Six Months Old and Only Weights 9 Pounds!

Unfortunately, there is not enough information here to say...I would agree with the other posters though, and wonder if she is being fed enough first of all. And if she is being cared for by a pediatrican and what that pediatrician says. As far as being allergic/intolerant to lactose, that is not difficult to work around - my daughter was on soy-based formula (I could not breast feed because of medication I was on) and did just fine. Not implying anything, but I;ve heard of some parents diluting the formula more than they should in order to stretch it and make it last longer - the babies essentially end up with "water poisoning" in extreme cases because they are taking in too much water and not enough nutrients. Any chance they are not mixing the formula properly?

My first 2 kids were almost 9 lbs @ birth yikes I can;t imagine seeing them9 lbs @ 6 months.I would start looking for another DR is she seeign a pediatrician or just a family Dr?Has there been any additional testing for this baby?I would be too concerned to let it go 6 months without knowing why she isn't gainging weight then again i'm so used to my pediatricians documentations this wouldn't happen....
I hope you find out that she is doing well & her weight will catch up with her after she is on medical formula for a while other than that how is she on track?

My nephew was that tiny. Turned out he had Russell Silver Syndrome, a rare form of dwarfism. They diagnosed him at the Cleveland Clinic.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001209.htm

How much did your niece weigh at birth?
My daughter weighed 5 pounds, full term, and didn't even weigh 15 at a year old. She ate solids, she loved food, she was walking at 7 months, she was super healthy and really strong. They tested her for everything and she was a perfectly normal dynamo in a tiny package.
She's going to be 24 on the 30th of this month and she's built just like my mother, 5 feet tall and tiny.
If the doctors aren't too concerned and she's healthy in every other way besides her lactose allergy, chances are she's all right.
I was always so worried because my baby was so little, but it was nornal for her. There is a big difference between being little and "failure to thrive".

Best wishes!

So, she has been on that formula for a Month... is she actually drinking it???? Do the parents feed her ON-demand?
Does she intake adequate amounts?
How many ounces does she intake, per feeding????

They really need to tell the Pediatrician... that is real underweight... failure to thrive....

She really needs, medical intervention... as the other poster said.

Are the parents... feeding her properly? Not to insinuate anything... but do the parents/the Mom, feed the baby on-demand? Or only on a schedule??? Are they concerned about it???

Has she been tested for celiacs?

Has she been diagnosed as failure to thrive? Is the child still growing and developing well physically/emotionally in other areas for her age? Definitely do the new formula, and seek a second opinion.
Here are some helpful ideas here:
https://health.google.com/health/ref/Failure+to+thrivehtt...

You can take comfort in the fact that the doctors aren't concerned. I think it's great that she's gained a pound! We had a son who had difficulty gaining weight and it was because of severe reflux. He did not gain any weight (OK, 2 ounces) between 4 and 10 months, so was also very tiny! Once we got that under control, he did better, although only now, at 4 1/2, is finally considered on a growth curve. Some kids are just smaller, and when they're fighting to hard, it takes a lot more energy to survive than they can possibly eat. I really think it sounds like the formula change is working, and I'd see where she is in another month. If you just can't rest, do some research, and possibly look at second opinions. As someone who is lactose intolerant, I can tell you, if I get dairy, I don't want to eat for several days, and, since, this has come up, I've actually passed out a few times due to lack of nutrition. This is coming from a pretty health conscious mom who forces myself to eat. I'm sure the baby doesn't do that. :) Allergies, especially milk are a tough one. Probably more than anything, your niece's parents just need some encouragement that she's finally doing well. It's tough to have a little one not growing. Even strangers in the grocery store give you criticism which can make you feel like a bad mother. Hang in there, I'll bet she's going to start some good growth, but don't expect her to make up for all her lost time. That may never happen. (Our 4 year old still wears some size 2s and 3s. His legs are long enough for size 4 pants, but his whole body could fit in one leg of loose fitting ones.) :) GL!

My daughter had similar problems, and was allergic to dairy (lactose and casein) and gluten. Her gluten allergy is actually something called celiacs disease. When she eats anything with gluten (wheat, barley, rye, some oats) her small intestine gets damaged and she can't absorb the nutrients her body needs to grow well. I know some medical formulas do not have gluten any way, but if she's eating any other solid foods along with her formula, she could still be eating something that's bothering her.

Has she seen a pediatric gastroenterologist? My experience has been that a pediatric gastroenterologist will be well aware of a whole host of possibilities that be affecting her growth.

P.S. I just read some of the other posts and wanted to add a few more things. Initially, my daughter was diagnosed with severe acid reflux. Though medication seemed to help her be less fussy, she still spit up regularly, had diarrhea, and did not grow well. Our pediatrician would often say he wasn't too anxious about her growth. He would say that some children are smaller than others and she was advanced developmentally (crawled at 5 months, spoke at 12 months with full 3 or more word sentences by 18 months). Though I wanted to be reassured, my intuition suggested to me that something just was not right. I had two other children who were in the same percentile for height (around 75th), but were consistently in the 50th percentile for weight. My daughter was in the 2nd percentile or entirely off the growth curve chart for lack of growing! My husband (6', 200 lbs.) and I (5'6", 140) are around average for our height and weight, so it just didn't make sense that our child would be so tiny. I finally took my daughter to another doctor because my pediatrician just wasn't listening, and I couldn't ignore these feelings I had that something just was not right.

