be small anyway.

Thanks for the replies!
By way of an update, it all seemed to be related to a tongue tie. Once that was dealt with the weight gain ramped up within 8 weeks.