Baby keeps losing weight

cookier

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 2:11 pm

amother OP wrote:

Ok, I tried to put together a feeding schedule/menu. Please give me feedback on it.

4 oz bottle at wakeup

Breakfast
1. Oatmeal with peanut butter and a banana or
2. Eggs with olive oil and bread

4 oz bottle before/after nap

Lunch:
1. Bread and avocado or
2. Please post an idea if you have one

Snack: Bamba, cheese..?

Dinner:
1. chicken and vegetable or
2. Please post an idea if you have one

4 oz bottle at bedtime

Any suggestions welcome.

mom if a medically complex/feeding challenged kiddo here. These are my thoughts:

Definitely push for testing if your gut tells you something is wrong.

The RSV history makes me wonder if it could be a respiratory concern. Was she intubated or on CPAP at any point?

For weight gain:
I’d fortify her formula bottles. 22 or 24 calories per ounce is low risk and most kiddos aren’t bothered by it. 24 calories is easiest with formula, you just do 3 scoops for a 5 oz bottle, or you can make 10 oz and just pour servings when she needs them.

Replace milk in recipes with evaporated milk, or even sweetened condensed milk on her oatmeal.

You can also add powdered milk to most anything milchigs.

Use butter in dairy recipes instead of olive oil. It’s slightly lower calorie but has cholesterol that is good for brain development. Add cheese and milk to her eggs.

Pan fry her bread. It comes out like toast but lots of calories.

Lunch idea would be macaroni and cheese made with 1/2 evaporated milk 1/2 whole, lots of butter and lots of cheese. You could use protein noodles if she’ll eat them.

Soft dried fruits like dates or mango are a good snack. Greek yogurt too. you can make energy balls out of peanut butter, almond butter, even techina. If you have Instagram, plant based juniors has a lot of good recipes.

Dinner ideas:
Shnitzel, meatloaf, or meatballs with mashed potatoes made with Mayo and margarine (that will absolutely out me to anyone IRL but I promise you they’re delicious). Use coconut milk or soy milk as the liquid in meatballs/meatloaf.

amother

Stone

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 2:36 pm

I had a dd who wasn't gaining weight or height. I was concerned as she was induced due to growth issues as well.
The dr ran a bunch of tests to rule out anything medical, diabetes, thyroid, heart condition, and gastro things like celiac and bh all of those were fine. I would definitely look at thorough testing to rule anything out medically before anything else.
The dietician told us to look at her intake over the week rather than individual days as some children will eat more one day and less another, but are overall taking in enough calories.
I personally don't think your menu sounds so terrible, and I'm not sure if your dd is simply not gaining much weight or losing it, as even if she is gaining a little, that's still something.
Now my dd is a few years old and she is still extremely petite but the dr is happy that she is gaining along her line. And she has finally gone on the height percentiles, even if it is the very bottom. But as dh tells me someone has to be the one on the 1st percentile.

amother

Chestnut ↓

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 6:39 pm

amother OP wrote:

All kinds. This is a sample of what her eating schedule looks like on an average day:

A 2 oz bottle (one scoop formula) right when she wakes up

Breakfast is oatmeal and applesauce. Sometimes if she's hungry enough she'll eat a small banana too.

Then she has another 2 oz bottle when I put her down for her nap.

Lunch is usually a slice of WW bread and half an avocado.

Another 2 oz bottle in the late afternoon. Sometimes if she's hungry I'll give her a 4 oz bottle

Dinner is usually mashed vegetable and chicken patties but she started refusing that so I'll have to come up with something else.

In addition to all that she has a 5 oz bottle in middle of the night.

I think it sounds normal to me

My baby wasn't gaining weight around this age and was actively losing weight at some point, we went to a pediatric nutritionist who specalized in ages 0-2. Here is what we did with her guidance.

Two main things to focus on, quantity of food and quality of food.

