6 month old loosing weight :(

[@llli*sblakeley]

I'm going to try and give as much info as possible in bullet point form (there is a bunch):

Birth weight 7 lbs 3 oz, maintained at 50% until 3 months, month 4 dropped to 15%, then to 5% and now not on the chart. Jan weight check (4 weeks ago) 12lbs 1oz, today she was 11lbs 13oz (same scale same person weighing her. Still growing in length 27" today.

Two weeks ago we saw a different doc who a a ped/lactation specialist. She transferred 5oz of milk nursing in 10 mins. They did urine tests, repeat newborn screens, CBC, allergy tests, celiacs test, thyroid levels, lead tests, the whole battery. All tests came back completely normal.

She is a solid food chow hound. Has has blueberries, strawberries, apples, oranges, bananas, sweet potato, lentils, peanut butter, pasta, mum mums, puffs, corn, carrots and helped herself
to a French fry at red robin earlier this week. She is a fast little grabber.

I formed poop or so per day and usually 6 wet diapers (when did urine screen test with bikini waxing baggie her urine was almost clear in color).

The solution from the ped today was to offer 2oz of formula after every feeding to see if she gains weight and recheck next week. This really doesn't make me happy. Does anyone have another solution. To make matters worse starting Tuesday I'll be separated from her for 8 days. I'm just besides myself with what to do. I have 40 bags of milk in the freezer for when I'm gone.

To make matters worse we move to China in two months and I need this settled before then for our peace of mind. Please help!

ETA: she is a very content baby and really only cries when hungry. Okay lately she only wants mommy and will cry if I am in the room and not attached to her. She is sleeping 8 to 10 hours at night. And developmentally she is at 11 months per today's assessment doing things like standing while holding on for extended periods, pincer grasp, sitting and standing unassisted (I give he my hands she grabs them and pulls herself into these positions).

Update: at 7.5 months she now weights 12 lbs 13 oz she has gained some but not enough in the peds opinion. I started waking her at night to give extra feedings, cosleeping to also increase feedings and have also been giving an extra 6oz bag of frozen milk per day. I'm not cutting out solids almost completely to uptick her bfing to help increase calories. She is still growing in length, head circ and way ahead and gaining developmental skills. We did some additional test on Thursday and should have results on Monday. All are urine tests.

We are still moving to China in May.

What more can I do??

[@llli*jenna562]

Quick question; what did the LC say about the milk transfer? If she transferred 5 oz in one feeding and eats solids I can't imagine it being a supply issue so why the formula? What was their reasoning?

[@llli*sblakeley]

Quick question; what did the LC say about the milk transfer? If she transferred 5 oz in one feeding and eats solids I can't imagine it being a supply issue so why the formula? What was their reasoning?

The formula rec came from the ped not the LC. His reasoning is she is metabolism is faster that average. Feels she will burn thru the formula slower.

[@llli*kst.7399]

Why is that a good thing though? Is the Pedi using a breast fed chart? Both of mine started to drop at 6 months. My question though is why does a 6 month old eat so many solids? When did you start? At this stage I would think breastmilk contains more calories and fat than all of those solids.

[@llli*mommal]

Sorry, mama! It must be so discouraging to be doing everything right and yet not see the results you're hoping for. I think in this sort of situation therer's no one sure way to "fix" things, so you try a whole bunch of different things at once. I think I'd want to do the following:
- Don't hate me for suggesting this, but I would stop letting her sleep through the night. Babies can take in quite a lot of calories at night.
- Offer to nurse more often during the day. Some very mellow, non-demanding babies forget to nurse enough, particularly as they get older and get busy playing instead of eating. I'd aim for offering every 2 hours during the day, or more often if baby wants.
- Focus on high-calorie solids, things like beans, meats, whole-milk yogurt, avocado. You can also add a drizzle of olive oil to low-cal foods.
- Get an iron test? That wasn't in the battery of tests you mentioned, thigh maybe it's covered under the CBC? I have read that anemia can result in slow growth.
- Think about your stature and your baby's daddy's stature. Are you big people or small people? Fat people or slender people? Genes play a big part in a baby's size, and smaller, slenderer parents tend to produce smaller, slenderer babies. There's such a huge range of normal, and sometimes the charts don't tell you everything you need to know.

[@llli*sblakeley]

Why is that a good thing though? Is the Pedi using a breast fed chart? Both of mine started to drop at 6 months. My question though is why does a 6 month old eat so many solids? When did you start? At this stage I would think breastmilk contains more calories and fat than all of those solids.

