Hi everyone! My son, Isaac, was born at 33 weeks. He weighed 5lbs at birth and was in the NICU for about 6 weeks. September 21st to October 29th. He came home on a apnea monitor until December 5th. Now at 7 months, Isaac is still nursing every 3 hours and he's eating 1 1/2 containers of baby food three times a day! He's also about 24 inches long, give or take a few centimeters.... His pediatrician at his 6 month check up told me she was wanting him to gain weight because he's so small. So we started eating more and had the ok to go ahead with baby food. Isaac gained about 12 ounces in a month, and is now 12lbs even....I thought we did a good job, but now she's listed him as "Failure to Thrive." Isaac is getting blood work done and is now going to meet with a belly specialist. I have no problem checking and being precautious and seeing a specialist, but for a premie is he really crazy tiny???? How big are your Premies?? And does anyone go to a regular pediatrics office or did you find a place that sees mostly Premies??
Re: Premie size question!
My boys weighed 4lbs 4.5oz & 3lbs 12oz @ birth & @ their 6 month check up 13pounds 14oz & 13pounds 1oz @ what had helped them is i had fortified my breast milk( pumped & bottle fed) until about 7 months when my stash ran out. They are still on EnfaCare now, which is a formula with the extra calories preemies need & will be on it until they are 1.
I took them to the doc on Monday & they weigh 15pounds 8 oz & 14 pounds 14oz & my "bigger" twin is barely on the 5th percentile for full term babies. & my smaller one is barely around the 4th. Their doc goes based off of a full term scale so he can see where they are @ compared to full term & so that we can get them where they need to be.
@ their 6 month he said they were fine but wanted me to try to get them to eat more which in all reality you cant FORCE a baby to eat. He said for me not to worry about their weight that they are going @ a good steady pace he just wants them to gain a little more, but that it wouldnt be something he would worry about too much unless they werent gaining weight by the time theyre 2.
This week that i took them due to constipation he was really happy Alan was on the 5th & Adriel right behind him in the 4th. My boys will be 8 months next Tuesday(the 3rd) they go back @ 9 months & i believe theyll be 16 & 15 pounds. I personally think that him only taking BM & it not being fortified & him weighing 12 pounds @ his 6 months isnt bad. He is only a pound behind what my boys were @ 6 months & like i said i fortified my BM.
He is tiny but so are my boys. They are preemies of course they are gonna be tiny compared to full term babies. & my boys were born @ 33wks 5 days. So my boys look hella small for almost 8 months & wear 3-6 month clothing & a few 6 month.
Im not a doctor i didnt get a degree in medicine but i think she should give him time to grow. Ever since i knew my boys were going to be preemies( water broke @30wk1day was in hospital on bedrest for almost a month until they were born) the docs started preparing me for what it was going to be like with preemies & gave me a heads up with the NICU. Every doctor i encountered let me know that they were going to be on the smaller side for atleast their first 2 years but then would get to where they had to.
I cant believe she would put him down as a "Failure to Thrive". She should give him time. As long as hes gaining weight like you said he is. Keep us posted okay
You may want to consider fortifying with either neosure or enfacare. This will provide him with the extra calories and extra nutrients preemies need. You'll have to pump and add the formula to the expressed bm. It's 1 scoop per 12 ounces of bm. Keep in mind your LO will probably drink less due to the increase of calories.
My DD is 6 months (3 corrected) she won't drink fortified bm so I give her 1-2 bottles of just neosure a day (about 8oz) the other 4- 5 bottles are straight bm. She drinks about 4oz every 4 hours. Rule of thumb states your baby should be drinking their weight in lbs× 1.5 or 2oz. So if he's 12 lbs he should be drinking somewhere between 18-24 ounces a day. It took a while to get there but DD is at 19 - 22 ounces now. It was a struggle to get there but I did my research and made adjustments to make sure she was getting enough calories and nutrients.
She was having feeding issues a couple of months ago and was barely gaining weight. Her pedi wasn't concerned because she was gaining and not losing.
She was born at 27 weeks, weighed 1lb 12 ounces and was 14.5 inches long.
She is currently 12lbs 3 ounces and 24 inches long.
My suggestion... find a pedi that is familiar with preemies. Preemies should NOT be compared to full term babies in any circumstance.
We also add about a 1/4 teaspoon of organic cold pressed virgin coconut oil in every bottle. Read up on the benefits, there are so many! We did it initially to help with constipation and to add calories. Plus it adds a hint of coconut flavor and my DD loves it!
You can add it to baby food too.
Do your own research, alot of the adjustments and things we tried weren't even mentioned to us by our pedi. When we would tell him he was completely fine with what we were doing.
Good luck to you!
SI TTC 7 months
DD born 10/2015 @ 27 wks. 4 days > severe pre-e (TTC 1yr.)
Hystero./Laproscopy/Ovarian Drilling/ D&C/ HSG (2/2015)
Present:
DX: Moderate Endo./ PCOS/ Diminished Ovarian Reserve(1.2 amh)/ Low Morphology (0%)
HSG (3/2017)- All Clear
RX: Follistim (75iu)/ Trigger/ IUI/ Progesterone
Starting 1st IUI cycle Friday 4/28
He takes 6oz at each feeding, and eats every 3 1/2-5 hours. Depends on if he's sleeping and goes later in between feeds. He gets about 28-30 oz of formula per day. I track his bottle feedings and we are now averaging 5 bottles a day sometimes 6, and down to 1 MOTN feeding for him.
My son was born at 31 weeks, and he was 4 pounds. He was also already nearly 18 inches. We did 6 weeks in the NICU and went home on breastmilk fortified with neosure. After a few weeks, I talked to his doc about dropping the neosure and we did. At about 5.5 months we added in cereal and fruits and veggies.
He went in for his 9 month check up at 9 months + 2 weeks and he was 15 lb, 5 oz. He's tall and skinny! His doctor isn't concerned at all. He eats well (actually, he eats a ton!) and is developing wonderfully. I'd say your doc is either basing the label off of more than just size or is failing to look at your babe holistically. Ask some more questions and get another opinion!
Married 2012
TTC #2 since July 2016
PCOS diagnosed 2008
If i were you i would look into a second opinion maybe call the nicu your baby was in and ask them for an opinion of another dr or something. Our nicu does follow up appointments until they catch up and its nice because i know i have a specialist in addition to my his regular peid.