Friend's friend's baby underweight? Concerns

[JessieParker]

Hi,

One of my colleagues is concerned about her friend's dd, 11 months. She's concerned as dd has lost 3lbs in about a week, roughly 2 weeks ago. She doesn't think the weight has been put on, and the mother still keeps dd to a strict feeding regime of set times with 2 medium jars of baby food a day.

She's not sure of how much liquid dd has during the day, as she doesn't see much of her friend during the day. She knows dd has one breastfeed for 10mins before bedtime, other than that she's not sure.

The mother is suffering from depression, she's now single and going through a difficult divorce. The dad isn't very supportive.

My friend isn't sure how to handle the situation, but as mentioned before, she is very concerned for the baby's health.

Any suggestions greatly considered.

How does she know how much weight she's lost?

Two medium jars of baby food doesn't sound a great deal though.

Can she get in touch with her HV?

my ds would have been eating cushions if i only gave him that at 11 months!
dont know how to approach this though

Set times for feeding is right as far as I'm concerned but she ought to be feeding to appetite IMO. I used to keep going until ds stopped asking for more. Weight does start to plateau after a year though and their appetite does significantly decrease until they start getting really active when it increases massively again. I hope your friend is also concerned about the mum - after all if mum is ok so will the baby be. Sounds like the mum ought to talk to the HV - not sure how your friend could approach this though it is a difficult one.

To have lost 3lbs in a week seems very extreme, was she ill ? If so presumbaly she'll be being monitored by a dr or hv. Could be that she drinks loads of milk to compensate atm or is still recovering an appetite. Regular mealtimes would be the norm by this age, presumably in addition to breakfast ?

Doesn't sound like your colleague is really very well enough informed though for anyone to make a proper judgement. Could she pop round with a prepared meal or two for her friend's freezer, making sure it would also be suitable for her dd to have a portion too. That may in turn open up more of a conversation whilst doing her a favour.

If she's really that worried and can't broach it with her, what about dropping a note off with the HV who could visit her? I know it sounds awful, like she's going behind her back, but she'd feel worse if someting awful happened to baby and she'd done nothing.

what a horrible situation to be in