Failure to thrive?

bumpuser8448316 · November 2013

DD's pediatrician has been watching her weight since her 2 month visit when she went from the 68th percentile to the 23rd, then sown to the 2nd and now shes not on the charts. Her stats are as follows:

Birth: 8 lbs 2 oz 2 months: 10 lbs 6 oz 2 months 2 weeks: 10 lbs 11 oz 3 months: 10 lbs 13 oz 4 months: 10 lbs 11 oz

She was EBF so we did several weights feeds and she's taking 3-4 oz in a feeding. We tried supplementing with formula and she's still not gaining. Today her pedi put in a referral to a gastroenterologist at the children's hospital for failure to thrive. She also says she is slightly developmentally delayed. She doesn't roll, doesn't reach for things, doesn't have total had control and has slight head lag.

Anyone been through this? What was your experience like and what was the outcome? DS has always been totally average so I'm feeling little worried.

ToastieSimons · November 2013

I've been through the failure to thrive part, but my boys are developmentally delayed because of genetic issues.

How often does she nurse? Does she seem to be spitting up a lot?

DS1 was failure to thrive because of severe reflux. He was only eating 8-10 oz of formula a day. It took him about 10 months to double his birth weight. He's always struggled to gain weight.

At birth he was 8lb 14oz and at 3.5 he is only 28 lbs.

bumpuser8448316 · November 2013

She would go every 3-4 if I let her but I nurse her every 2 trying to get more in her. She nurses for 10-15 minutes. She's never spit up. I also give her 2 oz of formula at every feeding

rsd12 · November 2013

My youngest was failure to thrive. He is still on the smaller side but following his own curve at least. it did not start till he was older he fell off the charts between 9 and 12 months in height, weight, and head circumference. his pediatrician referred us to a GI doctor. He has no developmental delays, but was a later crawler and walker than his brothers. Basically it turns out he just has a super fast metabolism and needs every bite to count. Switching him to formula from ebf did not help, eating solids did not help either. We had to trick his body into thinking he needed more calories (but he was older) so he was put on pediasure and an appetite stimulant. That is what worked for him.

zoeyandsummersmom · November 2013

We have been on the Failure to Thrive wagon for quite some time. My DD had a horrible suck, swallow, breathe coordination, which took us 16 months to determine was from a posterior tongue tie. In that time, we supplemented with formula. When you mix it do you mix it according to the package or do you add extra scoops. We would do 4 scoops of formula for a 5oz bottle, so that the calories were 28/30 cal oz.

If you want to continue to nurse, I highly recommend getting the calorie content of your breastmilk analyzed. My DD, because of her tongue tie, never could eat enough/drink enough to gain weight. We ended up getting a nasal-gastric aka ng tube and then later on a g-tube. For her, the NG tube did more harm than good causing more oral aversion. She has had her g-tube for about a year. During that time we have tried appetite stimulants, medicine to increase gastric emptying, but nothing got her to take more food.

At first we continued to push oral feeding and only fed her through the tube at night, but she still wasn't gaining fast enough or eating. Her daycare refused to feed her via the g-tube. Once we pulled her, we did g-tube feedings throughout the day starting January 2013. She has put on well over 10 lbs this year.

Now her developmental delays. She was not getting enough calories to meet her milestones. Only after did we get the weight on her did she start to thrive developmentally. She has gone from barely sitting up to sitting up, scooting, crawling, cruising. The last two are only after we had her tongue tie corrected.

6 weeks out from surgery for the tongue tie, she is willingly taking food from a spoon for the first time ever. I add extra calories to everything. Our GI has us use duocal which adds calories to everything. I also mix in coconut oil into a lot of her purees now.

Sorry for the book.

bumpuser8448316 · November 2013

Thanks everyone! Her pedi has her on nutramigen now. We tried regular enfamil but not only was she gassy but she developed a rash. She won't take much, if I'm lucky I can get 2 oz in her a day.

Her bloodwork showed low glucose and low bicarbonate. We're repeating the labs to see if that changes. Anyone else's baby have that happen?

Want a personalized experience?

Failure to thrive?

Re: Failure to thrive?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards