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#1
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Solid frustrations
Alena won't eat solids. She just down-right refuses them.
Well, almost all of them. She'll eat carrots and bananas without a fuss. However, she's been losing weight and I need to get her eating solids on a regular basis or the doctor will have me supplement with formula to bring her weight up. I've tried offering solids before the breast. I've tried mixing bananas and carrots (not at the same time) into her other foods I've tried only giving her solids for a two hour period... Nothing. Maybe a few bites. If I give her nothing but carrots and bananas, she gets really constipated and takes on a yellowish hue... (not yet actually, but I'm worried about this as it has happened to my cousin's baby...) So, mommies and daddies of the group, what should I try now? |
#2
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Solid frustrations
"Lina" wrote in message le.rogers.com... Alena won't eat solids. She just down-right refuses them. Her body is just telling you she's not quite ready. However, she's been losing weight and I need to get her eating solids on a regular basis or the doctor will have me supplement with formula to bring her weight up. How much weight? Over what period of time? Has she recently started rolling or crawling around? Solids are not calorically all that for an eight month old, so trying to push solids over breastmilk is not necessarily the best way to strike at her weight loss. At her age I would actually be pushing her to nurse more often and offering solids in between nursing. I've tried offering solids before the breast. I've tried mixing bananas and carrots (not at the same time) into her other foods I've tried only giving her solids for a two hour period... Nothing. Maybe a few bites. I can't remember where, but I remember reading that the only two things a baby can control for themselves are what and when they eat and how and when they sleep. My gut reaction is to say that if you're pushing solids that much she's just pushing you back by not taking them. If I give her nothing but carrots and bananas, she gets really constipated and takes on a yellowish hue... (not yet actually, but I'm worried about this as it has happened to my cousin's baby...) A yellowish-orange tint is normal for a kid that eats a lot of beta carotine containing foods. But I'm confused. Is your "not actually yet" directed just toward the change of color or toward the constipation as well. If she is constipated, how are you defining that? Movements less often are not constipation. Movements with lots of straining but normal consistency are not constipation. So, mommies and daddies of the group, what should I try now? To start with, give up more details on the weight loss and her activity levels. Then I'd really suggest pushing nursing, not pushing solids but offering them at the same time every day. Something new every few days until you catch what she likes and then adding that to her rotation. -- Rhiannon Mom to M. Girl (2 1/2 years) and O. Boy (8 1/2 months) |
#3
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Solid frustrations
"She's A Goddess" wrote in message news116c.31201$_w.530662@attbi_s53... "Lina" wrote in message le.rogers.com... Alena won't eat solids. She just down-right refuses them. Her body is just telling you she's not quite ready. However, she's been losing weight and I need to get her eating solids on a regular basis or the doctor will have me supplement with formula to bring her weight up. How much weight? Over what period of time? Has she recently started rolling or crawling around? She lost a pound in about a month. The gastro interologist said that it was partly the reflux and partly because she needs more solids. Solids are not calorically all that for an eight month old, so trying to push solids over breastmilk is not necessarily the best way to strike at her weight loss. At her age I would actually be pushing her to nurse more often and offering solids in between nursing. I've been doing that as well since we can't get her to eat. Since I can get her to nurse a LOT, I'll keep doing that. I've tried offering solids before the breast. I've tried mixing bananas and carrots (not at the same time) into her other foods I've tried only giving her solids for a two hour period... Nothing. Maybe a few bites. I can't remember where, but I remember reading that the only two things a baby can control for themselves are what and when they eat and how and when they sleep. My gut reaction is to say that if you're pushing solids that much she's just pushing you back by not taking them. If I give her nothing but carrots and bananas, she gets really constipated and takes on a yellowish hue... (not yet actually, but I'm worried about this as it has happened to my cousin's baby...) A yellowish-orange tint is normal for a kid that eats a lot of beta carotine containing foods. But I'm confused. Is your "not actually yet" directed just toward the change of color or toward the constipation as well. If she is constipated, how are you defining that? Movements less often are not constipation. Movements with lots of straining but normal consistency are not constipation. She's been constipated when she started the bananas. She was on iron, getting (some) iron fortified cereal, and then the bananas. She wasn't pooping at all, and then when she did she was crying from it. We could see her screwing up her face, turning red, and grunting to pass stool. On reccomendation of the pediatrician, we stopped her iron and her cereal since she wasn't really interested in it anyway. She kept eating the bananas, but it only helped her stools a little bit. So, mommies and daddies of the group, what should I try now? To start with, give up more details on the weight loss and her activity levels. Then I'd really suggest pushing nursing, not pushing solids but offering them at the same time every day. Something new every few days until you catch what she likes and then adding that to her rotation. She's starting to crawl (just recently), she can move backwards (not forwards) and she's rolling everywhere, but has been doing that since January. She has only recently started to refuse the solids (about a month). Nothing really traumatic that I can think of has happened to her while eating, nor during anything else. (We've had a long year already, but nothing that I can see that would trigger her not eating.) I'll keep offering her the breast as often as she wants it, and I guess I'll just pray she'll start eating again soon. Before she stopped eating, she was eating about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal as well as one ice cube worth of vegetables twice a day... So I'm not sure what's going on. |
