My 9 1/2 Month Old Baby Isn't Gaining Weight and the Doctor Is Worried!

I was in your position, except that I did not breastfeed. My daughter was born 8 lbs 10 oz and did not hit 20 pounds until she was 2.5 years old! She is now 3.5 and she weights 23 lbs. We have been seeing a pediatric endocrinologist for the past 18 months and so far the endocrinologist seems to thing everything is fine. According to the endoc. their is no link between birth weight and the weight that a child "should be". It also does not necessarily matter if a child is small as long as she is healthy. The only reason that we see the endoc. is not because she is small but because she cannot get on a path on the growth chart and stay on it. She would go from 15% in weight to 8% and then kept going down from there.

When we went to the endocrinologist the first time she tested her thyroid, and also tested her for celiac disease. My daughter was negative for both and when she was 2 years old they did a bone density test to see what her bone age was (it was just an X-ray). Since then we have been going in every 3-4 months to get measurements and monitor her growth. The only thing that she tells us to do is increase her calories by giving her high calorie snacks and meals.

I guess through all of my rambling I am saying that if you are worried about then I would see a Pediatric Endocronologist, we see Dr. Sheer. We were really worried about our daughter, Dr. Sheer told us the things it could be and then we just tested her for it. Everything has turned out fine and even though she is small she is VERY bright, just in a littler package =)

Good luck, and I am sure everything will turn out fine.

Hi D.,
I would just wait and see what she does. My first did this same thing, was developing on target or better but just tiny.....between her first and second birthday though, she had a massive growth spurt.....she now is almost 5 and is in the normal range of growth.....I am not sure what the difference was but we never had to do anything.....we just watched her and made sure she was eating...which she was a great eater, so that was never an issue......hope this encourages you. Good to check into, but she may very well be just fine.

My daughter never doubled her birth weight in the first year. She was not even on the growth chart after 6 months to 3 years old. She was 8pds 6ozs when she was born, so she was normal size. I have an excellent pediatrician and he was not worried. He took into account that my son was small and my husband and I are small as well. Plus she was growing in some way even if it is small amounts. He said that as long as that happened she was fine. She is the smallest in her kindergarten class and she is the same size as our next door neighbors 3 year old. Also, I exclusively breast fed her through her first year of life. So take that information into account before worrying too much, cause trust me I worried as well at first.

Hello! I just wanted to reassure you that low or no weight-gain for a month won't hurt her brain development. My son didn't gain weight for his first month because my milk supply was low and we were trying to increase it, rather than supplement with formula. He's now a very bright, very verbal 2 year-old. I also have a friend who as an infant was with his missionary parents somewhere in the middle east when his mom's milk supply dried up .... I dont remember all the details but the upside is that he lived just on chamomile tea for a while ... hard to beleve, but he is perfectly normal now!

Before you get too upset you should do more research. The weight charts are averages. So the fatter kids get the higher the averages go. Maybe your child is just going to be skinny. I have two very skinny kids. My daughter was very skinny as a baby and it didn't help that she had a kidney infection and was hospitalized for 4 days. After that she refused to eat anything other than breast milk. So check other resources, get a second opinion, and stay calm around her. Your stress will become her stress.

Hi D.,

I don't know what to eat to give your breastmilk more calories, but you mentioned she is eating table foods, so I would try to offer high-calorie foods. Avocado is an excellent option, if she'll eat it. (My kids never would, but lots of my friends' kids did).

And I wanted to reassure you that even if she does have a thyroid problem, it's going to be okay. I have hypothyroidism and do have to take medication the rest of my life, but it's only $4/month (not expensive medicine) and I take it once a day. I know several people who are on thyroid meds, so it seems pretty common, and I can tell you that the difference in how I feel after getting on the meds is night and day. And the medicine has very few side effects. Hugs!

Hi,
I have not seen anyone mention this, but I think breastmilk changes as your baby gets older. I think, as your baby gets older, your breastmilk has less fat in it. Check with a lactation consultant on the exact changes though.
Since she is eating table foods, you can give her high calorie foods like olives, avocados, adding olive oil or butter to her pasta. Is she old enough for yogurt or cheese? Those are also high fat. Yobaby makes full fat yogurt.
DS also got in the 10 percentile for weight around 12-18 months. He is now 3 and is about 50% for weight.
M.

D.,

You are not hurting your baby by waiting 1 more month. She sounds like she is right where she needs to be other than weight. Remember God makes each one of us different and maybe she is just going to put on weight later...
It sounds like you are doing a GREAT job! Both of my daughters were breast babies and they hated the bottle too!!! Keep up what you are doing and be careful taking supplements! Sometimes they can do more harm than good.

D.,

Ask you mother and mother-in-law if you or your husband didn't gain weight fast as a baby. I may just be that she has a very fast metabolism. If it was the thyroid, this should have been detected at the second heel prick after birth to note hypothyroidism. Also, if it was congenital hypothyroidism then you would have already noticed a decline in her reaching her milestones. I personally think formula is a substandard food for babies as it's full of corn syrup and blocks the hormone leptin which lets us know we are full. It will cause your baby to gain weight, but studies have shown, that in the long run, formula can lead to problems in adulthood like weight gain, heart disease, reduced IQ, etc. It really should never be used. If you really feel you have to supplement, then I would suggest using Goat's milk and still breastfeeding. Buy the whole fat carton. You can find it at Tom Thumb in the dairy case, it's Meyenberg Brand. Since she's already eating table food and still breastfeeding, you shouldn't need to supplement her with any other vitamins. Be sure your taking at least 2000 mg of fish oil per day as well. Don't let the pedi scare you. They are so attached to all the percentile's that they just can't go on merely noting the child's overall health. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get the thyroid checked, just to be on the safe side, but I'm sure things will come out fine. God Bless.

I think it sounds as if she is perfectly healthy. As someone else suggested those numbers are averages. They also do not take into account a 9 month old who is walking and therefore potentially burning off more calories then the average 9 month old (some of whom aren't even crawling).

I applaud your pediatrician for covering all the bases and making sure that all is well. However, don't make yourself crazy. It sounds as if she eats regularly and is overall a happy baby. If she was not getting enough calories she would probably be fussy and not sleep well.

Growth curves are just that...curves. She could just be leveling out.

Good luck!