Yes they are using a bfing weight chart. She only eats 2 oz of solids per day and not every day. We travel a lot and I try and not use jar baby food so I give what I can get my hands on where we are. I don't do traditional food introduction so some things she has had once others 5 times or so. We started at four months (almost 90 days ago) because she was sitting up by herself and grabbing food off our plates.

[@llli*kst.7399]

I agree with Mommal. Nurse as much as possible, at least every 2 hours. Formula will bulk your baby up but may not be the healthiest way to do it. Especially since it sounds like you are not having a supply issue.

[@llli*sblakeley]

Sorry, mama! It must be so discouraging to be doing everything right and yet not see the results you're hoping for. I think in this sort of situation therer's no one sure way to "fix" things, so you try a whole bunch of different things at once. I think I'd want to do the following:
- Don't hate me for suggesting this, but I would stop letting her sleep through the night. Babies can take in quite a lot of calories at night.
- Offer to nurse more often during the day. Some very mellow, non-demanding babies forget to nurse enough, particularly as they get older and get busy playing instead of eating. I'd aim for offering every 2 hours during the day, or more often if baby wants.
- Focus on high-calorie solids, things like beans, meats, whole-milk yogurt, avocado. You can also add a drizzle of olive oil to low-cal foods.
- Get an iron test? That wasn't in the battery of tests you mentioned, thigh maybe it's covered under the CBC? I have read that anemia can result in slow growth.
- Think about your stature and your baby's daddy's stature. Are you big people or small people? Fat people or slender people? Genes play a big part in a baby's size, and smaller, slenderer parents tend to produce smaller, slenderer babies. There's such a huge range of normal, and sometimes the charts don't tell you everything you need to know.

Thank you! Questions our 4.5 yo does not let the baby sleep during the day. So she really does not nap more than 30 mins twice if I am lucky. Older DD thinks she is being 'helpful' so as soon as I go to the bathroom, shower, attempt to cook, etc she wakes the baby by giving her a blanket, toy or singing to her at high volumes. She is trying to help in her mind but it ends up in the baby never sleeping. After that long winded reply! Since she does not sleep during the day should. Let her go one long stretch at night? How long?

She eat pretty frequently during the day, I'll start offering her the boob every time she looks at me.

Olive oil, never thought about that. Great tip!

I think they did an iron test, they said she was a little low. But it was what they would expect to see in a six month bf baby. If still that low at 10 months then it would be an issue.

We are both tall thin people. DH is 6'9" and 185lbs. I'm 5'8" and 135lbs. I don't mind her being thin or low on the charts, I just don't want her loosing weight. Older DD was a preemie so not good for comparison for a trend.

[@llli*mommal]

That's nice of your 4.5 year-old! What a good helper.

Even though your baby isn't getting good naps during the day, I would still wake and nurse at night. It's very, very normal for babies to have interrupted sleep, and it doesn't screw up their development in any way. Adults and children actually wake at night, too- they just don't remember it because they are good at putting themselves back to sleep. Anyway, to answer your question about how long to let her sleep, how about one 5 hour stretch, so that you both get some decent shuteye, and then wake every 3 hours? You could put her to bed, then wake her to nurse right before you go to bed, let her sleep 5 hours, and then wake her again. That way you're cramming 2 additional feedings in during the night.

I'd definitely start giving her a mulitvitamin, and see if that makes a difference in her iron status.

Based on your height/weight and your DH's, I'm thinking that your child is destined to be very tall and very slender. You and your DH are exactly the same height as me and my DH (how weird is that?!), but we both outweigh you significantly. So I think it's probably just your child's genetic destiny to be at the bottom end of the weight charts.

[@llli*sblakeley]

That's nice of your 4.5 year-old! What a good helper.

Even though your baby isn't getting good naps during the day, I would still wake and nurse at night. It's very, very normal for babies to have interrupted sleep, and it doesn't screw up their development in any way. Adults and children actually wake at night, too- they just don't remember it because they are good at putting themselves back to sleep. Anyway, to answer your question about how long to let her sleep, how about one 5 hour stretch, so that you both get some decent shuteye, and then wake every 3 hours? You could put her to bed, then wake her to nurse right before you go to bed, let her sleep 5 hours, and then wake her again. That way you're cramming 2 additional feedings in during the night.

I'd definitely start giving her a mulitvitamin, and see if that makes a difference in her iron status.

Based on your height/weight and your DH's, I'm thinking that your child is destined to be very tall and very slender. You and your DH are exactly the same height as me and my DH (how weird is that?!), but we both outweigh you significantly. So I think it's probably just your child's genetic destiny to be at the bottom end of the weight charts.

Lol how random on the same height thing. Especially with the DH's!