Baby not growing

[wrappedupmama]

Okay, so my DS is 10 months old. He was an average baby at birth 7lbs 11 ounces (50th percentile on the charts). Then his growth looks like this from there.

1 month 10 1/2 lbs (75th %)
2 months 11 lbs 14 oz (50th %)
4 months 13 15 3/4 oz (just above 25th%)
6 months 16 lbs (25th %)
8.5 months 17 lbs 2 oz (10th %)
9 months no growth (below 5th %)
10 months gained maybe an oz or so (below the 5th %)
He also hasn't grown in height since 7 months or so.

He is breastfed, no formula, pacifiers, juice, or water. He breastfeeds every two hours or so. We have been setting the alarm at night and waking up to nurse every 2 hours at night for the last month. He drips milk from his mouth and is obviously getting milk. It isn't a low milk supply issue.

He isn't really eating solids. A bite or two every few days. We started introducing food at 6 months. This doesn't bother me since my DD was very slow to wean as well. He will only self feed, will not let you put food in his mouth at all. He will not open his mouth, and if you sneak food in he will gag and spit it out. Sometimes even throw up a little bit from all the gagging. When he does choose to eat he can handle a variety of textures from yogurt, to sweet potatoes, to cheerios.

He is healthy, hitting all his milestones on time. Smiles, plays, crawls all over the play, giggles with his sister, listens to stories, has two teeth, can stand for short periods of time, with one finger from me as support he can walk from one end of the house to the other, etc. He pees and poos enough.

So has anyone out there had anything similar to this? What do other mamas think of this?

[Bokonon]

Is there any reason you are weighing him so frequently? Are the charts you are using the CDC charts (which include formula-fed babies) or the WHO breastfed babies chart?

It's very normal for babies' weight gain to slow after 6 months. It sounds like your son is doing great, so I would recommend continuing what you're doing and not stress the percentiles, which don't show the whole picture.

FWIW, this is the curve that both my kids have followed - under the chart at birth (preemies), 75th-95th percentile at 4 months adjusted age, 50th at 9 months, and 25th at 1 year. My son is now 5 and has stayed right around that 25th percentile since he was 1. He was exclusively breastfed, eats like a horse, and has gained 3 pounds in 2 years, LOL.

[jennybear]

My DD is a chunkalunk at 6 months (20 lbs), so no personal experience but what you're describing wouldn't concern me unless I'm missing something. Sounds like he's doing great!

[2boyzmama]

How is his height to weight ratio? In other words...is he gaining height but not weight, or is he gaining neither? When you plot his height, does it follow a similar curve to his weight?

What is his heredity? Your height/weight as an adult, and if you know it, as a child? Your husband's? Any family members know theirs?

Is he your only child? If not, how does he compare to his siblings' growth?

What does your dr say?

Some drs are very quick to diagnose "failure to thrive" based on lack of weight gain or a drop of more than 2 percentile lines (i.e. from the 95th to the 50th would be a drop of 2 lines...95 to 75 to 50) but medical textbooks actually have no set definition for the term FTT. A more accurate definition should take into account heredity, physical development, and cognitive development.

Your son sounds like he's doing just fine in physical and cognitive development. If he also has even just one family member who is small, then I'd stop worrying. Even in the absence of a small family member, I might only be watchful, but not worried yet.

Signs that are reassuring: he is bright, alert, active, happy, interactive with people and his environment. He continues to meet milestones.

Signs that might trigger a bit of worry: his poop/pee output changes. He stagnates developmentally or regresses. His disposition changes outside of what is normal for an infant/toddler.

I do understand the worry with the numbers you gave! But I think that when you consider his other development, it doesn't sound as bad. Being small is not a medical condition. Some medical conditions can cause slow/no growth, but there typically would be some other sign, and from your description there aren't any red flags.

I might be watchful of his gagging. It' slikely that he's just still learning how to handle different textures and the gagging is normal. But if it continues past a year or so, it might be worth a call to Early Intervention to get him evaluated just to be sure that it isn't a swallowing disorder or sensory disorder. It's unlikely, but possible.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Sounds like my DD. She's now 21 months and still only 20.5 lbs. Totally healthy though and her ped. is not the slightest bit concerned.

[Katie T]

I would trust your mama gut on this. My dd2 went from her 9month well child check to her 12 not growing but a tiny tiny bit. We had to go back in 3 months later to make sure she was still making progress. Thing is she was nursing great, (she was just like your little guy, wouldn't let you feed her and had no interest in solids till around 10 months. I don't think that is the reason for the slowdown though. I think breast milk is all they need at that age) meeting all her milestones and chunky. She had just gotten so mobile and has the genetics to be small.

