Baby has NOT gained weight in 2 months!

PandasMama0626

My son is 18 weeks old (4.5 months) and at his 2 month check he was 12 lbs. At his 4 month check he was 12 lbs 6 ounces. He has grown length wise, but his head circumference dropped a little on the curve and he has gone from the 10th percentile in weight to the 5th. He eats 23-27 ozs a day of breast milk and the LC at his doctors office said he needs at least 33 a day just to maintain his weight. He is gets pumped milk only so I expected him to be a little smaller than normal like his sister was/is but not this much. The doctor had me start harvesting the fat from all my stored milk but oops...I have a high amount of lipase enzyme and he will not touch the stored milk! So we are not having to supplement with a high cal formula in his BM bottles but he is HATING the taste. It takes about an hour just to get 2 ounces of milk in him right now so every waking moment of his day is spent trying to get him to eat.

We saw a feeding specialist who thinks his jaw is set a bit further back than normal which may make it hard for him to eat (which I don't totally believe since he was gaining an ounce a day up until he was 2 months old). He has reflux which I thought was under control with my diet but the doctor thinks it may not be since he crunches and fusses/pain cries in the middle of feedings...usually after eating only an ounce. I'm starting to realize he is SUPER gassy and once he gets out a huge burp, I can get an extra ounce in him. His doctor is going to be referring him to a pediatric GI specialist (2.5 hours away since thats the closes one!) so needless to say I'm scared for him.

We were given a Habermen special needs feeder which cuts down on the air getting in him, but he has a really hard time getting more than an ounce an hour out of the darn thing. he does great with dr. brown standard bottles with getting milk out efficiently, but he is getting tons of air too (which I'm starting to think is the main issue with not getting enough to eat...if theres too much air, theres no room for food).  The biggest issue is he has a hard time burping when he needs to so he is starved but cries when he tries to eat. Its really heart breaking

So my question to you all is have any of you dealt with this? And is there anyway to get him to take the formula supplement in his breast milk without fussing so much? The dr. wants 3/4 of a tsp per 2 oz of breast milk but he tastes it, so I've started doing 3/4 of a tsp per 3 oz...he takes it but not really willingly. I'm going to have to go down to 3/4 per 4 oz of BM but since he only eats 2 oz an hour, I run the risk of wasting my milk. UGH! I'm so scared and fed up and praying he has put on weight by his weight check next week... 

tiffanyp

That sounds really stressful. Unfortunately I don't have any advice, but I wanted to say that needing 33 oz. to maintain a weight of 12.5 lbs is total BS. My daughter is small (13 lbs) but gaining weight appropriately every month, and she usually only takes about 24 oz. per day. So, don't be too stressed if you can't get him to have 33.

PandasMama0626

tiffanyp:

That sounds really stressful. Unfortunately I don't have any advice, but I wanted to say that needing 33 oz. to maintain a weight of 12.5 lbs is total BS. My daughter is small (13 lbs) but gaining weight appropriately every month, and she usually only takes about 24 oz. per day. So, don't be too stressed if you can't get him to have 33.

Tiffanyp, I thought the same thing about 33 sounding off. 2 LCs told me the same thing but my daughter never ate more than 25 ozs a day her entire first year (she started solids early though) and she maintained a solid curve. 27 oz seems to be his absolute limit and 24 his average lately. 

 

Thank you for the support everyone. It is SUPER stressful right now since there is a danger of him losing weight at this point. I hate pushing him so hard to eat because it makes feedings miserable on the both of us. But feedings ever 30 mins to an hour just to get an ounce or two in him is not ok...most babies should be able to go 2 hours or more by this point without a feeding eating 3.5 to 4 ozs in a sitting. Hoping his weight check on wednesday shows some results... 

happy_un-bride

Fwiw DS weighed about the same as your LO at 4 months.  Except he was up to 4th percentile from the third.  We haven't had to do any supplementing since the first month, so I can understand your stress.  Hang in there!

kelly321

I went through something kind of similar with DD1. She was gaining, but projectile vomiting a lot and went down to drinking about 1oz every 20-30 min. It stopped the vomiting, but it got so stressful, especially since my MW and pedi were telling me that she had to go at least 2 hours between feedings so that the old milk was already digested (otherwise it would mix with the new milk and the old milk that didn't get cleared out could start to ferment, causing a lot of gas).

I don't have any suggestions for your situation, but I know that it is extremely stressful and I feel for you. It will pass, though. It's good you're going to see a GI specialist. Maybe there's something else going on that's easily fixed.

NG2HD

Yikes.  DD is 4 months and weighs 10 lbs.  She is less than 0% for the weight index.  Her pedi had me immediately start rice cereal (a gentle formula) and some puree fruit (homemade).  She has gained 1 lbs in the 3 weeks that we started this food.  Can you ask about supplementing with some food rather than BM?  My pedi has me give the same amount of bottles/BM through the day (actually trying 1 ounce more each feeding) and adding the cereal and/or fruit twice each day.  It's working (I think).  She gets another weight check on the 15th of July.  IF they are not happy with the weight gain, then she needs blood work, but I think it's working.  My DD#1 is always in the 3% for weight, so I think I just have small kids.