4 MO weight drop

[JulieHuf]

My 4 mo had a doctor's appointment yesterday and they weighed him and he weighed 14 pounds. That put us in the 25%. Well, all along he has been in the 75% for weight. My doctor doesn't seem too worried, but should I be worried? I have always breast fed. And he seems to get a full feeding everytime (he has been eating longer the past couple of weeks). He does take a bottle (of BM) when I am away- usually 4 oz (I can't really pump more). Should we start supplementing with formula? We will start rice cereal sometime this week, so hopefully that will help. Thanks!

[jessmum46]

If your doc's not worried, I wouldn't be either   I'm presuming he has plenty of wet nappies?  It's not uncommon for babies to shift around a centile or two in the first few months.  Was your doc using the up to date weight charts from the WHO based on normal growth for BF babies?

Personally I wouldn't start the rice cereal, especially at 4 months - it adds very little in the way of calories and can be hard for LOs to digest.  But of course, totally up to you

[scheaashby]

The same thing happened to me so I sympathize. Once we started solid foods (5 1/2 months) he started gaining weight again right away. I think from 4-5 months my son had only gained 3 oz. My doctor recommended for his age he should be at 6 oz so I did that too. I, like you had trouble getting all that milk with a pump! I did a "power pump" (pump 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off for an hour, across three days and was able to get more milk overall. Also LOTS of water helps with how much you can pump.

Keep in mind most people are not exclusively breastfeeding at this point so WAY TO GO! In my opinion, that's what contributes to dropping down in the percentiles for weight. Good luck!

[eva026]

We had the same situation here. DD is pretty tiny and has only put on about 600g from mo 4-6. Our Dr isn't worried either though. She said that with EBF babies as long as they gain some weight, the most important indicator is that they are meeting their mile stones and not how big they are. At mo 4 she also told us to hold off on solids if she's EBF as they have less calories than BM anyway.
It's pretty funny because people think she's 4mo when they see her and are pretty surprised when they see her try to sit.

[Erin M]

Totally agree with PPs and especially with this:

She said that with EBF babies as long as they gain some weight, the most important indicator is that they are meeting their mile stones and not how big they are.

Also, wet diapers and a (mostly) happy baby are the best indicator at this age. 

And as other posters have said, breastmilk has more fat and calories ounce for ounce than any type of solid, so if you delay or if she doesn't start taking them right away (none of mine have), don't despair. 

[Fiver]

breastmilk has more fat and calories ounce for ounce than any type of solid

...or formula, for that matter

Incidentally, rice cereal often leads to constipation, too, which isn't somewhere I'd want to be heading

[JulieHuf]

Thank you all for the help! I think I will hold off on solids- as silly as it sounds I don't want his poop to change! It's easy right now! And I definitely don't want to deal with constipation- poor thing! Thanks!

[Erin M]

I think I will hold off on solids- as silly as it sounds I don't want his poop to change!

LOL, that's a definite down side of starting solids. 

[fayg]

hi i had same thing with my DS he didnt gain any weight for 6 weeks around that age exclusive BF. All my family and friends kept telling me to switch to formula or wean him but I didnt want to do that and Heath Visitor was not concerned so we just kept our normal routine of feeding on demand and after 6 weeks he carried on gaining weight and caught up when i started solids at 6 months. Im so glad I didnt give up breastfeeding because of this and would say if doctor isnt concerened then carry on BF x

[eva026]

and caught up when i started solids at 6 months.

Just a quick question about this. My LO is pretty tiny for her age but is otherwise doing well. Did you find that the solids helped your DS gain weight faster and how fast did he catch up to his age group?
DD is 6mo, weights 6.48kg , started solids 2 weeks ago and I was wondering if they would fatten her up a bit. My ped is ok with her low weight but we saw someone else for a check up and he was not. I'm not overly worried because she's doing all she should be for her age but it would be nice to have her a bit bigger so people would get of my back and so she's finally grow out of the clothes for 4 month olds lol.

[Fiver]

If it's any comfort, my DD was 5.66kg at 25w/5.86kg at 28w (so close enough to 6m) and tracking the 2nd centile curve.  At her 12m check she was up to 8.52kg and somewhere between the 25th and 50th centile.

As you can see from that, my DD was smaller than yours at the same age and her weight obviously took off once she was more established on solids, but still being BF 4+ times a day.

I never felt that she wasn't caught up with other babies her age.  The centile charts are just a range of "normal".  As long as they're gaining weight, hopefully finding a curve to stay with for a while, wherever that is, and meeting their developmental milestones, most medics will be happy.  Personally I'd stick with the paed being happy and not worry so much about this other person.  You've seen your paed more often, he has a full picture of how LO has been over the course of the last 6 months.

[eva026]

I plan to go back to the 'old' one, I don't need some guy stressing me out when I know every thing is ok.
It just would be nice to not have people giving me looks when they find out her age and I'd love to get her into her new clothes for 6-9mo. Right now she still fits tops of 0-3mo and I can see her being in her 3-6mo sleep suits for another month or two:)

[lilisuze]

my DD is also tiny, check out her ticker for exact age and currently 8.9 kg. she is still wearing 6 to 9 month clothes, and the 9 to 12 month Dress I bought for her birthday still has the tags on.

I've dealt with many varying people telling me she is fine, too small, too light, head circumference doesn't match etc that now I pay no attention at all!

agree with pps that best indicators are nappies and general happiness of baby. I do think it's normal for babies to take even more of a dip down the centile at about 4 months, both of mine have

lili Xx