Quantity of meals/bottles: 3 meals a day and 2 major snacks a day, each one with a bottle of formula, breastmilk, or cow's milk. Looks like this:
- wakeup - bottle and breakfast
- before nap - snack and bottle
- lunchtime - lunch and bottle
- afternoon - snack and bottle
- dinnertime - dinner and bottle
- 1 bottle in middle of night (dream feed before I went to bed)

Quality of meals and snacks needs to be shifted to maximize the amount and the kind of calories for the amount of food she is eating.
- Every single meal and snack should include protein and fat.
- If she has oatmeal/applesauce/banana for breakfast, that is good, but protein and fat need to be added. Add in some high fat yogurt or greek yogurt into her oatmeal or on the side. Or add in butter to her oatmeal and give her some cottage cheese on the side. Or serve oatmeal and add cream to her applesauce and also add some protein on the side like a piece of cheese.
- for morning snack you can do cheese and crackers, or natural peanut butter or other nut butter (thin layer) on rice cake, breadsticks or toast strips dipped in techina or hummus, tuna salad on crackers.
- Lunch of whole wheat bread and avocado is good, but needs protein and fat added. Add some butter on the WW bread or drizzle some olive oil on the bread and/or avocado. Add in protein in the form of anything - scrambled eggs made in olive oil (you can throw pieces of avocado on top, or put the whole thing on toast), or if the avocado is mashed then mash in a hard boiled egg and a bit of olive oil and spread it on toast. Or add fruit based pancakes (eggs, flour, milk plus pureed or chunks of fruit - peach is a favorite here) fried in butter.
- for afternoon snack, choose something else from the morning snack list, cheese and crackers, or natural peanut butter or other nut butter (thin layer) on rice cake, toast strips dipped in techina or hummus, tuna salad on crackers.
- for dinner, add olive oil to the mashed vegetables, and chicken patties are great. If she doesn't want that, try roasted veggies with olive oil along with meatballs and spaghetti. Or pasta with a tomato sauce made with vegetables and olive oil, with lots of cheese. Or tuna patties or salmon patties (fried in olive oil) with some potato wedges drizzled with butter. Or try schnitzel or baked chicken with sweet potato (drizzled in oil) on the side. Or beans and brown rice, add in some vegetables, don't forget the oil. Or try soups with chicken or meat and vegetables. Or lentil soup or split pea soup with vegetables. Fry tofu squares in oil with some stir fry vegetables.

Basically, no fruit or vegetables without fat added (cream, butter, oil). And no meal without a protein - vary between eggs, chicken, meat, legumes (beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas/hummus etc), nut/seed spreads (technia, peanut butter, cashew butter, almond butter), protein-based dairy - cheese slices, shredded cheese, cottage cheese.
Also, might be best to give the food before the bottle, so they don't fill up their entire appetite on formula first, to keep things balanced.

Note, you can also do 4 big meals instead of 3 main meals + 2 snacks.

This really helped my baby with weight gain.

amother

↑ Tangerine

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 6:43 pm

amother OP wrote:

So I think what I’ll do is give her 4 oz bottles instead of 2 oz.

But if she doesn’t want it, how hard do I have to push her and at point do I give up?

She’s my first one so I have no experience and this is not the first scare she’s giving us Sad

You don't push her. Never push these kids to eat. It will backfire.

Instead you give her the bigger bottle. Her bottle should always be bigger than she finishes, even if only by half an ounce. (unless she's drinking 16 plus ounces a day).

Her diet looks good. It definitely can use more variety. Remember if this age she can eat practically everything you can. Don't be afraid to give her sophisticated foods with spices etc.

Try feeding her more often. Some kids don't like to drink their calories. That's okay. If she sticks with a 2 oz bottle (and there is still left over), try offering her a small snack to go with it. If it works, I would find a healthier option like a calorie dense homemade muffin, but you can try with crackers/pretzels/fruit to see if it works. You can also experiment with giving her her milk in a straw cup. It may be wise to avoid dairy but there are many other milk options. Ripple pea milk is a good one, and you could also try a children's formula that actually tastes good unlike the gross infant stuff. You can probably get insurance to cover the children's formula but I wouldn't bother till you know she'll take it.

amother

↑ Chestnut ↓

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 6:50 pm

amother Chestnut wrote:

I just wanted to add, my dd also had a physical developmental delay. That is why protein and fat are both needed (and not just fat), the protein supports muscle development which is critical in advancing motor skills.

Helping my dd gain weight also helped her motor delay.

