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Preemies
opinion on food intake for 7.5 mo old
adjusted to 6 months..
the twins get 5 bottles a day.. their first and last bottle is only bottle.. the middle 3 is with breakfast, lunch, and dinner (meals)
DD is not much a drinker.. the pediatrician said she should be getting at least 24 oz in a day.. yesterday she had 8 ALL DAY! I called the pediatrician to see if I should be worried and they said as long as she is having wet diapers she should be ok.. we tried breastmilk, formula, bottle, sippy cup, warm, cold, you name it... today she did better drinking, but still didn't hit the 24 oz mark
DS typically drinks his bottles better but HATES being spoonfed.. we tried diced up food and for a while he was doing great but now he is refusing that too... He clamps his lips shut and you can't get the food in.. if you do, he spits it out and cries.. we've tried a variety of food and don't have too much luck...
thoughts? the pediatrician said for DS that if by 9 months actual, he is not eating better, we will be referred to a "feeding team"..
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Re: opinion on food intake for 7.5 mo old
A few thoughts:
1) Are you offering food WITH the bottle? The food is just for learning how to eat and experiencing new textures at this age. It's not meant to be a source of nutrition. Therefore, you should always offer the bottle first, and then offer foods about 1 hr afterward. Otherwise, your DD might be getting full from food and hence not wanting the bottle. Or perhaps she's preferring food to bottle right now; good for future feeding but not so good for current nutrition.
2) You should never force feed a baby. That makes feeding time stressful and a time of anxiety. Having something shoved in your mouth against your control is scary as well as unpleasant (I'm not trying to insinuate you've been rough or mean in any way, just trying to explain why experts say to never force feed). If you relax more about whether or not DS eats, he'll relax more too and might be more interested. I went through a period where I would get really anxious and try my best (without actually shoving it in his mouth) to make my DS take a bite. It always just backfires. Your DS may be getting full with the bottle and then not wanting to eat (opposite of DD's problem).
In short, both of these issues could maybe be solved by splitting up the meal and doing bottles first, foods about 1 hr later. And as hard as it is, keep it light and fun, with no force feeding and just relaxing if he's not wanting food at a particular sitting. It's of course possible that your DS does have some feeding issues to work out, but I definitely wouldn't jump to that conclusion until after you make these adjustments and see how it goes for at least a week or so with the changes. GL!
At1- thanks for the suggestions! and I totally agree with you.. I'm not one for force feeding.. he makes it pretty clear when he doesn't want to eat.. and as much as I want him to eat, I remember what they told us in the hospital that "no healthy baby will starve themself" and I let go..
right now we do bottle and then their meal.. I can try spacing it apart and see how that goes!
as for DD, she absolutely prefers solid food/table food over the milk.. she is gaining weight, never been sick.. so I guess she is taking in what she needs!
Hearing the behaviors your describing from your son, I honestly would stop even offering food for about a week or two and then revisit the subject. He just doesn't sound ready for them to me. PP is right in that you don't want to push foods. Even if your not force feeding, offering too much when they object, etc, can still be pushing, and it's been my experience that all that leads to is worse eating and more forceful refusals on baby's part. My nieces pediatrician didn't have her start solids until 9months old, definitely not something that needs to be rushed. Take it easy and keep it fun.
GL
Remember that, while not ideal, all liquids count towards their daily fluid count- so if you can get DD to have some soup and a bit of watermelon and maybe a sippy of cool water then the fluid numbers are still going up. Milk is preferable because they're getting a dairy, the calories AND the fluids, but remember that it doesn't have to be 24ozs of a measured out bottle of milk.
Also, I know you said you're trying different bottles and sippys but it did take us a while to find the right one for DD- she would either get frustrated by the no-spill valve because it was too hard to get the fluid out or she would choke on ones that didn't have some regulation. In the end a straw is what worked best, because once she got the hang of it she was in total control of her fluid intake.
is 8 oz typical? andrew would do that for a few days when cutting a tooth, and your LO is in the teething age. also when teething he refused to be spoon fed.
If 8 oz is what he always does, ongoing, I would def proceed with the feeding team. Maybe consider reflux or something else thta could be causing him pain. At what point we didn't know why Andrew wouldn't drink much and he had a swallow study showing a swallowing delay, for example.
HUGS!