When did you stop giving high calorie formula?

crystaleyes39

My girls were 2 months early weighing barely 4 pounds each and now are over 3 months old and looking kind of pudgy haha. They have been on 22 cal. formula since they left the NICU and before that 24 cal. 

 My question is, when did you stop giving your preemie higher calorie formula and make the switch to regular 20 cal? 

Natalie_may

We switched at 6 months actual 3 adjusted.  We were on the growth charts at the point and one of my twin started rejecting the high cal formula, but took the regular... go figure.  We did this with the pedi's blessing.

snoangel79

Just wanted to tell you your girls are so cute <: My daughter is on 24 and son is on 22 currently (great question!!) interested in seeing responses!

jacque_z

DD never went to 20 cal formula.  She went from 22 cal formula to WCM at 12 months adjusted. 

Lorange-8

When Zoe turned 9 months actual 5 months adjusted and they just switched her to normal calorie formula.

mrsV719

My understanding is that it isn't an age. It is when they are fully on the growth charts and are maintaining that curve. LO is 13.5m act/10.5m adj and he is still on 26 cal. BUT he has severe reflux and isn't on the charts... ok... 5% on the adjusted chart. He also isn't being tried with dairy until 1year adj. so no WCM yet either. So as you can see... it really varies. 

lwmooney87

It all depends on what your pedi recommends and how their weight gain is. My LO is still on 24 cal formula and she will be a year old in 3 weeks.She also eats about 24 oz a day of formula and 3 meals a day and she's around 15 1/2 pounds- so she must burn calories fast or something.  I think the plan is to keep her on the 24 cal until she switches to WCM and they said even then she might need pediasure if she doesn't gain well with just WCM. She will probably hit 16- 16 1/2 pounds by her birthday. She's little. So, every situation is different.

SWR&MSM

When we came home from the NICU she was on 27cal.  After a few months I noticed that her total volume was dropping.  I talked to the pedi about it and we switched her to 24cal - sure enough she started eating more.  Although I think the calorie count was around the same.  At 9 months actual we went to see a growth and nutrition specialist and he said to ditch the added calories all together and that she will self regulate.  He also had us add butter and olive oil to all her solids as a way to sneak in some extra calories.  Again, her total volume went up.  Shes always been a slow grower and no matter how many calories we gave her she always just took what she needed. 

The short answer is 9 months and then we switched to WCM at a year.  So far so good.  

jcsntms06

We were told to stop using the higher calorie formula when she turns two months old, and I'm sure my pedi will re-evaul in an month's time.

Pips09

We switched off of the high cal formula about a week after she was full term, 2.5 months old actual. She was gaining weight well and was able to switch to regular formula.

crystaleyes39

thank you ladies for the responses...the only reason i ask is because they're not do for a check up for another month and they are growing so fast. My mom has been on my case about how puggy they're getting. They were not on the super small side for preemies when born..and are already over 11 pounds each at 3 months old...over one month actual. So of course I want them healthy, but I dont want them getting over fed on calories that they don't need either.

ClickMama

Per our pedi's recommendation we came off of high cal formula around our due date - so we were on it ~8 weeks.  We had issues with reflux and realized that there was a milk protein intolerance around then so we switched at that point to Neocate after failing two other formulas.