Recommendations for a paediatrician

[kittysailing]

Our one year old little boy has dropped 4 centiles since he was born and our health visitor has referred us to a dietician. He's happy and healthy and meeting all his milestones but we feel we'd like some reassurance from a paediatrician to rule out any underlying issues. We've been told it could take up to eight weeks and are considering paying for a consultation with a private paediatrician. Has any one got any experience of this - are their specific ones who specialise in weight gain? How much should we expect to pay? Are we then stuck in the private system? I fluctuate between my own instinct which is telling me he's just a very active little monkey with a fast metabolism and the anxiety of wondering if there is an underlying issue which needs to be explored. All advice from you lovely wise ladies welcome!

[Saffron]

We were told something similar by our HV. Little Saff was born on the 98th then dropped down to around the 20th. The HV was totally freaked out, and she kept saying my baby was 'losing weight'. How stupid do you have to be to confuse percentiles with mass???? My daughter was not losing weight. In fact she was slowly gaining weight. However, b/c her weight gain was slow, she was dropping in the percentiles. This means pretty much nothing. My LO was (and is!) a happy, healthy little girl. Recommendation from a dietitian to add formula milk (we were exclusively breastfeeding), I found preposterous. There is no benefit to a healthy bf infant to add formula milk, IMO.

I did however, book an app w a private paediatrician (after we were told it could take weeks to see someone on the NHS), more to reassure Mr Saff than anything. The doc gave Little Saff a good going over, pulse, breathing, joints, weight, etc. He said she was completely normal... for ?200! Eek. Oh well. Unless your baby is sick in some way, I wouldn't bother w a dietitian or a paediatrician. Trust your instinct.

If you do decide to go private, you are not then stuck in the private system. In addition, if a private practitioner does pick up something unusual in your LO, s/he can write a letter of recommendation to your regular NHS GP.

Hope that helps.

xx Saff xx

PS: Now 10 months on, the HVs are saying Little Saff is too big, and we should reduce our feeds! Gimme a break already!! I'm totally ignoring the HV this time. As far as I'm concerned, the only useful thing we got out of our HVs so far was a couple of free baby books.

[snowboarder]

Saffron - have not been to see hv since little sb was about 6m (now 20m). SUCH a waste of time.

[pebbles]

There are obviously some great hv out there however I really would take it with a pinch of salt and go with what you believe if your child is a happy, healthy munchkin.

My goddaughter was "mid range" in the percentiles when born and over the first 4 months dropped to "the bottom". HV were panicking all over the place, my friend was so upset cos she was worried about her breast milk etc and then they saw a paediatrician who was just lovely and looked at my friend at 5ft and her husband at 5ft6 and both very slim builds and said you daughter is gorgeous and smiley and happy and obviously following her parents weight/height - and he said go with what you believe!! obviously if baby not happy get it checked out but he said if she continues to be happy you should be happy too

Sorry I can't advise a paediatrician but friend doesn't live in london

Good luck and I pray that you are reassured that your little one is absolutely perfect :))

[Gubodge]

My daughter was born on the 50th centile and dropped steadily down to the 2nd, where she has stayed ever since (she is now 4) She was happy and healthy but a newly qualified HV had a panic and packed us off to A&E. The paediatrician there took one look at her trying to chew the thermometer under her arm and asked why on earth we were there. We have been refered to the dieticians and paediatrician at Kings more recently as she has various food allergies, and I wondered if it was possibly an undiagnosed allergy that was causing her to stay scrawny despite her eating what I thought were vast quantities, but no. No more allergies, nothing wrong with her at all, she just eats too much fruit and not enough lard. So we've upped the fried food, cream, custard and proper puddings. She's put on a bit more weight, I've put on a lot more, and once again we're reassured that there is nothing wrong at all.

As long as he is not losing weight and is growing and active I'd say that it is highly unlikely that there is anything wrong with your son, either. Certainly nothing that would make a more urgent consultation necessary.

[BB100]

I've had similar experience where HV referred my child to Ped at Kings. One of my children was born 50th centile and dropped to 9th centile and is still there 13 years later. The Ped explained that as long as all the measurements are in proportion ie. length correlates with weight, etc then they don't worry about.

[kittysailing]

Thanks ladies for all your advice ans stories. Very reassuring. The overiding feeling seems to be - they all get there in the end!

[sledge]

I 100% concur with all the advice everyone has stated already - my daughter was on 50th percentile and dropped to 9th....and is still there. My son is also on 9th percentile. Both my husband and I are fairly petite.

However, my daughter has reflux and we see a private paediatrician at the Portland called Mr Malouf. He is very nice and I can recommend him.

I would like to point out that we went privately because there was going to be a 12 week wait for a Kings paediatric appointment and my LO was in so much pain due to the reflux that I couldn't contemplate waiting that long (or cope with her persistent crying). If your child is happy and does not appear sick, then I would potentially wait for the Kings paediatric referral.

Good Luck