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We went in for her 9 month checkup, and she's dropped from the 50th percentile in weight to the 25th since her last visit. (She's holding steady in the 75th or so for height.) She's still breastfed, nurses 9-12 times a day, and eats 3-4 jars of stage 2 Gerber foods, often thickened with cereal, some table foods, fresh fruits, bread, etc. every day. She hates formula. She's losing weight for what we think are a number of reasons, but the end result is that the nurse practitioner recommended that we try to sneak in as many extra calories as we can, and, if at all possible, some formula to supplement her diet. We're going back in a month for a follow-up weighing to make sure she's on track; if she's still not gaining, or (horrors!) losing, we're going to have to have some tests done to make sure it's not some cause other than activity level, metabolism, and coincidental timing of a rotovirus she just recovered from.
I thought on the way home, then went to the blender and whipped up a "smoothie" of 1.5 strength formula, bananas, and a drop of blackstrap molasses. It smelled very strongly of bananas, and I couldn't smell the formula at all. (I wasn't brave enough to try it, but I have a very sensitive nose; I do most of my cooking by smell.) She guzzled it down, from which I conclude that she will consume formula if it tastes nothing like formula.
Does anyone have any other ideas about sneaking formula and/or extra calories into her diet? Since she seems to like this, I'm going to try to give 3 or 4 oz. of it to her for breakfast every morning and "dessert" every night; we'll see if she gets bored of it. Because of a double family history of allergies and asthma, we're just now easing her onto wheat and barley, and are definitely keeping her away from egg whites, nuts, mangoes, peaches (which I and all my siblings were allergic to until 1 1/2 or 2 years old), strawberries, and milk products for a while longer. As you may have guessed, her favorite food is bananas. I'm home all the time, love to cook, and don't have a problem with making her special foods if it keeps her healthy.
Thank the Lord, her brain development is quite fine (miles ahead in language and processing from where she ought to be and right on track socially), and motor skills seem to be on track, too. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this; my mom had to supplement me with formula on and off, too, and KPC (ketchup prince consort ) has a mile-a-minute metabolism and loses weight just by breathing. But you know how it is; you worry...
Any ideas on how to become a trickier mother would be much appreciated.
posted
All I want to say is that 2 of my 3 nieces scared me at one time from being too thin. Katie would only eat much of anything about every 3rd day, at which point she would usually scarf down a huge plate of chinese food or something. Mary at one point had the knees of one of those Biafran children that Sally Struthers would tell us about.
Both of them later on had NO problems keeping weight on. Mary is really athletic and breaks bones too often playing soccer, riding horses, and so on. She never liked milk. I'm pretty sure she was lactose intolerant cause it would hurt her stomach. I wish she had been supplemented with Flintstones calcium chews which taste great, like chocolate candy -- the only hard thing is not eating the whole box in one sitting.
But otherwise, both are in the top 5 percentile academically, and neither have any problems with being too thin. So I don't have any specific suggestions for foods. All the good ones I can think of have dairy or something. But I just wanted to reassure you that if ketchupprincesss is anything like my nieces, your worries may not continue for too long. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Stupid question, but have you tried a number of different formulas? My daughter didn't like one, but loved another.
Other than that, it sounds like you've got it pretty well handled if the banana-formula smoothies are doing it. My only caution about bananas is that they bind up and tended to make my kids constipated.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Good luck, KQ. I'm sure your daughter will be fine in the long run.
Both of our kids are finicky eaters, but our son is the pickiest kid I have ever seen. At 1 3/4 years old he has a very small list of things he will eat. If it's not on the list he won't touch it. And the list keeps shrinking. Last night he ate some bites of scalloped potatoes with ham, but only because my wife had let him eat absolutely nothing all afternoon. We are trying to think of ways to expand his diet. He won't even eat chewable vitamins, so we have to slip liquid vitamins into his sippy cup.
We've kept him on whole milk since he turned one in an effort to get more calories in his diet. He refused to drink milk for a month or two this fall, and he lost weight noticeably. Then we convinced him to start drinking it again and he's gotten some chub back.
