Maryland Babies
KathrynMD
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why do newborns have failure to thrive?
KathrynMD
member
am I phrasing that right?
One of my college friends had a baby about a month (6 weeks ago) and he was full term, but isn't gaining much weight and she is still under instrcutions to wake him every 3 hours to eat. He's at 6.5 lbs now. She's always been tiny too, petite, very thin naturally, but her husband isn't underweight at all.
I'm not sure if she's nursing, but I assume if the baby is underweight still her doctor is making her give him some kind of formula.
I thought being underweight/FTR was an issue for preemies, not full term babies.
Just curious
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Re: why do newborns have failure to thrive?
When my niece was born (full term, maybe like a week or 2 early) she was also labeled as failure to thrive. I think it had something to do with where she was on the growth charts. Because she fell below a certain %tile she was labeled as FTT.
She's 7 now and still very petite but hasn't had any issues regarding her size.
I don't believe it has anything to do with preemies, it's about their weight gain and what levels need to be reached. I know a family who has a 2y/o and a cousin of H's who has an almost 3y/o and they both have been considered failure to thrive. Cousin's 3y/o had a feeding tube and has since she was an infant. She won't eat.
Ditto pp's. It has to do with how they are gaining weight. If they are in the 50th percentile in terms of growth, but then drop down to the 10th percentile, that can also be called failure to thrive.
I'm sure your friend (and you) know this, but sometimes it takes bf babies longer to reach birthweight. Also, there are two different growth charts out there, one by the CDC (which is based on formula fed babies who typically gain weight faster) and one by the WHO. If Dr. is using the one from the CDC, there could be a failure to thrive diagnosis even if the baby is doing fine. Also, if you friend does not want to use formula, she could probably supplement with breastmilk, which is what I had to do (or rather wanted to do to avoid formula).
I realize that you didn't really ask any of that, but I wanted to add it any way
exactly and most times breast milk has more calories than formula. Your friend could request to have a creamtocrit (totally butchered the spelling) done at the hospital. It will analyze the caloric content of her breast milk. Just tell her to keep in mind that the calorie content changes throughout the day.
It also could be because of an infection. And I have heard of a few babies being labeled failure to thrive after some sleep training programs (like Babywise before it was revamped, etc).
All this. DS was born at 39w2d @ 8lbs, 10oz, and even despite that, we came dangerously close to a FTT diagnosis at 4 months. DS was basically not gaining weight - BFing SEEMED to be going as it should, but we were in and out constantly at the pedi's for weight checks. He didn't reach birthweight until a month, and then barely gained a pound past that in the next 2.5 months. Our pedi really did everything he could to help us continue BFing (incl. supplementing w/pumped BM), but when DS was down to gaining less than 1/3 oz/day (our pedi looks for 2/3-1 oz gain/day at that age), he finally encouraged us to begin supplementing w/formula rather than BM. That, in conjunction w/my supply taking a hit when I returned to work, resulted in my supply tanking out over the course of the following month, as we phased in formula and weaned off BFing. Wasn't ideal or the outcome we'd hoped for, but the change in DS's growth and weight gain was remarkable. He had been consistently plummeting on the chart (and our pedi was referring to the WHO chart), but once we got things straightened out w/BFing and formula, we began to see consistency at one percentile range (25th, in his case). Anyway, long-winded answer to say that no, FTT isn't just for preemies.
... every single day of forever.
sometimes they can also have tongue tie or aren't latching correctly. Some are very sleepy for a few weeks. DD #2 didn't have failure to thrive, but she lost a lot of weight after birth and took her a long time to gain, which was the opposite of DD #1. I didn't do anything different, but DD #2 is not gaining very fast or very much so I could not be making as much milk.
I am not sure about formula fed babies having FTT, why it would happen
FF babies can have FTT. I'm sorry, but in my mind i would hope most people would switch to formula if there baby was failing to thrive just to help them out. My LO lost a lot of weight after birth and it took over a month to even get to birth weight. LO was never considered FTT at that point, but that was because I finally had to make a decision. Was I going to let my child suffer because I wasn't producing milk because I was being stubborn (bc I fully was being stubborn) or was I going to at least try to feed my LO something to help LO gain weight? My child's health won over my stubborness of wanting to breastfeed.
H's cousin and friends kid were both FF and they were listed as FTT.
you also have to consider that most babies/births have a lot of fluid due to drugs like epidurals or if they are delivered by c-section, which causes swelling and can cause babies to weigh more due to water weight at birth (sometimes a lot more depending on how long the drug was used before birth). My pediatrician considered that in my case and wasn't concerned and told me not to worry - some pediatricians don't take that into thought. She gained at her 2 week visit and then the weight has been slow, but that means slow compared to my first baby, but it's probably normal compared to most babies.
Also food intolerances to whatever the mom is eating or to formula can cause FTT. I did notice DD #2 gained after I removed milk from my diet per pediatrician suggestion and bad poos, spitting up and vomiting.
Just random. .. but do babies from an unmedicated birth not lose weight after birth? I thought the drop in weight was because day 1 newborns rarely eat and then the first 2-4 days they are just figuring out how to eat and working on hunger/eat response, etc.
They do until mom's milk comes in but it tends not to be the same amount bc as the pp mentioned the water weight.