I need help with my daughters weight gain. She is 7 months old and only weighs 15 pounds. She is very underweight and my doctor told me she needs to gain weight. She drinks 36 ounces of formula a day but it is lactose free so doesn't add and bulk. She also eats three times a day. She had severe acid reflux for the first six months of her life she had just started to grow out of it. She lost a lot of weight in the begining because she threw up everything that she ate. She also only started solids about a month ago because she couldn't tolerate most foods. She was on Pepcid to help with the acid reflux. Any ideas how I can help her gain any weight?
Well she still hasn't gained any weight. My doctor says we are going to adjust her feeding and if she doesn't gain any weight this month then we are going to cut formula all together and just go to pediasure. We had tried cereal in bottles but she can't tolerate the rice her gives her bad pains in her stomach. She eats pretty good so we just don't understand why she isn't gaining weight. She is probably like me with a fast matabalism and just burns it off as fast as she eats. She doesn't sit still she is all over the house. We caught her climbing the stairs the other day. Thank you all for you advice.
J.-
My daughter had acid reflux as well. I was very hard to get her to eat. However when she it about 8 weeks I began to put rice ceral in her milk. This helped to keep the formula down and I began to see some weight gain. You might want to try this as it will add weight on her. Good luck!
my son did the same thing as your daughter. he couldn't keep any formula down. so my mom switch him to an old fashion remedy. pet milk,kero syrup and water. it is what they fed babies before formula and he bulked right up and was a very healthy baby after that. it even took care of the reflux.
My daughter weighed 17lbs when she turned 1 and is now still only 23 lbs and she turned 2 last september and the doctors tell me that she is healthy and to just give her pediasure if she does eat enough and she hasnt gained weight at all since her last check up. The doctors go by the statistics too much I think they told me that SHe was under weight for the longest time and diid blood work on her and its just because of her matablolism.n My sons also drink pedia sure for weight gain you might want to try that with her if you are really concerned it might help.
I would check with your doctor or pharmacist before doing this, but my first son was premature and underweight after his heart surgery and in the hospital and at home for the following months I was told to put a little bit of safflower oil in his bottle mixed with the formula, specifically to add calories.
SInce she is only 7 mths old and has digestive problems, why not seek advice from a nutritionist. Your ped could probably get you into contact with one. That would be the route I would take if I were in your shoes. Good luck!
Kelley
dear J..
my daughter too was going through that but she is 4 months old and weighs 16 pounds she had been threw 3 different formula's and also reflux i would give her more rice, mixed and oatmeal cereal
Hello. I have 21 month old twin girls. They were both born a little over 4 pounds so it was very important for them to gain quickly. They both had acid reflux and they both threw up whatever they drank... one worse than the other. After several formula changes, they were finally put on Enfamil AR. It was new at the time... a bit thicker than other formulas and it already has rice in it... and it was like a miracle formula. So much so that I had suggested it to a friend and she put her baby on it and she was so happy. My twins were then put on Zantac and then Prevacid. I also, when they were one month old, put a little bit of the powdered rice cereal right into their bottles. Just about a 1/2 tsp. twice a day. As preemies, they were supposed to be "a little behind" but they ended up gaining quite quickly. Even once they started eating foods, I still put the cereal in the bottle... of course I upped it to about a tsp and a 1/2. They didn't like to eat it on the spoon, so at least I knew they were still getting it cause they didn't mind drinking it.
Hi J.,
I have a two year old boy, whom was born 4LBs so it was critcal he gain wiegth. He also had a severe acid reflux problem. No pecid or formulas were helping, so I sought the advice of my chiroprater. The best advice ever. He suggested Goats milk ( you can find it at Tops in the dairy section, Don't get the powder Yick!) ( the closes milk to human milk, great for lactose intolrent babies) And my son received chiropratics three to four times a week untill the visits were twice a week to once a week to once a month, He has no problem with acid reflux anymore and no meds. I hope this helps.
P.S. My son's doctor recomended to suppiment him with a daily vitamins... a good one is Schiffs liquid.
My baby is 4 months and has only gained 1lb in 2 months. I breastfeed but we may end up supplementing with formula. However her pedi told me that breastmilk and formula have more cals than solid foods, so don't cut back on the formula. Give her formula then after shes done with her bottle offer solids. untill 1yr solids are just for practice anyway, they arnt needed.
J.,
Try to aim for calorie dense foods. It's difficult to do with baby food, because if you read the jar, there is so much water that each serving has very few calories. i know it can get time consuming and inconvenient, but making baby food for her may help, because you can keep more of the water out. Take boiled or steamed vegetables and fruit, and puree it in a food processor. If you can get it nice and smooth, you won't need to water it down, and she'll get more actual food per ounce she eats. Also, use formula instead of water to mix her cereal. It addes calories, and every little bit helps.
I have to say that your daughter is on the small side, but is between 10 and 25 percentile for her age in weight. It is usually under 10 that they worry about being "underweight".
You said she lost a lot of weight at one time because of throwing up due to reflux. Has she begun to gain back again? If she's gaining an appropriate amount per month or between doc visits now, then it is just an issue of her catching up for the lost time. If she is gaining from month to month, then I wouldn't worry too much about it, she'll make up the lost ground over the next year or so. If she is eating and holding things down okay, and still not gaining, then it is time to talk about other options with your ped.
Hello J.. I had the same problem with my daughter when she was little. She threw up everything and was not gaining weight. We ended up going through trials of regular, lactate-free,soy and one other formula that I can't recall. She was hospitalized for nine days, and they finally figured out that she was allergic to all the formulas. The final attempt was a formula called Nutramagin. It was very expensive back then, $20.00 per can of powdered, thank God for W.I.C ! Anyways, it worked! She started gaining weight in no time. Actually became a little chunky. She also stopped throwing up. I wish I could show you before and after pics! I am not sure if this helped you, but it is worth checking into with your baby doctor. Good luck and take care. K.
J.,
Sorry to hear that you've had so many food difficulties with your daughter.My son and daughter are also lactose intolerant. With my son it didnt become an issue until he was around 7yrs old but it was an obvious problem for my daughter from the moment she was started on formula.Instead of using lactose free formula i opted to go with soy based,it does help with weight gain. Ask your pediatrician about it, i hope this helps. ~ R. R
HI J.,
My daughter is (almost) 7 months old, and she too only weighs 15 pounds, and is 27 3/4 inches long. While her ped says she's only in the 25 percentile for her weight he didn't get overly concerned. I am feeding her food 2x a day and she eats about 24 ounces a day, AND also has acid reflux. Probably not as severe as your daughters but enough to be on zantac 3x a day. I don't know about you but me and my husband both as babies were alwasys very thin and tall. (Neither one of us have any major medical issues) I think that what you are doing feeding wise is just fine. As long as your daugter is not starving...You may want to, for peace of mind and maybe some suggestions seek a nutritionists advice...but like I said, it sounds like you are feeding her a good amount. Good Luck, please keep me posted. :)
they have that powdered rice cereal (comes in a box) mix it in with her formula
