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worried my girl isn't eating enough

SWR&MSMSWR&MSM
in Preemies
My nugget has been eating the same amount basically since she came home from the hospital.  She eats 2ozs every 3ish hours with a stretch of 4-5 hours at night.  She is consistently eating around 14oz a day. The past couple days she wuffs down an ounce and then spits the nipple out and won't finish the rest of the bottle until 20-30 minutes later.  I burp her after that first ounce but it doesn't seem to make her want to eat more.  I'm fairly certain she is gaining weight, but we haven't been to the Dr. since 4/4 (she weighed 6lbs 12oz) and according to my scale at home she is right around 8 lbs.  Is there a way I can encourage her to eat more?  Or is that just a lost cause?  I feel like at 12 weeks, 6 weeks adjusted, she should be eating more. 
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Re: worried my girl isn't eating enough

  • witt0198witt0198

    We've been around the block and back again when it comes to eating difficulties. One of the things I've learned is that you can't really push a kid to eat, it just leads to more refusals and them pushing back and not liking the eating eperience. That, and if a kid doesn't feel well, they won't eat well. So I guess, I'd try to rule out things that might be making it uncomfortable for her to eat, like teething, thrush, ears, reflux.

    Oh, and maybe she's ready for a faster nipple? That, and if she's gaining weight well, I wouldn't stress too much. If she's gaining well, she's getting what she needs.

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  • olliehoopsolliehoops member
    Hey there! We just took our DD to the pedi yesterday because she was only eating 1.5 or 2 at the most of the 5 oz she should be eating.  He gave her a reflux med to try.  Also the past few days, I have fed her 2.5 oz at a time, then instead of going 3 hours, I would feed her 2.5 oz 1.5 hours later.  It worked like a charm! She has finished EVERY bottle the past few days when feeding every 1.5 hours.  Pedi said her reflux would make her not want to eat because the more she eats, the more acid is made.  GL!!
    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers Pregnancy Ticker
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  • lemen99lemen99 member

    Andrew had reflux and aside from keeping medical issues under control (reflux, infections), nothing has helped us to control his appetite or willingness to eat in any way.  he also had a time when he would woof down the first part and randomly stop and stuttur, which turned out to be a swallow issue (we had a swallow study done).

     Keep a note on any other signs or symptoms of discomfort, but otherwise, try not to stress!

    When he was little he would barely meet his hydration limits but no matter what we tried, he was going to eat what he was going to eat. 


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  • megan1019megan1019

    Nolan was having an issue stopping feeding in the middle of it - we started changing his diaper in the middle of a feed vs. before or after - it seemed to wake him back up & he started back right away. Silly I know but it worked!

    At around 8 lbs. Nolan was taking roughly 3 oz/ every 3 hours. 

    Hope you find something that helps soon! 

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  • ppantsppants member

    Both my twins had reflux, but we really struggled getting DD to eat.  Sometimes we would practically rock her to sleep and then she'd take the bottle better.  We'd also "ohm" sometimes to soothe her.  She was on both prevacid and zantac for reflux until she was 13.5 mo old.  Hang in there!

    Wendy Twins 1/27/06. DS and DD
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