DS still not gaining weight, so worried

[Pinkstuffs]

I’ve posted a few times about my DS who is tiny. He’s 29 weeks old/almost 7 months and weighs only 14lb.

I took him to be weighed today for the first time in a month and he has gained 7oz in 4 weeks, meaning he’s on the 1st centile. He was born on the 2nd centile and was getting up to the 9th but has been around the 2nd centile since he was about 12 weeks.

My issue is, we changed his formula 4 weeks ago and he eats loads now! He’s having at least 35 oz of formula per day plus solids twice. I was so confident he would have put on a bit of chunk but he’s actually dropped a bit lower on the curve.

Hes developing fine besides this, hitting his milestones and just started crawling. Could there be any genetic conditions causing him not to gain weight? We previously thought he wasn’t eating enough due to problems with his milk but now he’s eating more than recommended and still small.

He s fine and thriving.
He won't gain loads as he following a low centile.
Speak to gp but he sounds fine !

I'm no expert but I'm sure weight gain slows/stops for a while when they start crawling, they are suddenly using so much more energy! Speak to your GP or health visitor but he sounds healthy and happy so I wouldn't panic about this.

I don't have any concrete answers for you but am here for a handhold, I had one exactly the same - he actually fell off the bottom of the centile chart at one point when he was about 7-8 months old. I remember how stressful it was like yesterday.

How is he in himself, my boy cried and screamed and cried and was eventually diagnosed with milk intolerance and then also soya intolerance. He was tiny all through school though until he reached 16 and, implausibly, grew to 6'3" but he is still incredibly thin but super fit so 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you've checked him for illnesses and intolerances and he sounds like he's hitting his milestones you might just have a small one that can eat a lot of calories, he'll have crowds of people envious of that one day.

I saw the health visiting team today who weighed him and said he was still following his curve although I’ve realised she’s actually plotted the weight on the wrong week, so he’s not following it at all - she’s plotted it at 26 weeks and he’s 29 weeks.

I see 'just started crawling' this could be using up a lot of the increased calories, you might need to wait the new mobile weeks out and see if he carries on gaining even slowly.

Does the team have any concerns?

@lostinwales no but they were only looking at the curve, when I’ve just realised the latest weight today has been plotted on the wrong week.

He has been being weighed by a HV every fortnight since July, they were concerned but feel like they’ve washed their hands of it a bit as we’ve tried a lot of things. He is gaining but it is very slow.

If you are concerned you could ask about coeliac? My son was tested for it and it came back negative but friends of ours have a boy who has always been tiny (but fit and sporty) and was diagnosed in his mid teens.

If he isn't screaming in pain and is hitting milestones though try not to worry (I do know that's hard advice to follow though, my weekly weigh in sessions used to prey on my mind a lot!). Definitely politely query the last graph point though, would he be on the same curve if done correctly?

@lostinwales if plotted correctly he would be between the 2nd curve and the 0.4th curve, not bang on the 2nd.

We’ve privately seen an allergy specialist as we thought he may have CMPA, he was having mucus nappies, eczema, reflux etc but he refused the hydrolysed milk. I swapped him to Hipp from Kendamil and most of his symptoms have gone and he’s started eating 7oz per feed. So this wasn’t the issue!

The hydrolysed milk is RANK! As are the nappies after, you dodged a bullet there