Hi all, I hear my name being called re BLW and low centiles! Welcome to vimto. Yes, my Aphra was solidly tracking the 2nd centile, though we haven't weighed her recently - the current advice is not to weigh them regularly, only at immunizations! And it says at the back of the red books, too, not to weigh them more than once a month, to save you worrying with fluctuations. Aphra's jabs were at home as we were part of a study so she hasn't been weighed since January so we're only guessing at her current weight to be honest, but she's probably about the same weight as Gwendoline by the sound of it - not more than 6 kilos I guess.
I believe it is quite usual for babies to be born at percentile X and end up on percentile Y - but so long as they track "their" centile well it really doesn't matter. Aphra was 6 lbs 6 oz at birth so was smaller than your Gwendoline to start with. I know it's worrying when there's not that much you can measure at first, to know if you're doing stuff right or getting it horribly wrong - especially when bfing! But I've stopped worrying and am just looking at Aphra and how bright & lively she is. Also looking at her nappies of course to check for plenty of wet nappies! My sister's kid was also smallish at birth and didn't gain weight very quickly, as was the case with my brother's baby. The former is now ten and a lovely boy, and the latter is about a year and a half old and a fantastic grinning toddler.
I wasn't advised to top up with formula, or not more than once when I sternly said I wasn't interested! I just tried to feed her more and/or more effectively - I also had some difficulties in the first place getting bf established, but it's all fine now and I'm very happy with it. The turning point I think was when I looked at her wrists and saw the little elastic band effect there - you know, when their little wrist are so chubby they're sort of dented in just at a line? I figured that if she had elastic band wrists and dimples elsewhere then it must be working ok!
I think that if you want to make sure you continue with as much bf & calories as possible, baby led weaning is a pretty good way of doing it. Your LO really won't get much food intake for the first, oooh, month or more? She'll be getting textures and tastes and experiences. Aphra now is really keen on her food and grabs at the spoon or at my hand if I'm holding something, and drags it forward into her mouth and really gums away at it enthusiastically. Sometimes she does gag, and it is briefly a bit heart-stopping for me, but she clears her own throat very quickly and it's not been a problem. Apparently it's good for them because it teaches them to handle lumps & texture. I give her what we're eating ourselves: pear, apple, kiwi fruit, pasta, sauce, chicken pie, veg goulash, broccoli, etc etc. I share my muesli with her as I have breakfast - carefully ensuring she doesn't get any large nuts or anything of course! I'm not massively paranoid about salt as we don't use much of it in our cooking - I just try not to give her anything that is very salty, like cheese or bacon, and not too much of stuff that might be saltier than ideal, like bread.
Sorry for the marathon post!
Aphra was born on the 2nd Sept by the way so she's about 3 weeks younger than Gwendoline I guess.