#4
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Solid frustrations
Lina wrote:
She lost a pound in about a month. The gastro interologist said that it was partly the reflux and partly because she needs more solids. What are they doing to treat the reflux? I could understand "partly because she needs more *calories,*" but substituting formula for bm sounds like ignorance more than science. She has only recently started to refuse the solids (about a month). Have you tried offering finger foods? Caterpillar started to refuse to eat from a spoon about that same time, but she'll eat almost anything she can shove in her mouth, or we feed her with our fingers or chopsticks (and sometimes I can get her to eat what I'm eating if she gets it off my spoon). She really likes french fries and sweet potato fries, and they're pretty calorically dense. Phoebe |
#5
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Solid frustrations
"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message ... Lina wrote: She lost a pound in about a month. The gastro interologist said that it was partly the reflux and partly because she needs more solids. What are they doing to treat the reflux? I could understand "partly because she needs more *calories,*" but substituting formula for bm sounds like ignorance more than science. Not a while hell of a lot. They have her on a pill which she needs to take with solids (see the dillema?)but other than that, nothing. She has only recently started to refuse the solids (about a month). Have you tried offering finger foods? Caterpillar started to refuse to eat from a spoon about that same time, but she'll eat almost anything she can shove in her mouth, or we feed her with our fingers or chopsticks (and sometimes I can get her to eat what I'm eating if she gets it off my spoon). She really likes french fries and sweet potato fries, and they're pretty calorically dense. We tried really soft carrot cubes (really small, like the size you find in pre-bagged veggies) but she gagged. We tried banana the same way, nothing. She's 8 months, but a bit behind still... so I'm not sure if she's ready for finger foods. Phoebe |
#6
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Solid frustrations
Lina wrote:
We tried really soft carrot cubes (really small, like the size you find in pre-bagged veggies) but she gagged. We tried banana the same way, nothing. Caterpillar was the same way, but when she puts it in her own mouth, she didn't gag. I was amazed. (She also prefers big pieces, which I was surprised at.) She'll actually bite chunks of banana off herself, and gum them up while making horrible disgusted faces. Phoebe |
#7
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Solid frustrations
Lina wrote:
She lost a pound in about a month. The gastro interologist said that it was partly the reflux and partly because she needs more solids. I find it unusual that she a) was eating solids at one time but has now stopped and b) she is actually losing weight, a whole pound. I had a baby that refused solids until he was 10mos and then ate very little. He never stopped solids though, he just delayed the start. He also did not loose any weight and in fact kept gaining on breastmilk alone. Both mine would go off their solids if they were teething or had a cold or virus. Keep us posted. If she loses more weight I'd probably be more aggressive in finding a cause instead of chalking it up to less solids. Maybe it is the reflux? They might be related (both symptoms of the same problem) but not necessarily as a cause (i.e., lack of solids causing a weight loss). I found oatmeal to be very good for constipation in my babies so you might try mixing her banana with that to see if she'll eat it. Luke was eating regular oatmeal at 8 months but you could grind the oats as well. It might just be that all is well and she experienced a temporary blip in weight gain too. Hope things get worked out quickly!! -- Nikki Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2) |
#8
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Solid frustrations
Lina wrote:
Before she stopped eating, she was eating about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal as well as one ice cube worth of vegetables twice a day... So I'm not sure what's going on. My guess would be teething. When my younger two were about 7-8 months old, they pretty well lost interest in pureed solids altogether and preferred finger/table foods when they ate anything solid at all. By and large, though, they mainly gave up solid foods for a couple of months and subsisted on breastmilk. Neither of them either lost weight or stopped gaining (and, in fact, my third is a big solid chunk of a boy and always has been) weight, so I don't for one moment believe that solids are "necessary" for weight gain in infants this age. Solids may be *helpful* in terms of getting enough iron in their diets and it's nice to get them accustomed to different tastes and textures, but my feeling is that any doctor who tells you your baby is not gaining weight at this age because of lack of solids just doesn't know what he/she is talking about. As others have pointed out, breastmilk has more calories and fat per ounce than most of the solid foods you'd be likely to offer a baby this age, so it's just not logical to believe that adding more solids to the diet would increase weight gain unless it adds to the baby's total caloric intake (IOW, the solids don't displace breastmilk). IMHO, you should breastfeed her as often as she wants and even offer occasionally when she's not asking. If she seems at all interested in something you're eating during a meal and it's a single-ingredient, non-allergenic and not chewy food, offer her a bite. I remember when my daughter was about 7 months old, she grabbed a cracker out of my hand, bit into it, and chewed with a beatific smile on her face. That was when I realized that she wasn't refusing solids because she didn't like food but because she was bored with all the slimy, pureed stuff! Now, in your baby's case, it sounds like the reflux is contributing to the low weight gain and I do suppose your gastroenterologist may think that if she ate more solids, she would keep them down more easily than milk and therefore get more calories from them. That's just a guess, though. But if she doesn't want them, I would NOT force them on her and would, in fact, back off altogether for a little while. If it is, as I suspect, teething that's causing her disinterest in solids then it will pass in a couple of months after she cuts the offending teeth. Good luck and HTH! -- Be well, Barbara (Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [2] mom) All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful. Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman |
