Please help, my 8 month old has developed a feeding aversion, failure to thrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(Not OP) how would you re lactate?

In my country milk banks teach moms to eat oatmeal, drink lots of water, hand express while the baby is on their skin, share the bed, feed on demand and offer the complement through a SNS. Absolutely no bottles and no pacifiers. Very rarely babies need to go on formula.

I am grateful to live in the US.

[Anonymous]

Get a sick appt and go see your ped ASAP - also Prevacid is known for causing major stomach pain. They've warned me both times I've put my babies on it - they can switch to something else - I'm so sorry

[Anonymous]

Get a sick appt and go see your ped ASAP - also Prevacid is known for causing major stomach pain. They've warned me both times I've put my babies on it - they can switch to something else - I'm so sorry

[Anonymous]

Dear OP,

My daughter had a dairy protein allergy but despite my efforts to cut out all dairy and soy from my diet, she still couldn't handle my breastmilk. Like you, I eventually had to put her on Nutramigen. She hated it and refused to eat. We tried Alimentum - same problem. After two months of barely eating and me losing my mind with worry, I tried Elecare. She liked it. Even though Elecare is elemental and I thought it would have an even worse flavor than Nutramigen and Alimentum, it tasted better. I tasted all of them and can personally attest to this - and my daughter seemed to agree! Also, Alimentum and Nutramigen still have traces of dairy in them, whereas Elecare does not.

For what it's worth, we loved our ped GI, Dr. Judith Sondheimer at Georgetown.

All my best to you and your baby.

[Anonymous]

OP. Thanks again PPs. Sippy cups ordered. I have additional info and would love you all to weigh-in. Basically Ped said she would hate to suggest putting baby under anesthesia but doing a test for esophagitis may be the next step. I have been sitting with baby's log book (where I have recorded every poop, feed, sleep time) trying to analyze all the stuff. I am exhausted and can't keep my eyes open so will post tomorrow. She did good because of 2 lying down feedings and fed about 14 oz in the last 24 hrs and has been sleeping since 7:30pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(Not OP) how would you re lactate?

In my country milk banks teach moms to eat oatmeal, drink lots of water, hand express while the baby is on their skin, share the bed, feed on demand and offer the complement through a SNS. Absolutely no bottles and no pacifiers. Very rarely babies need to go on formula.

Seriously, which country is this?? NP. Look into the Prevacid connection, as another PP mentioned. You seem to be a very committed mother, I would not feel guilty about stopping breastmilk. Hope your DH is really supportive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP, you need to consult a medical professional. 12 oz a day is less than half what your baby needs.
My 7 month old was previously tracking the 5th and then fell off the growth charts. Doc said not to give too much solids; milk has more calories. Food is just to develop his palette, so don't worry about solids for now.
Have you tried giving milk in a sippy cup or spoon-feeding milk?
My baby doesn't have bottle aversion, but cheering and clapping and yelling "bravo" whenever he took a bite or drank from the sippy cup made him more enthusiastic to eat.

OP, don't give a sippy cup, those are bad. Go for a straw cup instead in a few months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP, you need to consult a medical professional. 12 oz a day is less than half what your baby needs.
My 7 month old was previously tracking the 5th and then fell off the growth charts. Doc said not to give too much solids; milk has more calories. Food is just to develop his palette, so don't worry about solids for now.
Have you tried giving milk in a sippy cup or spoon-feeding milk?
My baby doesn't have bottle aversion, but cheering and clapping and yelling "bravo" whenever he took a bite or drank from the sippy cup made him more enthusiastic to eat.

OP, don't give a sippy cup, those are bad. Go for a straw cup instead in a few months.

Sippy cups aren't bad, goodness. If the kid is eating the kid is eating. If a sippy cup gets the kid to eat THAT is what is important. You can deal with dental issues later.

I am sorry you are dealing with this OP, I don't have much advice that hasn't been shared here but I hope your baby starts to eat soon.

