Baby Sleeping Less, More Irritable, Not Weighing as Much....

This is kind of long - sorry about that.

My daughter is slow to gain, but doesn't LOSE weight. She has always been in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. I think either at her 9 month appt, she had gained only 4 ounces, and my pediatrician wasn't really concerned due to the fact she was still growing. Sometimes as they grow, it doesn't show up as weight but as length. Just keep tabs on it and if you ever feel like taking her back to the pediatrician or calling their office, never hesitate. You can often just take your daughter to their office to weigh her in between check-ups if you would like - to keep up more closely. My daughter is now 2 (26 months) and weighs about 23 pounds - there are friends of hers that are 9 months old that almost weigh that! :) Know that kiddos have ups and downs regarding their weight gain and growth. I am sure everything is fine.

My daughter didn't love the taste of cereal either - so I mixed in baby applesauce to make it sweeter. Now that your little one is six months, it's okay to start to add food to her diet (baby food, that is). It may help fulfill her food need and help her to gain some weight as well. You don't have to stop the breast milk - she still will need to, and I am sure want to drink that!

I started the majority of the baby food for her as veggies along side cereal or applesauce. Once she got the hang of it, I introduced fruits. I had heard that if you start with veggies, they will eat them - if you start with fruit, they sometimes won't eat veggies. If she doesn't like the veggies, try what I did. I dipped the spoon into the veggies first, then dipped it into the fruit. It was kind of disguising the veggies, but my daughter ate them both that way! Be careful about giving your daughter berries or strawberry fruit blend baby food - they say to hold off on that due to potential allergies. The veggies my daughter loved were squash, sweet potatoes, and green beans. She hated the peas and still won't eat them! She loved the banana baby food, the applesauce, and some of the fruit desserts (guava, banana blends, etc.) Also, try to feed her baby food first, then follow up with breast milk. That way she'll eat more "food" and then drink what she needs. During the night she can get just breast milk, and probably first thing in the morning too.

The day care may also have better luck feeding your daughter food - communicate your concerns about her weight gain and how you'd like for them to do the feeding If you find a routine to feeding that works (like I did), ask them to do the same thing at daycare.

Lastly, and my advice always, talk with your pediatrician. If he or she is concerned about the weight gain, then ask what things they recommend you try. If they are not particularly concerned at this time, just try to introduce some baby food and see what happens.

Good luck - we moms worry about everything, and we make ourselves crazy about it. I am sure you'll get some great advice, these are just some of my thoughts.

Hello!
My son is also a slow gainer. We have struggled to put on and KEEP weight on him. He is perfectly healthy but I worry about it. He wouldn't take the cereal either. After tasting it I totally understood! We moved onto to baby foods. The simple ones, like pears, sweet potatoes, and carrots went well. She is definitely old enough to start solids, and might enjoy them more. We started adding the cereal to his yogurt, which went better. He was getting more grains, and didn't really notice a difference in the taste.
She may be teething. One thing I learned was they can be teething and never get a tooth! Their teeth move and cause them pain for a long time before they ever break the surface. We didn't actually get a tooth until 7 1/2 months, and he had all the teething symptoms starting around 5 months. We picked up one of those circle teething rings and put it in the freezer. It became an instant hit!
Unfortunately, they change patterns and schedules a lot! At 6 months she may be going through a growth spurt which is disrupting her normal routine. If she is getting ready to learn a new skill, like crawling, they don't sleep as well. Another possibility, she may be sleeping to much at daycare. If they are not stimulating her enough or letting her nap more than you do she won't sleep as well at home. You might speak with your provider or stop in unannounced during her active times to see what she is doing. Hope this helps!

I never gave my kids cereal without mixing in veggies or fruit in it. It is gross, to be honest, hee hee. I don't blame kids for not wanting it plain. Mix it with formula, not breast milk too.
Try mixing some yogurt in it, fruit in the morning and mixing cereal with sweet potatoes, peas or other veggies at night.
As far as waking she will change her sleep patterns a million times. If she goes through a growth spurt she will wake in the middle of the night to eat.
Neither of my kids slept through the night until 10 mos! So consider yourself very blessed she does 10 hours, that his HUGE for a six month old!
I would consider doing formula too at night, it has more calories and stays on their stomachs longer.
If she is cutting teeth, try giving her some tylenol or teething tablets. The tablets work very fast just not for very long.
Teething definitely causes disruption in sleep.
Good luck

Hi M.,

I have a son about your daughter's same age. His sleep patterns change alot! We went thru a major change after being on vacation and my son is just now, 3 weeks later getting used to his regular sleep patterns again. He is gaining weight fine though. What do your doctors say? If I were in your shoes, I would try to stick with breastmilk. And I read a few of your responses where some people told you to mix rice cereal with formula, I would still use your breastmilk. We have not begun solids yet, but I know many Mom's who have just started and say their kids love it with breastmilk. Or i have one friend who uses oatmeal instead of rice cereal, she says her son really prefers it. My son has no teeth yet, but I have read that kids eat less when they teethe.
Good Luck and I hope things get better soon.............
S.

try doing the cereal w/water. gross, I know, but our second wouldn't eat it any other way (not w/ formula, not w/breast milk) and it had to be warm. Also try experimenting w/different grains. Again, our second wanted nothing to do w/rice but loved oatmeal (once we figured out to use water). our oldest had horrible rashes w/ the rice but tolerated oatmeal just fine.

If she's not eating like she should at daycare, you need to talk w/them. Some kids are VERY particular about temperature, how they are held, the nipple on the bottle, etc. Make sure the day care is experimenting w/these things or is doing it exactly like you know she'll take a bottle. My oldest would only use one nipple and it had to be warmer than most would make it. My second would only take it if it was EXACTLY body temperature and didn't care about the nipple. If these things are happening, then listen to your gut. Our first wouldn't take a bottle from our first nanny - he was right, she should not have been his caregiver and we fired her after a week - should've listened to him and fired her the second day.

I'd also try to move on to veggies if cereal is not going well. There's no reason not to since she's almost 6 months old.

You might also try a nighttime feeding. I know, the last thing you want to do is wake her up at 10 or midnight but she may be waking so early because she's hungry.

Good luck.