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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

CAN YOU TELL ME THE WEIGHT OF YOUR 6 MONTHS OLD LO ? MINE IS WORRINGLY UNDERWEIGHT :-(

40 replies

Summerfruit · 21/11/2007 09:59

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numptysmummy · 21/11/2007 10:03

I struggled with weight problems with my first 3 - 2nd ds was 9.8 at birth and above the 50th percentile. By 6mths he was on the 25th. He's only 30lb at 3! Is she bright,alert,doing the sorts of things she should be? We are all different and so are babies - it took me 4 children to work that out and to have the balls to say shove your charts - look at the baby,not the book.

goingfor3 · 21/11/2007 10:03

DD2 was 9lbs 1oz at birth and didn't double her birth weight until she was 9 months old so she was probably around the same weight as your DD at 6 months. The HV told me to go to the gp who asked me what I felt and as she was very active I had no concerns so he said if I think she's fine then she most probably is and didn't do anything about it. She is now a very happy lively 3 year old.

Original poster
Summerfruit · 21/11/2007 10:07

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goingfor3 · 21/11/2007 10:09

Well most HV would tell you to stop breast and fully bottle! If you feel your DD is doing well then I really wouldn't worry.

Mercy · 21/11/2007 10:09

Agree with the others.

Have dug out the red book and my dd weighed as follows:-

Birth 5lb 9

7 weeks 8lb 11

45 weeks 17lb

She is now 6½ years old, very active, healthy - and naturally thin!

numptysmummy · 21/11/2007 10:10

Mine were fully bf and titchy,my friends lo was ff and titchy. Do you need to get her weighrd? I take dc4 once every few mnths just out of curiosty because it is really irrelevant. If you are happy with dd,other than her weight, then don't go - it's not compulsory.

Meeely2 · 21/11/2007 10:13

gosh, i can;t remember that far back - red books are buried somewhere, but I know at 1, one of my twins was just over 20lbs as we put him in a forward facing car seat and the other was just under as we didn't move him. they were 11 weeks prem and followed the 25th percentile consistantly.

they are now three and i have NO IDEA what they weigh but i do know one is under weight and one is a porker! the underweight one is mr 'into everything' so is always on the go - he eats well but burns everything off and thats just the way he's gonna be, the porker is just slower at doing stuff, takes his time and doesn't go over board on the physical effort!

Original poster
Summerfruit · 21/11/2007 10:17

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numptysmummy · 21/11/2007 10:23

You are her mother,not the hv - trust your instincts! We all have them,it's just hv's and the like need to justify their jobs so they make us insecure about our abilities. I'm sure you'll be fine
(Sorry to any hv's - not a personal attack but have had to go through some real crap because of them)

bethoo · 21/11/2007 10:25

Summerfruit - does not sound seriously underweight to me! at my sons 8 month check up he was 16 pounds so how bad is that? i am not worried either as there is another thread about babies that are low on the percentiles and it seems that alot of HV are quite the scaremongers!

Blu · 21/11/2007 10:25

If your baby is still gaining weight, and is healthy, perky, nappies as they should be, then I wouldn't worry at all - and i certainly wouldn't force feed her! that's a terrible suggestion!
DS was always a 'skinny' baby, he never ever had 'chubby legs' He was always low on the weight centiles, but if your baby is anywhere on the chart, then it's fine. If your baby puts no weight on at all over a few weeks, or loses weight, then that would be worrying.

Are you or her dad reasonably slight in build? Is she caucasion? (DS is half asian, and i found out after weeks of wory - from a MN-er of course - that the charts are based on bottlefed caucasion babies, who tend to be haevier than asian babies).

Also - is your baby becoming more active? Are you playing 'sitting up' games with her? It all takes energy so she might be having a period where her weight increase slows down a bit.

Force feed her indeed!

Niecie · 21/11/2007 10:35

I can't remember with DS2 but DS1 was 6.10oz at birth, he had doubled his birth weight at 8 weeks and tripled it by 9 months which means he was probably means he was around 16 or 17lbs at 6 months.

He was smallish when he was born (25th centile?) but he is now 95th for height and weight. Your daughter was a big baby but is moving down the centiles. It could just mean that she was meant to be smaller than her birth weight suggests, in the same way that my DS was meant to be bigger than his birth weight suggests. I wouldn't worry about her if she is developing well and seems happy and alert. Keep offering her milk and trying with the solids and I am sure she will be fine.

Don't let the HV get to you too much! You don't have to get your DD daughter weighed you know. And if she is otherwise healthy, don't put yourself in the firing line by going to see the HV.

BouncyTigger · 21/11/2007 11:08

Wouldn't worry about it too much; my dd2 is 24 weeks and 14lb 6oz (6.5kg) she's just petite although is reasonably tall. But she has been sitting unaided since 4 1/2 months so I guess she uses up loads of energy. I didn't even bother seeing the HV (you can weigh in the waiting room) and last week was the first time I'd had her weighed since 8 weeks.