I would encourage your sister to consider these experiences and her own feelings quite seriously. I know what it feels like to be concerned for your child and to have a million people give you different advice or accuse you of being a bad parent because your child isn't growing well. None of this feels good. You can be a tremendous source of support, encouragement, and care at this challenging time for your sister. If your sister would like to talk to another parent, feel free to contact me personally

My friend's son was like this. At 9 months he was like 12 pounds. He was breastfeed and given lots of fatty solid foods. They did blood tests and sweat tests, etc on the poor little guy. He was even pulling up and walking along furniture at 9 months, so there were no milestone misses. He just couldn't seem to keep any weight on. They started him on a high fat formula, and his cheeks finally started filling out at about 1 year, but he is still a little guy. If the docs aren't worried, I wouldn't be either. As long as she is gaining, that is good.

That sounds like she Needs a doctor! 6 months? Has she started solid foods? My daughter ate solid food when she was that old and it may help with the weight.

Whatever age she is she need some doctor attention about weight gain. They don't make store formula with no lactose in it? If she's old enough get vanilla silk, its SOOO good (my daughter was sensitive to milk for a while). I was told by a pediatrician that babies need to be fed at night til they're about 16 lbs... are they waking her up to feed her?

Put into perspective: An 8 pound person gaining 1 pound, is the same as a 140 pound person gaining 17.5 pounds. (12.5% gain). It's actually quite a bit thinking of it that way. Find out from the doctor what kind of weight gain he would like to see. I had a child who ate but started dropping off of her own growth curve. (Weight and height) but her head was maintaining.) They DIDN'T want her to start declining on the brain growth because of it. The doctor had some blood tests done to check for metabolic problems. She didn't have any, and was considered "failure to thrive". I had to take her to the children's hospital just to be safe. She was over a year old at the time. I think around 18 months old. Ultimately they had me calorie packing her food to start gaining more weight. (Add cream to milk, butter to veggies, give her Pedia-sure, add Carnation Instant breakfast to her milk...) I was also worried she wasn't gaining enough weight, but for her size the doctor assured me she was gaining more quickly than the goals they would have, so she was doing fine.

Your last sentence is key.
The doctors don't seem too concerned.
They found out what was wrong.
They came up with an alternative formula to replace the previous formula.
She's eating and has gained a pound.
Yaaayyy!!
Consider buying her mom (and dad) a gift to celebrate.

Wow, no idea but it sounds like it needs immediate medical intervention for sure. Was she a preemie?

My youngest daughter didn't gain a lot of weight until she was almost 7 months old. She had severe reflux, which we were unable to control. However, she was happy and developmentally on track. As alarming as it may seem, this may be "normal" for your niece. I do know that as a mom, I was worried about her literally every minute. I knew, in my heart, that she was fine, and all would be ok. It really bothered me when others judgmentally asked, "Aren't the doctors concerned?!?", implying, sometimes stating, that I wasn't doing enough. I needed supportive people who loved her, no matter her size. From your post, you are obviously supportive, and I think that's wonderful! Your family needs you to be their support, no matter what else is going on. Other than that, I'd say, trust Mom's intuition, and the doctors' expertise. If she hasn't started to hit developmental milestones by 9 months, seek the advice of a developmental pediatrician. Good luck, and please, keep loving the baby, her Dad, and her Mom!

I know you do not want to sit on your hands when you are not totally satisfied with the doctor's current results, however I suggest you do your own online info research and hold on to it for about a month. If he has not gained about 2lbs in that time you may want to start bringing in other options to your sis or bro starting with the most simple. Plus research what the expected results with this new formula are and help monitor and add to the questions list for the next dr appt. And I hate to say it but if your bro or sis asks you to mind your own (i have been the parent w/ concerned family about my son's development) they do not know of any other way to tell you that they are at their max of outside information and right now they need to trust themselves and the dr.(s) that are involved. Hard to hear; harder to say. Based on this post I know you are able to be supportive and that is your job right now, keep doing it!

It sounds to me that the allergy is what kept her growth down. Believe it or not, one pound in a month for a tiny person is quite amazing! We have to remember how small she is. Another thing that gets overlooked a lot is an intolerance to gluten. My girlfriend's son was severely small, at 2 he was the size of a 6 month old and sickly, he tested negative to gluten-intolerance but she decided to remove gluten anyways. Low and behold, he gained 10 pounds and 5 inches in under 6 months and hasn't been sick at all!

Hope this helps. Good luck to your niece and her family, there is nothing more worrisome than a problem with your child.