underweight baby?

[Enne la Chu]

A friend just found out at a well-baby check-up that her 9mo babe has dropped from the 50% in weight to the 24% (not sure exactly but roundthereabouts i think). Her ped was concerned, but his only suggestion was to feed her more -- "lock her in her high chair and *make* her eat."

My friend bf's, but they do have some trouble -- she's got one of those babies that don't won't eat unless they're sitting quietly in their bedroom at home during the day, but is up every 2 hrs at night. So more solid food may be the answer. My friend is a conscientious, well-informed parent, so presumably she's offering healthy food 5x a day. What else can she do? Her babe is a very active, and glowingly healthy, so it may just be normal, but she does seem a little small, especially in comparison to the pre-crawling chunker that she once was.

Any ideas?

thanx, jenna

[kerikadi]

How old is the baby? I would be more inclined to increasing nursings than adding food. My DD started out high on the charts, then was probably off the chart because she was so small for a while and now I expect she is low on the chart - we don't go to a ped so I don't know. Most kids fluctuate at this age, I doubt there is anything to worry about and I think her peds advice about strapping in the high chair and foce feeding is ridiculous.

Keri

[kerikadi]

I just read your post again and realized the baby is 9 months, it is perfectly normal to lose weight at this age as the babe is becoming more physically active. 25% may be the right place for this baby - she could stay there for the duration.

Keri

[boobykinmamma]

Just reiterating that this drop in percentile is very normal for breastfed babies. Some bf babes gain very quickly in the first 6 or so months and get very chunky, then really slow down and slim down in the second half or so of the first year. My dd, almost 6 months, was 4 weeks early and weighed 5' 11'' at birth. Now she's around 17 pounds and very chubby, but she's suddenly very active (almost crawling) and her fat folds are not quite as deep as they were even two weeks ago. She's been all over the charts--less than 5th percentile at a month, but then right down the middle at 3-4 months, and then up to above average weight for the last two months. She is also short for her weight, so appears to be more roly poly than she would at an average or longer length. I have oversupply and overactive letdown, which can cause rapid weight gain, but it usually tapers off after awhile. Maybe this is the case with your friend as well? Most pediatricians are just not familiar with the variations of growth patterns in breastfed babies.

[Enne la Chu]

Thanks, Keri and boobykinmamma!
That makes me feel better. I had kind of pooh-poohed all her worrying, saying that her dd was healthy and normal etc. and then was starting to feel like maybe I should be encouraging her to take it more seriously - what if there is a real problem? My dd is 3mo younger than hers, and equal if not bigger in both size and weight now and they used to more proportionate to each other, if that makes any sense.
Your reassurance was nice to have, plus I found a great thread on skinny babies that I emailed to my friend. Woohoo for Mothering!
-Jenna