Any experiences of a baby not gaining enough weight?

Hello all,

I havent' been on here for a while as I have been busy looking after my little Emilie. She is now 13 weeks old and doing brilliantly. She only wakes up once a night, she is smiling laughing, chatting and doing everything a baby that age should be doing. She is bottle fed and has been since 6 weeks old as she was very fussy with her eating and sensitive to whatever I ate and it was exhausting. Over the last 13 weeks , she has gained weight but not enough. I have to go to see the hv every week and it's the same story every time. Yes, she has put weight on, but no, not enough. She has now been referred to the doctor for a checkup and it is starting to really get on my nerves. She is never sick, she doens't cry after her feeds and her nappies are a bit loose sometimes but not always. She has not suffered from colic either. She is 10lb8oz today but she has now dipped through two of their damned centiles so the hv is not happy. She only eats about 90-120 mls every three hours but she will not have any more at all, she either spits it all out or hits the bottle if she is not hungry anymore. She is very clear about not wanting any more ha ha! I was wondering if any of your babies had similar issues and if so, what was the outcome? She is my third baby so I can tell she is not ill or at least not suffering and I feel a bit lost with it all and to the point of getting worried. Any advice or shared experiences welcome as I don't know what to think about it all anymore. Thank you xx

[mummymummy]

If ur not worried and u think she is gaining weight ok then dont be too panicked. .. What can u do if she doesn't drink all her milk u can't force feed her...The only suggestion I have is do a dream feed to get some extra milk into her.xx

[Hidden]

Thank you, I'll wait and see what the doctor has to say but I hadn't thought of a dream feed, good idea!

[Dozymum]

Sounds a bit like my experience with my eldest daughter (now 16!). She was 6lb 3oz at birth and did put on weight, but not as she 'should'. She ended up following along her own centile below the bottom of the chart. The health visitors and doctors were fussing and used the horrible phrase 'failure to thrive'. She had hospital visits and tests with no results.

To me and my husband she seemed healthy and happy, but as she was our first it was difficult to trust out gut feelings.

She started walking and talking at around 10 months and hasn't looked back. To cut a long story short, the final medical conclusion was that she was just small (!) and she still is. Mind you, I'm only 5ft 2in and weigh 8.5 stone after 3 kids, so she's clearly following in her mother's footsteps.

[Hidden in reply to Dozymum]

Thank you for sharing your experience! I am 5ft 2in too and a size 8 after 3 kids so we are in similar situations here I hope the end result is that she is just small and gaining weight at her own rythm too. She seems perfectly happy but they insist so much you start doubting your own judgment even if you already have kids. I have tried making an appointment at the doctor's but of course there were none left so I have no idea when she will be looked at. They have been telling me for weeks that she's not putting enough on ,yet no one has done anything about it so far as they keep referring me back to one another with no solutions at all. I have a feeling this will be a looooong process!!! xx

[CarolineDarz]

This may sound stupid, but it is possible and extremely under- diagnosed. Tongue tie. My little boy had one and i had to diagnose it myself. Can cause weight loss and fussy baby as they can struggle latching and sucking. Worth a look x

[Hidden in reply to CarolineDarz]

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely mention it when I get an appointment at the doctor's. My sister also mentioned a milk allergy or lactose intolerance which could mean that she is not absorbing nutrients properly. I have mentioned this to them already but they don't seem bothered because she is not being sick or suffering from colic... Still though, neither were my sister's kids so not all children are the same, as I keep telling them. They don't seem interested by it at all at the moment so ,like I said earlier, I have a feeling this will turn into a long battle!

[uruztiwaz]

Hi Brookiana,

I know how you feel, we're going through exactly the same with Esme, she's 16 weeks now and weighed 10.2 last Tuesday. She was 6lb at birth, then dropped to 5lb whilst in ICU with bad jaundice. She feeds every 3-4 hours, only wakes once a night for a top up and takes 5oz (150ml) per feed. She's happy, giggly and knows when she's had enough just like your LO.

I ended up having an argument with the Midwife at the last review as she's in the 2% of growth and only just sticking to their approved curve. What they don't think about is that I'm only 5,3" as is my partner. He's really slim and I'm a fairly normal size when not post natal/gorging on Magnums. I ended up telling her if she was that concerned about her putting on weight, then she should do the appropriate tests and stop telling me to overfeed my baby.

Seriously, anyone would think that the graphs were the be all and end all of child development rather than a general guide!

I wouldn't stress yourself out and would challenge the midwife/Health visitor when you next see them. If they're that worried they should do something other than make you feel inadequate, when you're doing exactly what you should be doing and have a happy, healthy baby.

xx

[Hidden in reply to uruztiwaz]

Ha! How funny, it's the exact same story apart from your baby losing weight at the beginning in ICU which mine didn't go through. I feel that I am very close to an argument myself, only I'm too nice and it's in my nature to explode once I get home and not when I have the opportunity. I also feel that if they are so concerned, why don't they do anything about it? I've been back and forth now, going every week to be asked every time how much she eats and how often and what milk etc but they don't come to any conclusion... It's wasting everybody's time and not getting us anywhere. They do seem to follow those graphs like it's some sort of religion. They probably have a duty to send me to the doctor as part of their job because she's gone through two centile lines but they have nothing to say! I will take my partner with me next time as he is the argumentative type so he might put our point across better ha ha

I didn't stress at first but after weeks of it, it's getting me down a little, more out of frustration then anything else. If you add this on top of tiredness and everything else that goes on in any normal family of 5, it becomes stressful every time she doesn't finish her bottle or suddenly cries as you're then wondering if something's wrong... I must find the strength to stand up to my beliefs that she's ok and tell them where they can stuff their graphs

Thanks for sharing, at least I know I'm not alone and they're probably on a mission to get all slim babies! xx