IMO if she feeds ok, sleeps ok, does a good number of dirty nappies and is happy there's not a lot to worry about.

Original poster
Summerfruit · 21/11/2007 11:14

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Piffle · 21/11/2007 11:23

Go to the dietitian, s/he will tell you things that will get the HV off your back
S/he will have a different set of thrive lines from the red book
Our seriously underweight dd (now 5 yrs old)as a 6 mth old weighed 5.5kgs at 30 weeks which is 12lbs...

We were getting massive grief about forcefeeding and bottles etc (dd was fully breastfed)

The dietitian offered us a calorie supplement powder called maxijoule to pop in expressed milk, but said that as dd was developing well and generally well she had no to be fed anymore than she wanted.

Do go to get anything ruled out

coppertop · 21/11/2007 12:32

I've just had a look at dd's red book. She was 8lbs 4oz at birth. At 6mths she was just under 15lbs and didn't double her birth weight until she was 12mths old.

A nurse at the hospital insisted on making a referral to the HV after dd was admitted for bronchiolitis. The HV wasn't at all concerned because she could see that dd was happy and alert and that I wasn't worried. She kept an eye on things and said that the usual procedure was to make a referral to a Paediatrician but that this was just as a precaution rather than anything to worry about. In the end dd started putting weight on again and so didn't need the referral. She's still fairly small for her age (21lbs at 19mths) but is doing everything she should be.

I would go to the appointment with the dietician and hopefully they will be able to help and/or reassure you that ds is fine.

TrinityRhino · 21/11/2007 12:35

erm gecko is 16 lbs 11 0z right now and she is 9 and half months old
I see my hv regularly(cause she is actually nice) and weigh her regularly and noone has told me to force feed her. I don't think you need to worry unless she is very long and therefore looks like she really is lacking in some body weight or if she isn't developing or alert.

StealthPolarBear · 21/11/2007 15:51

my ds was 14lb13 I think 2 weeks ago and will be 7 months next week

Notyummy · 21/11/2007 16:07

My friends dd (16 months) is 18 ib 3 ozs. The HV has asked her to keep a food diary but has not yet refered her to a dietician. I would have thought she is a much more severe case, and the HV doesn't seem that worroied.

LittleMissLate · 21/11/2007 16:27

My dd was 10lbs 7 at birth and 14lbs 9 at 6 months. She is now 18lbs at 11.5 mths. We had a few concerns about possible reflux at 3/4 months which resolved themselves when she started solids and got more interested in bf again. Last time she was weighed she had only put on 1oz in 5 weeks but HV didn't seem at all concerned. I think she is meant to be naturally skinny (taking after dh not me!) and she was not meant to be as big as she was to start with (was very chunky at birth). Definitely wouldn't force-feed!

morocco · 21/11/2007 16:32

she was a really big baby !!
so maybe she is just dropping down the centiles to reach her natural weight curve? mind you, I'd still go to the paed but wouldn't spend a second worrying over it before then. my dd was mahoosive til she got a bad cough and then some spot virus, now she is a shadow of her former self (ie now she is prob 'average' size lol) so no doubt if i were to take her to be weighed now it would be a similar story.

soremummy · 21/11/2007 18:29

my little one was NEVER on any line she was 4lb 3 at birth is 27 weeks old and last week she weighed in at 10lb 13oz but had only put on 2 oz in 3 weeks. hv wants me back in another couple of weeks but i somehow think i will be busy.......... don't worry they all grow differently

TheQueenOfQuotes · 21/11/2007 18:34

well mine is just a porker - he'll be 6 months on Saturday

Was 7lb 6oz at birth (25th centile), had him weighed 1 1/2 weeks ago and he was 20lb 9oz (just under the 98th centile)....his height was also around the 25th centile at birth, but having measure him myself (and presuming I'm 2/3cms above what he actually is if measured properly) he's off the top of the charts .

Have a friend who's DD is about 3 months older than him, but lighter (was heavier at birth than DS3 too) - but still perfectly healthy and happy.

16lb doesn't sound unreasonable for a 6 month old, it could just be that, being a big baby at birth, she's "levelled" out (I on the other hand produce "average" babies who turn into giants)

silverfrog · 21/11/2007 18:39

my dd2 is 9 months old, and hasn't reached 15lb yet....

go by your instincts - if your dc is alert and happy, plenty of wet nappies etc, and your gut feel is that she is ok, then she probably is.

I occasionally worry about dd2, but then take a good look at her, and she is the happiest baby around, she's just small. Somebody has to be

Sexonlegs · 22/11/2007 18:16

God, there are so many of us with interfering HV's!

My dd is 7 months and weighs 15 pounds 7, and puts on about 3 ounces a week. They were starting to sniff around, and talking about referrals etc. Took her to the GP, and she laughed! Told me not to go back to the HV for 2 or 3 months as it was just stressing me for no good reason.

As others have said, as long as she is happy, sleeps well etc etc, then there is no problem.

Good luck.