Never force a child to eat. We had a schedule and at meal or snack times, we put the baby in her high chair and put the food in front of her. Then we sat down to eat while she was eating (this was actual advice from the nutritionist, the environment around eating and the social eating and parents modeling eating have a big contribution). We don't feed her, whatever she eats is up to her. We just make sure to put all the foods in front of her and let her choose. If I eat the same thing, often that encourages her to try it. But we just carry out a normal meal without discussing what every one is eating. Eventually they try more things. It is a process and can take several weeks.

amother

Gladiolus ↓

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 7:39 pm

amother OP wrote:

Ok I thought I’d come back and update on what she ate today

4 oz bottle at wake-up

Oatmeal with apple sauce and half a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast

4 oz bottle after her nap

Here’s where it got interesting
At lunch she refused to eat more than half a slice bread and like 1 tbsp of egg salad

4 oz bottle again at 5:20 and she has not eaten since

It seems to me like she is lowering her table food intake bc of the increase in formula…

Now I’m not sure if I should keep the 4 oz bottles or focus on table food more? I feel like table food is more important…?

She’s over a year I would give one bottle of whole milk a day and just make sure the rest of the food is very rich and fatty.

I’ll be honest based on your other post, she eats a lot more than my 16 month old who is in the first percentile for weight, she has been this way consistently and is following her own growth curve so the pediatrician isn’t concerned.
Still confused if she’s actually losing weight or going down on her growth curve - that makes a difference. I would lessen the amount of bottles and give her lots of full fat yogurt, I do that for my daughter and feel like it helps her a lot. You can also make chicken soup and feed her that.

amother

Papayawhip

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 7:42 pm

amother Holly wrote:

At how many weeks was she born?

Unfortunately some kids are medically complicated. Nine kilo at 14 months is already small, she should not be losing weight at this point. Please press your doctor for blood tests, and every single other test under the sun, until you have answers. Demand answers. Do not give up. Demand answers for why your baby isn't gaining.

Also find a support group of moms with medically complex kids. You need support. You're not the only one dealing with this. Heart

Nine kilo at 14 months is perfectly normal. My children’s birthweights ranged from 2.15 kilo to 3.15 kilo and if my 2 kilo kiddie weighed nine kilo at 14 months everyone would say she’s obese.
And as kids start to move more, they slim down. A baby/toddler knows when they’re full so don’t force feed them. I’ve had kids who were forced to eat because of failure to thrive, picky eaters, etc. trust your pediatrician, you chose the pediatrician because you trust them. If you don’t trust the pediatrician that’s another story.
Signed a mother who had children with very unusual health issues that have bh for the most part been resolved. Believe me you don’t want to join the picu/hospital frequent flyer club. (But we did get the cutest stuffies from Hatzalah, picus, pediatric wards…)

amother

↑ OP

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 7:47 pm

amother Gladiolus wrote:

Thank you.

So the weird thing about her is that she refuses to drink anything besides formula out of a bottle.

I tried milk, different milk substitutes- nothing. She doesn’t drink from a cup or a straw yet. Syringe she didn’t want either.

She’s been both losing weight (like 1 or 2 pounds) and dropping percentiles bc she keeps growing taller in addition to the weight loss.

I also feel like table food is more likely to help her weight gain then bottles

amother

↑ Gladiolus

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 7:50 pm

amother OP wrote:

Hmm… I would definitely start teaching her to use a straw. Once my baby mastered that she was much more willing to try other drinks. I would even make your daughter milkshakes with ice cream and let her drink that. You basically want to add a bunch of fat to her diet. Add techina to her food, give her Chummus and peanut butter on a spoon but also try not to stress. She’ll feel it and probably refuse to eat more

You’re doing great Heart

amother

↑ Apricot

Thu, Nov 14 2024, 7:52 pm

amother OP wrote:

Is there a reason she's not drinking from a straw cup yet? Did you try and weren't successful? That could point to possible oral motor issues or a tongue tie. But if you just haven't introduced it yet, now may be a good time. My 14 month old loves to drink smoothies from a straw sippy cup and I can pack a lot of nutrition into them. Then you can also give her water to drink with a straw and see if cutting the formula will help her appetite for solids pick up.

Look up the honeybear cup for teaching to drink from a straw.