[Anonymous]

One minor thing--you might want to try avocados as the next food you introduce--they're really high calorie and many babies love them. You can try giving your baby a piece large enough to hold and take bites from (baby-lead weaning) or mushing up a ripe one for spoon feeding and for your baby to scoop up with her fingers. Small, bite-sized pieces are too slippery for a baby to easily pick up. Avocados might help increase her overall calorie intake a little while you're working on getting more formula into her and getting the medical stuff sorted out.

[Anonymous]

This is a situation where you should definitely consult a doctor... but also look into donor milk. Sounds like they might need to continue on breastmilk until their stomach matures a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One minor thing--you might want to try avocados as the next food you introduce--they're really high calorie and many babies love them. You can try giving your baby a piece large enough to hold and take bites from (baby-lead weaning) or mushing up a ripe one for spoon feeding and for your baby to scoop up with her fingers. Small, bite-sized pieces are too slippery for a baby to easily pick up. Avocados might help increase her overall calorie intake a little while you're working on getting more formula into her and getting the medical stuff sorted out.

+1
I think you're doing a great job focusing on getting your daughter to drink formula but when you are giving her solid food (which you may as well since you can't be trying to bottle feed all day long), I would focus on high calorie foods. You said you could give oatmeal so make sure to add in a lot of formula powder to that. Can you cook the sweet potatoes in coconut oil or douse liberally with olive oil before feeding? Avocados are also great (if they're too slippery for her to hold herself, roll them in crushed up puffs that you said had already been tested).
There are several milk bank websites you can google if you want to look into donor breastmilk.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks again PPs. Sippy cups ordered. I have additional info and would love you all to weigh-in. Basically Ped said she would hate to suggest putting baby under anesthesia but doing a test for esophagitis may be the next step. I have been sitting with baby's log book (where I have recorded every poop, feed, sleep time) trying to analyze all the stuff. I am exhausted and can't keep my eyes open so will post tomorrow. She did good because of 2 lying down feedings and fed about 14 oz in the last 24 hrs and has been sleeping since 7:30pm.

Congrats on getting her to drink 14 oz!

I have no advice on the esophagitis test. If you are undecided and have the time perhaps you could get a second opinion.

As for baby foods, I mix in milk into the purees, but since your little one refuses purees, that might not be a helpful suggestion.
Avocaods are good like the PPs say. I roll chunks of them into rice flour or oatmeal flour so the baby can grasp it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP, you need to consult a medical professional. 12 oz a day is less than half what your baby needs.
My 7 month old was previously tracking the 5th and then fell off the growth charts. Doc said not to give too much solids; milk has more calories. Food is just to develop his palette, so don't worry about solids for now.
Have you tried giving milk in a sippy cup or spoon-feeding milk?
My baby doesn't have bottle aversion, but cheering and clapping and yelling "bravo" whenever he took a bite or drank from the sippy cup made him more enthusiastic to eat.

OP, don't give a sippy cup, those are bad. Go for a straw cup instead in a few months.

What are you talking about, PP? There is absolutely nothing "bad" about a sippy cup. Some kids like straw cups and some like sippy cups. And, neither is bad for an 8 month old. You're supposed to start introducing them around 6-8 months anyway.

[Anonymous]

Did you try Nutramigen? Maybe there is a milk allergy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. The other other thing we were told strictly no feeding lying down since it will lead to ear infections in reflux babies and in desperation I did just that, lucky me, she fed 2.5 oz fairly easily. She is always staring at our food, we try to eat in front of her and make exaggerated yum sounds. I even filled her dr browns bottle with milk and started drinking for it to encourage her.

Prevacid could be giving her a tummyache. Her reduced feed coincides also with the start of Prevacid.
I have posted on DCUM a couple of times in the past but mainly about car seats and strollers and the like. Your responses PPs have been great.

Who told you that OP? We were taught to feed side-lying due to swallowing difficulties in the NICU. At 16 months, my son still lays on his left side and nurses many times a day (actually wouldn't drink any other way until he had a breakthrough this weekend with a pink nosey cup given to us by our speech therapist - you might try that, actually). Anyway, he just now has his FIRST ear infection and it is in his right ear - he has only ever eaten laying on his left. So... if your LO does well eating on her side, I don't see a reason not to.