I knew in my heart everything was ok, and my dr was very laid back as well. I think it is normal for kids to have a slow down some more than others.

[leam811]

Just chiming in to say that at 10 mos we have been seeing much slower growth here too, really for the past 3 mos or so (coinciding with increased mobility - crawling, pulling up, etc). And she is also practically 100% breastfed (or EBM in bottle at daycare) - only plays with/tastes solids.

I look at her and feel that she is completely healthy, so I fully agree on the 'trust your gut' advice!

[Kmama2]

Originally Posted by wrappedupmama

Okay, so my DS is 10 months old. He was an average baby at birth 7lbs 11 ounces (50th percentile on the charts). Then his growth looks like this from there.

1 month 10 1/2 lbs (75th %)
2 months 11 lbs 14 oz (50th %)
4 months 13 15 3/4 oz (just above 25th%)
6 months 16 lbs (25th %)
8.5 months 17 lbs 2 oz (10th %)
9 months no growth (below 5th %)
10 months gained maybe an oz or so (below the 5th %)
He also hasn't grown in height since 7 months or so.

He is breastfed, no formula, pacifiers, juice, or water. He breastfeeds every two hours or so. We have been setting the alarm at night and waking up to nurse every 2 hours at night for the last month. He drips milk from his mouth and is obviously getting milk. It isn't a low milk supply issue.

He isn't really eating solids. A bite or two every few days. We started introducing food at 6 months. This doesn't bother me since my DD was very slow to wean as well. He will only self feed, will not let you put food in his mouth at all. He will not open his mouth, and if you sneak food in he will gag and spit it out. Sometimes even throw up a little bit from all the gagging. When he does choose to eat he can handle a variety of textures from yogurt, to sweet potatoes, to cheerios.

He is healthy, hitting all his milestones on time. Smiles, plays, crawls all over the play, giggles with his sister, listens to stories, has two teeth, can stand for short periods of time, with one finger from me as support he can walk from one end of the house to the other, etc. He pees and poos enough.

So has anyone out there had anything similar to this? What do other mamas think of this?

Yup- Same here only my son is even smaller than yours. He will be 9 months on July 10th and just hit 16 lbs on Sunday.
he is slow to gain inches as well. Most days I am not worried as he is meeting milestones above and beyond. Has been crawling since just before 6 months. Doc said not to be worried. He passes the cheeks and thighs test. He barely eats food either. I wouldn't wake him every 2 hours to eat at night.. if he is hungry he will wake. I feed DS at 630 when he goes to bed... and then he usually wakes to nurse at midnight and 5 am.. and then up for the day at 7 am. I feed on demand all day long and have plenty of milk as well. Your son sounds fine. Is he super active?
Birth- 7 lbs 9 oz (19.5 inches)
12 days - 8 lbs 3 oz
6 weeks- 10 lbs 5 oz
2 months- 11 lbs
4 months 13 lbs 9 oz
5 months 13 lbs 14 oz
5 months + 3 weeks- 14 lbs 11 oz
6 months + 6 days 15 lbs 2 oz (25 inches)
8 months 15lbs 12 oz ( 26 inches )

[sky_and_lavender]

I'm another one with a 10 month old baby who has sunk down to a low percentile (<1 on the CDC chart and around 8 on the WHO one) in weight while also decreasing (from 85 percentile to around 65) on the height ranks since 6 months. She hasn't really gained weight at all in a couple of months!

She's doing fine in every area of development, though. She doesn't eat a lot of food but breastfeeds many times day/night, and is happy and bright with beautiful skin. My ped recommended feeding her more and more food, but kellymom and other sources say breastmilk is more likely to support growth than is table food.

Also, as pp's have said, if you have small people in your family, it could just be normal. I'm quite little myself and had two tiny grandmothers. My husband's family tends toward little, too. So I'm not worried, though at times my imagination gets rolling...

Trust your instincts!

[Darlingricki74]

Sounds fine to me. My ds(now almost 7) was like that. He was 8lbs 7oz at birth, and barely 18lbs at one year. He's still small, at 6 he finally hit 40lbs!
As long as he's peeing/pooing fine, and active and happy, I wouldn't worry about it. My ds ended up off the charts(low off) and officially underweight according to BMI when he was a toddler, and his ped wasn't worried about it all since he was obviously so active and normal.