6.5 month old breastfed baby girl hasn't gained any weight for 3 months

[Gonzita]

Hi there need some opinions please.

My daughter is now 6.5 months old and had been EBF until she was 6 months (we've tried a few veggies here and there). She hasn't gained any weight for probably about 3 months now. At her 6 month checkup she was still 13 pounds 8 ounces, but had grown to 25 1/2 inches. My doctor seemed very concerned, but it wasn't until she plugged it in to her computer generated growth chart. My daughter was rolling over both ways at 3 1/2 months and crawling at 5 1/2, standing up just before 6 months. She is an extremely happy baby, since I'm a stay at home mom I nurse her on demand (usually every 2-3 hours). She generally sleeps 10-13 hours at night without waking.
My question: Should I be concerned about the lack of weight gain over the past few months? Thanks in advance!
Edited by Gonzita - 7/9/12 at 8:43am

[GoBecGo]

Is she your only kid?  If not what were the others like?  If so what were you and her father like?

My babies are generally born on the 75th %ile for weight and height, (i'm on the 75th for weight and 99.8th for height myself).  BUt DD1 dropped onto the 50th for weight, but maintained the 75th for height and is now, age 6, up in the 99th with me.  DD2 was born on the 75th for both but dropped onto the 25th for height and the 9th-25th for weight (these are the WHO charts BTW).  She's much more like her paternal g'ma - small and delicate and elfin-like.  Whereas DD1 and i are amazonian giantesses :D

So there were a few months where DD2 "didn't gain weight" though she continued to grow and develop well, and i was a little concerned at the time, but i just went with it since she was EBF on demand and really, how could i feed her more than that!?  I've not checked her "progress" on the charts recently, she's currently 25months old and 22lbs/33inches.

You could try offering avocado and egg yolks (if that's appropriate to your diet - i believe it's the egg whites which are an allergy concern) as they're calorie dense, but i wouldn't bother with fruits and veggies in general, especially if she's not fussed, as they're lower in cals than your milk anyway.  You could try well cooked good quality meats too (again, if your family eat meat).  Basicall if she were mine i'd try to make sure any supplementation i gave her to her milk was calorie and nutrition dense, but given your description of a happy, active little girl who is ahead in most motor skills, i wouldn't be too worried about it.

[Gonzita]

This is my first child. She was 7lbs 7oz 20 inches at birth then was in the 90th percentile at 2 months. I think when I was this age I was 17 pounds and I was breadtfed. I don't know about my husband, but he is a twin and was only BF for the first 3 months. As for right now I am a little below average weight for my height and hubby is probably above average bc of muscle.

We have given her peas, green beans and avocado. We skipped rice cereal all together and have just been letting her try these 3 foods which she loves!

[LilMomma83]

I'd back off on the solids and nurse as much as possible..breast milk had more calories :-) how's distort output? I give my teeny show to grow baby some coconut oil (though not sure I would of I wasn't already supplementing her)...haven't had a weight check since I started, so not sure if its helping.

[Asiago]

It sounds as though she is only nursing 4-6 times in a 24 hour period. You may wish to increase feedings by offeing the breast as frequently as possible. Even if she nurses several times an hour there's nothing unnatural about that. Wearing your baby in a sling or carrier should increase feeds, Dr. Sears has helpful info on failure to thrive. I'm not sure if your baby is labeled FTT, but the info on Dr.Sears may still be helpful, such as the 'Shut Down" and also 'Baby wearing FFT":

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/fussy-baby/baby-wearing/babywearing-failure-thrive-infants

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/child-rearing-and-development/shutdown-syndrome

I suppose I would look at the simple things first. She was gaining well for 3-4 months, but then stopped.

Did she go through illness? Have any vaccine reactions resulting in gastrointestinal changes? Had she previously been feeding frequently through the night? Was she transferred into a crib or another room?

Were you previously holding her more or wearing her more? Just trying to note any changes that may correspond to the current issue, perhaps it is something that is somewhat easy to reverse to see if it helps.