I know in his case we've probably made some errors in vigilance---not being patient enough at the dinner table and indulging him too much with foods he will eat. Plus, he is the most strong-willed and stubborn little guy on the planet. I just hope that eventually he grows out of this and that we learn how to deal with his pickiness better.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Our friend's daughter, born with some major heart problems, had terrible troubles gaining any weight. She recently had open heart surgery and is now is getting the nutrition that she was always missing before.
But before that happened, they used to mix her formula with half 'n' half! They would put butter on everything she ate. That's all I know.
Good luck.
My second child didn't gain any weight between her 6 and 9 month appointments. She was breastfeeding and taking in solids. The doctor told me she wasn't getting enough breastmilk, which made sense for several reasons at the time. I thought she was OK because she was eating solid food. He told me that infants that age aren't able to do much with solid food nutritionally, it is more for fun, experimentation, tasting, etc. He warned me that she needed to be getting her nutrition from either breastmilk or formula.
Well, being duly freaked out, I did my best to increase my milk supply and did some formula supplimentation. She didn't gain a ton of weight, always having been small, having some acid reflux, and having a small appetite anyway, but she got back on her own growth curve.
Not that that story has anything to do with what your child is dealing with, but ah well.
Edit to Trisha: Hmmm, this child of mine both crawled and walked *very* early. Hmmmmm.
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That sounds just like Ems, although she's not a picky eater and has no reflux problems-- she's on the go all the time and only nurses for 3 or 4 minutes at a time through the day (although she nurses more in the morning, at night, and when we've been separated), so she's probably not getting much hindmilk. She's crawling, starting to creep, trying to pull up to standing and cruise. I'm not really worried about long-term damage or problems, and the reasons she's not gaining right now are pretty clear. I'd just like to find a solution that works for us. I had to be supplemented myself, and my husband is skinny as a twig and can't gain if he tries, so it's part metabolism, too.
Kayla, it's always a little worrying when kids drop in percentile and gain little or nothing in 3 mos. (Ems gained just 4 oz. from one appt. to another). It usually means they're not getting enough nutrition, but can signal another more serious problem if correcting nutritional intake doesn't help them gain weight.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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ALL my kids have been slender...none above the 25%. Look at your and her dad...are you tall and slender, or just slender?
For myself, I would avoid formula. I would try to get some "good fats" into her..stir olive oil into her food, feed her mashed or diced avacado. But if she is actually healthy, active and mentally ahead, I would question WHY the doc is worried about her weight.
quote: Breastfed babies are leaner during the time when a lifetime supply of fat cells are laid down, which helps explain why breastfed babies may tend to be leaner throughout their lifetimes.
Emric is very active at this point. He's crawling all over the place and standing up everywhere. I'm more concerned about solid food intake. Since he is more mobile he got thinner and lost a lot of baby fat, and since he's discovering the world he doesn't spend as much time on the breast. So, how much should I be concerned and how much should he be eating (average, knowing that every baby is different). I also noticed that the size of my breast has shrunk since the baby is more active (I'm not pregnant for sure). Thank you!
During the second half of the first year of life, breastfed babies gain less weight than bottle-fed babies. In terms of your son’s need for solids, three meals a day plus morning and afternoon snacks are appropriate. Because he is so active, I suggest that you offer finger foods, such as soft-cooked vegetables (carrots or peas) or soft fruits (bananas). Many babies like to feed themselves, so you many find that this is an easier way to get him to eat solid foods.
The decrease in your breast size is normal. As you make less milk, your breasts will be less full and may seem smaller.
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Let me try to make this clearer: I am trying to change her nursing habits, but for right now, I am supplementing her. It is visibly worrisome how skinny she looks right now. She likes avacados, but they are expensive here. I will not feed her olive oil (highly allergenic). I don't have a problem with a little supplementing; it's not changing her nursing habits, just replacing some of her jarred baby food.
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