Slow weight gain
Hi all,
Sorry for the long post, just looking for some advice regarding slow weight gain/dropping centiles
I’m a FTM and my baby is 19 weeks old and was born at 8lb exactly (70th centile). He spent the first 2 weeks in the NICU and when he came out he was around the 30th centile. He has always gained weight slower than average and therefore his centile has been dropping very slowly each week. He stayed hovering around the 9th centile for 5/6 weeks and my health visitor wasn’t concerned and said it must have just taken him longer to find his centile.
I have my own scales at home and have been keeping a close eye on his weight. He now only weighs 13lb exactly at 19w2d and is on the 4th centile. As he drops centiles slowly the health visitor never really seems concerned and has offered no advice.
My baby does suffer with reflux but is on omeprazole to help this, he has quite bad eczema all over him and he has a CMPA so is exclusively breastfeed while I follow a dairy free diet. I have previously tried to combi feed him using aptimil pepti 1 but he was very sick on this formula. I was then prescribed neocate but never ended up trying it with him and stuck to exclusively breastfeeding.
I have taken him to the GP today as he had only gained 5oz in the last 14 days. She did agree that the gain was low for 14 days and said she would refer us to a paediatric dietitian but that the wait time could be lengthy. I asked for advice on what to do in the meantime and her response was “he will let you know if he’s hungry”.
I’m concerned that he may not be getting enough from breastfeeding but he seems happy once he’s been fed and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies. I was also worried that he may have another allergy other than cows milk that could be causing his reflux, eczema and slow weight gain but I have no idea where to start trying to figure out what it could be.
I’m just unsure where to go from here while I wait for the dietitian referral. Should I be giving him formula alongside breastfeeding to ensure he’s getting enough food. Should I be excluding other things from my diet incase there is a possible other allergy?
I know the drop in centiles isn’t super drastic/is over a few weeks so please let me know if I’m overreacting. I’m just desperate to do whatever is best for my baby.
Thanks in advance!!