Edited by Asiago - 7/5/12 at 11:42am

[ZachsMom]

My 4th baby struggled with gaining weight until she was a year old. She'd actually lose weight as she slept. It turned out that she was unable to produce a specific growth hormone (sorry I can't remember it off the top of my head). We found this by seeing a Pediatric Endocrinologist and having a blood test. For her, she was already 11 1/2 months and starting to gain weight so he wasn't concerned. The option if that wasn't the case was to give her the hormone via a pill for a short amount of time. I just wanted to share as another option as during all this with her, I didn't know the right doctor to go to. Best of luck!

[ameliabedelia]

I would be concerned about a baby that young not gaining any weight, especially since she seemed to stop gaining suddenly.  Many breastfed babies do slow down their rate of growth, but not until after 6 months or so.  It is also normal for a baby to drop percentiles, but they usually still gain some, just more slowly.

The first thing I would do is nurse more frequently, especially since she goes quite a long time at night w/o nursing.  At 6 months, breastfed babies can still take in considerable calories during the night, so I would offer breastfeeding 1-2 times during the night or at least much more frequently during the day.
 

[Gonzita]

Thank you for the responses!
My daughter has plenty of wet diapers a day and usually at least 1 poopie diaper a day, but it took her 4 days to have a bowel after I gave her a try of some avocado. I have gone back to only nursing since then. I nurse her at LEAST 6 times a day but usually much more than that. She has never been sick and has had no vaccinations so those couldn't be possibilities. The only thing that to me seems to correlate is the fact that her rapid weight gain slowed after she started rolling over etc. She does not like to be worn around the house bc she would prefer to be on the ground crawling and standing up on everything, but we do use the Moby Wrap or Baby bjorn from time to time mostly when we are out.

[GoBecGo]

I would say, as regards to the "babies only drop off weight gain after 6 months" that it usually corresponds to the increased calorie burn of rolling, crawling and other motor skills, which your daughter attained much earlier than most - my DD2 actually slowed WAY down (i mean stopped gaining for months!) at around the time she learned how to bum shuffle with both hands full!  She was much older than your DD before that happened though, so no one was all that concerned.  I would probably put it down to that i think, it sounds like she is healthy and happy and growing, i believe 25.5inches is roughly 50th%ile for a 6month old...?

[ameliabedelia]

babies only drop off weight gain after 6 months" that it usually corresponds to the increased calorie burn of rolling, crawling and other motor skills, which your daughter attained much earlier than most

Actually, I believe that breastfed babies tend to gain more rapidly than formula fed babies for the first 6 month and after that they tend to gain slower.  But, the slowing down of weight gain is in comparision to formula fed babies...so I don't think it is only attributed to increased motor skills as formula fed babies also increase their motor skills at the same time.  Yes, increased mobility is definitely a factor, but I also think it concerning for a baby *that young* to not gain any weight.

[Millie Ivy]

Obviously we all will have our insights and they may or may not apply here.  My niece went through a very similar low growth time as well, and she doesn't care to be worn, and she didn't nurse for comfort much.

At around that same age, dr's suggested my sister put her on addtl formula, thankfully my sister is verra smart and wasn't going to do that right off the bat. 

She did try to increase the nursing, which was super difficult.

What she ended up doing was adding real foods.  dn was SO much happier and did start gaining.  She is naturally a slight thing, but was very low on the charts and showing some signs of not being satisfied with bm alone.  we do TF and grain free, and the foods she added were very nutrient dense.  avocado, egg yolk, meat, coconut oil.  She didn't waste time with fruits and veggies at first unless it was part of the meal and dn wanted it.

this kid still can freaking EAT, at 14 months.  Great appetite, loves natural foods, etc. 

Anyway, it might not be the right thing for you, I hesitated to suggest adding food because my intuition always says to focus on BM first and foremost, but she was ready.  And still nursing strong, just not enough to be the only thing.