8 month old on 2nd percentile and low formula intake

[AK06]

Hi,
My daughter was born at 2.405kg. She is now 8M (35 weeks). She is on the 2nd percentile and just does not seem to gain much. Her monthly gain is about 300gram. Today at 8M she weighs 6.34kg. She drinks Aptamil advanced but she has never really increased her intake. Always hovering around 500ml every 24hours. I remember my son around this time would drink anywhere close to 6-700ml every 24hours. I have started solids. She has Kendamil porridge every morning with about 30-40ml of formula just to get more of those calories in. She just does not seem to have a good appetite for her formula unless we leave like 5hours. Sometimes 3hours for 120ml is just not enough for her to digest. I am considering switching to Kendamil thinking if it might make a difference in her intake ? I know the reason for her slow weight gain is simply because the volume she is drinking. She was moving up to the 9th percentile few weeks after her birth but after the 16W vaccines she just came back down to her second percentile. Since then it has been like this. Her milestones seem to be okay. She just does not want to drink much. I really would love her to move up a little bit ... With her crawling the energy burn will add too now. Anyone seen any difference with Kendamil ?

Thanks

How is she doing with solids?

In the morning she has Kendamil porridge with a fruit pouch, I mix it with her aptamil advanced formula and she loves it. She definitely has about 10-17 spoons full. Lunch and Dinner is a hit or miss really as she is still developing likes and dislikes. I give her finger foods but again thats also mainly for her to explore texture. I would say for Lunch and Dinner I can only get in about 6spoons if lucky more. My son was the same with food but after 18M he ate really well and till date he eats everything. So I was not planning on rushing with her as she shows great interest in finger foods so the desire is there but its accepting differences flavours and textures that will hopefully come along.

Although her intake is small she seems very smiley and happy. She does not show further hunger after a small milk feed. That's where I am beginning to think whether this brand of formula is taking too long to digest so she is fuller for longer ?

If she's staying around the same/similar centile then I wouldn't worry? Maybe she just doesn't have a big appetite. I wouldn't worry about food consumption for now, mine didn't eat 3 meals til she was about 15 months old. keep offering variety with no pressure, let her explore. if you are still worrying then speak to GP or health visitor? but seems normal to me

Sorry I’m confused as to why you think Kendamil will make any difference? Infant formula is tightly regulated and all first formulas are almost exactly identical. Unless you’re switching to a non-dairy formula or something then I wouldn’t expect it to make any difference.

Does she show any symptoms of silent reflux? Babies with it can develop a feeding aversion.

I doubt the formula brand will make any difference, they are all pretty much the same - but it also won't do any harm to try another.

With the solids, I would focus on each spoonful being as nutritious and calorie dense as possible.
Forget the fruit purees - give greek yoghurt, nut butters, cream and cheese, avocado, egg yolks.
You can add cream to sweet foods and butter or olive oil to savoury.

Someone is always smaller aren’t they? Not every child is average or there would not be an average. She’s just not a 90% baby. If she’s happy, what’s the issue?

I think you need to focus on high calorie foods. I know fingers foods are the fashion trend at the minute but in my experience that's not how you get calories in them. Some spaghetti bolognese, beef curry, peanut butter toast, etc, would be better in my opinion. Both my kids were on 3 meals a day at 8 months .

Make an appt with health visitor or gp.

legally all formulas are almost identical. I wouldn’t worry about it being aptamil advanced etc.

Curry at 8 months? A bit early for very strong flavours. However cheese and pasta is good for calories and growth. Eggs and milk too. Chicken and rice with sauces. Fish fingers are great finger foods.

Babies love strong flavours!! And yes mine certainly had lots of curries and chilli con carne, he absolutely loved it