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Austin Babies
He's not really eating much :(
Today is the second time in maybe a week (last wednesday to today) that DS has taken in fewer than 7 ounces the whole day at school. I nurse him at 7 before we leave, and he nurses well. They attempt a bottle at 10:30 and at 2, and he's only been taking 2-3 ounces before fighting it. They offer again maybe 30 minutes later and can usually get another 1-2 ounces down, but that's it. I nurse him again at 5, 7, and then whenever he wakes overnight. That's worry #1.
Worry #2 is that he haaaates solids. We've tried avocado, banana, sweet potato, squash, oatmeal with cold BM, oatmeal with warm BM, and he hates it all.
Both of these I wouldn't really think too much about, but he's been falling in percentiles. At 2 months he was 50%, at 4 months he was 30% (pedi wasn't concerned), and we haven't had his 6 month well check yet b/c he was sick last week, but when they weighed him at the sick visit, he was only 15 lbs 10 oz (with onesie on), which google says is between 10-25%.
He nurses well enough. I'm sure my supply is fine b/c I'm still pumping 5-6 ounces every time I pump.
Any thoughts? Experience?
I was really hoping I would be able to not have to worry about my second kid's weight the way I did my first. Blah.
Dear Bump: You suck.
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Re: He's not really eating much :(
I'm not going to tell you not to worry about him gaining weight, because I would too. I still do and my kid's a hoss. BUT, DS was SO not into solids. At all. I would say he didn't eat a full "meal" (and only one a day) until he was closer to 10 months. I'm not even kidding. He just didn't really dig it. And he thinned out a lot when he was about 7 months because I DID have a major supply dip, and he wouldn't take a bottle so I had no clue how much he was really getting per day.
Only thing I can recommend is asking your pedi what you can do. ((hugs))
Some days you just aren't that hungry, right? There are some days he isn't that hungry either, plus you said he'd been sick, so it doesn't surprise me he might not be too hungry. Some nights M won't touch his dinner and other nights he cleans his plate. Could S have an ear infection - he might not want to suck if his ear hurts.
I worried a lot about M's weight his first year. He was 95% when born, went all the way down to 25% during his first year and is now back to 75% as of his 2 year check up. Now I worry I'm making him fat. I think its in our nature as moms to worry, but I don't think you have anything to worry about right now. Give solids some time - its a big change for him in flavor and texture and he may just need some time to adjust.
I'm sorry to hear that, I had a lot of stress from Ryan not taking a bottle and I hope you're not going through the same. I think (?) your DS used to take a bottle so Ryan's story is a little different but maybe it brings you some reassurances.
Ryan never took a bottle, ok I guess he took it the first month but after that he wouldn't. Our nanny found by trial and error that spoon feeding him breastmilk and/or eye dropper (we called it baby bird style) worked best. Ryan would literally drink around 4oz of milk all day and I was away from him for about 9.5 hrs most days. Our pediatrician reassured us that it was ok, but then around 6 months (I think) he got a little concerned when Ryan dipped in the percentiles. I think Ryan went form 50 to 25, but I honestly don't remember. So then I tried a lot of things to try and get him to drink more, but in the end he didn't and it was all fine (i.e. he is/was totally healthy and growing great and once whole milk in a straw cup came along he started to drink more while I was at work). He would nurse all.evening.long when I got home from work though (and many times through the night). So he just made up for it.
Good luck, I hope you get some answers/reassurances at his well check!
First of all, I'm sorry you're dealing with this. It's definitely stressful.
Re the solids, I would NOT worry about it. Plenty of kids are not interested at this age. Try giving him as much control over the process as possible--allow him to handle the food and put it in his mouth if he wants to. Having it be "his idea" may help. It also may be that you put it away for a month and try again. I know SO many moms who said at 6 months their child was so not into it, but then at 8, 9, 10, whatever, they suddenly became interested.
I would tend to say that the bottle strike is a phase that could be related to a million things, including his recent illness. What other changes have occurred that may contribute to this---any changes in care providers, daycare room, etc etc? Is it an option for you to go to his daycare and nurse him, even if just for one feeding/day, for a period of time until you feel better about his weight gain? Could he be teething and disinterested in the bottle bc his mouth hurts? Since he's not eating much at each feeding, could they try offering it more often?
You don't have to actually answer these questions to me--they were more rhetorical to give you something to think about. I hope it gets better soon!
Are you sure you're using the same chart they are. In the past when I've googled I've gotten different %'s than what the pedi told me. Hopefully he'll start eating again and it's just a passing phase
I just wanted to say that Amelia has had a pretty similar growth pattern. She started around the 40-50% percentile and slowly trended down to the 20%. Since about 6 months and on she has sort of made her new curve around the 20%. I think we have the same pedi (Dr. C.) and she has never been concerned.
Ebat is right, there are a couple of different growth charts. I think the WHO chart is for EBF babies and CDC for formula. I honestly can't remember which Dr. C uses.
I remember around 6 months was rough in regards to eating. Amelia's milk intake did decrease and she really wasn't interested in solids. I think it was a combo of a lot of things. She was teething, much more active physically (sitting up, working on crawling) and more interested in things around her that eating just wasn't a priority. We tried solids around 6 months and she was not interested. We offered her stuff but I honestly dont think she really started eating til closer to 7-8 months. For Amelia she totally wanted to feed herself and wanted nothing of the spoon. Is he at all interested in self feeding? Maybe see if he may try if he can feed himself. We did a lot of sweet potato sticks in the beginning! She would also eat the baby food in the pouches because she could hold them herself and suck up the food. I think that was a little later tough maybe 8ish months.
I still occasionally worry about her weight! I try not too but its hard. I have even been known to take her to work and weigh her (i work in pedi office)! I just try to remind myself that she will let me know when she is hungry and as long as she is happy and healthy its ok if she is tiny!
RE worry #1: i wouldn't worry about the volume if he's not doing it every single day. Is there any chance he's reverse cycling? Some babies do that where they minimize what they take when they're away from their mommies and save their intake for when mommy is around.
Worry 2: I definitely wouldn't worry about his solids. He's barely more than 6 months old. The american academy of pediatrics doesn't even recommend solids until 6 months and even then, the majority of their calories should be coming from BM or formula.
If his weight has crossed percentiles again, then just have him follow up more closely with his pediatrician.
I understand though, even if there was probably nothing to worry about, I'd find something to be worried about too.