#9
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Solid frustrations
"Circe" wrote in message news:y_16c.7102$Bg.1892@fed1read03... Lina wrote: Before she stopped eating, she was eating about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal as well as one ice cube worth of vegetables twice a day... So I'm not sure what's going on. My guess would be teething. When my younger two were about 7-8 months old, they pretty well lost interest in pureed solids altogether and preferred finger/table foods when they ate anything solid at all. By and large, though, they mainly gave up solid foods for a couple of months and subsisted on breastmilk. Neither of them either lost weight or stopped gaining (and, in fact, my third is a big solid chunk of a boy and always has been) weight, so I don't for one moment believe that solids are "necessary" for weight gain in infants this age. Solids may be *helpful* in terms of getting enough iron in their diets and it's nice to get them accustomed to different tastes and textures, but my feeling is that any doctor who tells you your baby is not gaining weight at this age because of lack of solids just doesn't know what he/she is talking about. As others have pointed out, breastmilk has more calories and fat per ounce than most of the solid foods you'd be likely to offer a baby this age, so it's just not logical to believe that adding more solids to the diet would increase weight gain unless it adds to the baby's total caloric intake (IOW, the solids don't displace breastmilk). IMHO, you should breastfeed her as often as she wants and even offer occasionally when she's not asking. If she seems at all interested in something you're eating during a meal and it's a single-ingredient, non-allergenic and not chewy food, offer her a bite. I remember when my daughter was about 7 months old, she grabbed a cracker out of my hand, bit into it, and chewed with a beatific smile on her face. That was when I realized that she wasn't refusing solids because she didn't like food but because she was bored with all the slimy, pureed stuff! Now, in your baby's case, it sounds like the reflux is contributing to the low weight gain and I do suppose your gastroenterologist may think that if she ate more solids, she would keep them down more easily than milk and therefore get more calories from them. That's just a guess, though. But if she doesn't want them, I would NOT force them on her and would, in fact, back off altogether for a little while. If it is, as I suspect, teething that's causing her disinterest in solids then it will pass in a couple of months after she cuts the offending teeth. Good luck and HTH! -- The thought with solids is that they're heavier and less likely to come back up and burn the esophogus. (sp???) When she started rice cereal, she was less spitty for a while, but then it got worse. Her ped took her off the remidadine and put her on Losec ( a pill ) She did worse. He's adament that the pill will help. But it's not. The interologist agrees that it will help. But I'm with her 24 hours a day. It's not helping. So I have no ideas. I've got a call in to her pediatrician and hopefully I'll get some answers about what to do that don't involve formula. |
#10
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Solid frustrations
Lina wrote:
The thought with solids is that they're heavier and less likely to come back up and burn the esophogus. (sp???) When she started rice cereal, she was less spitty for a while, but then it got worse. Her ped took her off the remidadine and put her on Losec ( a pill ) She did worse. He's adament that the pill will help. But it's not. The interologist agrees that it will help. But I'm with her 24 hours a day. It's not helping. So I have no ideas. My idea is that you should get a second opinion, preferably from another pediatric gastroenterologist. I don't know how long it typically takes these medications to make a difference, as I have zero experience with reflux, but if you don't feel the medication is working and you've given it sufficient time to make a difference, I think it's time for a change. The other thing that's worth mentioning is that just because a child is spitting up doesn't not mean she won't gain weight well/normally. My daughter was a *terrible* spitter as an infant--my husband used to say that she was like a very full teacup that you had to be extra careful with so as not to spill her g--but she gained weight completely normally (albeit more slowly than her gigantic brothers). She did not, as far as I know, have reflux. As I understand it, reflux brings acid up into the esophagus whether or not the child actually spits up. And that acid burns the esophagus, most likely making swallowing uncomfortable and probably affecting appetite negatively. So I would think that reflux that isn't properly controlled--with or without the evidence of spitting--would cause poor weight gain or even weight loss and, moreover, the last thing I would think of as being helpful would be trying to shove more food down the child's throat. I've got a call in to her pediatrician and hopefully I'll get some answers about what to do that don't involve formula. Formula is just a stupid suggestion, IMO. It has the same amount of calories as breastmilk. It is typically *less* well tolerated, gastronomically, than breastmilk and is not heavier than breastmilk, so she'd be just as likely to spit it up as she would be breastmilk. Really, I just don't think it's a sensible solution at all. Frankly, I'd be inclined to try to find a new regular pediatrician, too. Yours does not seem to understand much about breastfeeding and maybe not very much about reflux, either. -- Be well, Barbara (Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [2] mom) All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful. Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman |
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