Underweight 6.5mo not interested in solids - shd I worry?

[titferbrains]

Dd is in grey area just below 0.4th percentile and doc has said check weight in 2 weeks to see how things are going. DD is not very interested in solids tho, I'm trying to wait till she's hungry but think she's figured this out and is now holding out for milk, keeping mouth shut except to smile which is when I try to get a bit of food in. She's on purees as I've had very little luck with blw style feeding, she ignores food on tray and bashes tray or drops food off the edge of tray, has rejected or gagged on lumps, is not sitting unaided yet so not ready for highchair according to seller of tripptrapp, and today has eaten maybe 5 proper mouthfuls of food despite being offered loads of different stuff. She ate lots of avo and banana puree yesterday but not having it today.

Just want her to put on weight so doc/hv will leave me alone and concerned this wont' happen if she's mostly on milk. If her weight was normal I wouldn't be posting but she really needs to put on a tiny bit more weight. She's very alert happy etc otherwise and coming to the end of a course of antibiotics which has given her the runs - but she won't take probiotic yogurt on its own or mixed with anything.

I would let her have as much milk as she will take and not push the solids too much, but I'm sure you'll get lots of more well-informed posts soon....

I know it's worrying having an underweight baby with feeding issues, hang in there xx

bump

My DD wasn't interested in solids until she was 8 or 9 months old so I wouldn't worry about the solids tbh. I would concentrate on giving her loads of milk at the moment.

thanks, don't want meals to be stressful but no weight gain will be much worse!

At her age she should be able to get all the calories she needs from milk anyway. Solid food is supposed to be extra anyway. I might be wrong be I'm pretty sure that formula/bm has more calories etc than the foods you are likely to be giving her anyway.

Sorry there were lots of 'anyways' in that last post!

If she's underweight, she will most likely put much more weight on with milk alone - if you think about the amount of calories in say a pureed carrot or some baby rice, there will be many times more calories in the same amount of milk (bm or fm). There is a great chart here on kellymom which compares the amount of calories per oz of breast milk, formula milk and various baby weaning foods.

I would say stick with the milk and keep offering her milk feeds even when she doesn't ask for them. Then try again with the solids in a couple of weeks.

If the HV and doctor are that worried, can you ask to see a nutritionist? Sounds like you could do with some specialist advice from someone qualified in the subject. After all, you can't force-feed your DD so what else do they expect you to do?

Oh and taking into account that chart, bear in mind that oz aren't the best way to measure all foods - because an oz of milk to an oz of avocado is likely to be a very different amount in volume. It does give you an idea though.

I'm pleased to know that she's eating the most calorific combo possible = avo and banana! Yay, at least we're getting something right. Will continue with milk feeds and offering food and see how we go, no doubt doc will have further recommendations if she remains underweight. And as she's only 6.5mo, they will have to take things step by step anyway so will see what theysay.

am also frustrated that they always talk about weight but never talk you thru growth spurt that supposedly occurs around now - have read on MN some interesting comments by ches re: muscular changes and developmental changes which I plan to read more about. no-one ever paints a full picture, they jsut make you panic!

Hi. My ds2 is now 10 months and has been hovering just above the 0.4th centile for a while now (he dropped there with only 3oz weight gain for 7 weeks between 16-23 weeks and stayed there). So, we've been there (and still are to an extent) with a baby who is just not all that interested in food and is small.

Question, is your dd really underweight or just small? My ds2 is very much in proportion (he is only on the 9th centile for height) so he doesn't look underweight or unhealthy, just younger than he is. Is she fine developmentally? Is she really active?

If she really won't eat more than a few spoons, there isn't much more you can do apart from perservere (sp?) but don't get into a power struggle with it - it is one you can only loose on so stressful as it is, do take it at her pace. On the plus side, avocados have tons of really healthy fats and calories so at least you are offering the most calorific food you can (that and plenty of milk). Just one thing though - try to mix in other stuff occassionally as I gave ds2 avocados so often he now won't touch them!

would also recommend this thread where you will find a few people with older, small babies as well as those with younger ones