How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

DD was always a good eater with the bottle and now with solids.
She is also VERY active so despite her good eating she is light in terms of weight.
But since she has always been in the same percentile the doctor isn't worried.

But DS is not a good eater and at the 5 month visit last month he dropped a few percentages in terms of weight.
But at his 6 month visit he went from the 50 percentile to the 27th percentile. That's a big drop!

Any ideas what we can do to get him to eat more?
Wifey isn't producing enough milk so we've been supplementing with formula. Doctor told us to introduce solids because he is concerned about the weight issue.

What else? Any ideas?
What are some good high caloric foods we should give?

Thanks

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

Honesty, on the bell curve, 50-27%ile is not as big a difference as it seems. An ounce can throw you higher a bunch of %iles. Neither my dds have been/are big eaters. But if you want to go high caloric, avocados are great. So is full fat yogurt.

How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

Totally agree with pp. Most baby foods are not very high in calories or fat like formula or bm so eating more and drinking less probably wouldn't help much.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

A big poop can change baby's weight quite a bit...
But, there are high calorie formulas that we used when our newborns didn't gain weight well. Ask your ped first, of course!

My ped suggested I add some formula powder to my pumped breast milk. This was, of course, when babies were very young.

Baby cereal will be high in calories (add food to formula). Avocado has good amounts of fat. Salmon if you get there too!

Message edited 8/13/2016 1:39:07 PM.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

My 5 month old has thunder thighs. How much milk is your baby drinking? Mine became chunkier with solids, we give him avocado, pears, and bananas right now. Try those foods and see how it goes.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

I would look more at the actual weight gain and focus less on the percentages. DS1 was in the 75th percentile for weight at 2 months. By 6 months he was down to the 40th or 50th and by 9 months he was in the 25th. When he dropped down to the 25th percentile, the doctor wasn't really concerned, but said she wanted to see him on a similar spot on the chart at his 1 year appointment. He has pretty much stayed around that percentile since then and he's now almost 8. He is well proportioned for his weight and height.

How often does DS eat? At that age, food is really for practice and he should be getting his calories from BM/formula. How many ounces does he take? I'd focus more of getting him to either take BM/formula more often or increase the amount at each feeding.

How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

Hi all.

DD was always around the 20-something percentile thats why the doctor was never concerned.

But since DS went from 53 (month 5) to 27 percentile (month 6.5) the doctor is concerned.

This weekend I looked back at our notes for DD, she was eating 30 oz a day back at 6 months. (and sleeping from 10pm) to 9am
Problem is DS is drinking about 20oz a day MAYBE. (and sleeps for only an hour or so at a time, so he wakes a lot at night)
Doctor said he should be eating 30-34 oz a day.

He eats an oz or two then stops and refuses the bottle.

Bought a bunch of baby food to try and find one that he likes.
So far he has refused Carrots and also refused Yams.

Will ask the nanny to try some other ones tomorrow
Also have been supplementing with Simalac ready to feed formula. Bought some Emfamil liquid...maybe he will like that flavor better.

>>
I'd focus more of getting him to either take BM/formula more often or increase the amount at each feeding.
>>

Im totally for that idea. But not sure what to do to increase either (more often or more at each feeding)

Message edited 8/15/2016 12:10:34 AM.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

What does it make u think mommy is not producing enough milk?

I feel like drs focus too much on the 'the baby must eat this amount of oz a day' and also where the baby is in their graphics. In my experience every kid is different and have different needs, even siblings. Need more or less food, need more or less sleep. I know as parents we tend to always compare one child with the other, but it really makes it more difficult. DS1 had formula, he'd would drink 30+ oz a day and he'd sleep pretty much through the night with the occasional waking. DS2 is a totally different story, he's bfed, I don't pump so there's no way I or the dr would know how many ounces he drinks, what I did and still do (although now he's been weaning his daytime feedings) is feed on demand, and I'd monitor the number of wet diapers he had in a 24 hr period, that's the best indicator on how much he's drinking. My pediatrician was never concerned with ds2 weight, he lost a little bit more than 1 lb after birth and didn't again his birth weight for a while! Also he doesn't weight too much, just what he needs. Talking about weight...do u know what chart ur pediatrician uses? I'd check to make sure he uses a chart for bfeeding babies, I think it's called a WHO(?) chart.

Also at 6 months u really wouldn't be able to feed him as much because he's too young to realize solids satisfy hunger, yes encourage him to eat solids (more for learning purposes really), but just don't expect him to eat much. I'd focus on try to feed him bm on demand and not really follow a schedule.

Oh and don't worry about ur baby not sttn, mine still doesn't at 1 yr old (we wakes up like every 2, or 3 hrs), u'd be surprise how many babies actually do this! And just in case, don't fall on the "ur baby should sttn already!" It's not a very useful nor accurate advise.

Message edited 8/15/2016 9:58:33 AM.

How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

Maybe try different bottles or nipples? I mainly ebf and rarely gave bottles but 20oz doesn't sound like much for a 6 month old.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

Update (and other random info):
DS was born in January.
He was drinking about 5oz at a time in the first few months.
In fact, wifey had to go out of town for a week in May, and DS drank 5-6 oz at a time while she was out of town.

Fast forward to August (6 month visit) - and we were told his weight percentile dropped from 53% to 27%.
I never thought anything was wrong until I called the nanny (I was at the doctor with DS, nanny was home with DD) and asked how much he drank a day.
He was drinking about 10-15 oz during the day. (from 7am to 9pm)
Doctor said that's way too little.
Wife breastfeeds when she gets home from work and when he wakes at night.

Last Thursday he drank 2 oz the WHOLE day.
Friday he drank nothing.

Went in for a weight check and he has now dropped to the 21st percentile.

We've tried 4 different bottles (even though his main bottle is the one he was drinking 5-6oz from in May)
New nipples (he is now using stage 3 - 6+ months)
different formulas (simulac normal/fussy/alimentum, Enfamil normal, gerber)
He doesn't want to drink any of them.
Even breast feeding, he only feeds if he is sleepy otherwise he won't drink.

Any ideas?
Thanks

ps - soontobemommyof2
the reason we thought wifey was not producing enough milk is that...she was only able to pump about 8oz of milk total (pumping at work and at night).
So that was not enough to feed DS (for 12 hours) that's why we had to supplement with formula

Message edited 9/12/2016 5:06:09 PM.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

Thursday he drank 2 oz and Friday nothing? Whoa! Was he producing any wet diapers? I would be really worried about dehydration. Did dr say anything about that?

Is he crying/fussy during the day? Could it be gas and that's what he won't drink? Trying to think of any reasons.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

That sounds pretty scary.
Honestly, I would do weekly weight checks with your ped.
I'd also take some time off work (or have your wife do it) to get a handle on what is happening.
I'd also get a nanny cam... Several of them.
Sorry, I know of a case of a non eating baby where there was something going on with nanny... So that is a biased opinion.
The baby should be hungry, crying for food, thirsty. I know one of my kids would not eat for maybe a day (esp if from a "stranger")... But not days on end to the point of weight loss in percentiles.
What happens during weekends? What is the kid eating? Is your wife breastfeeding the whole time? How much does she supplement?

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)

A few things about breastfeeding.

If your baby is drinking 15 oz during the day of pumped milk, and then nursing multiple times during the night, he potentially IS getting close to 30 oz during a 24 hour period.

If you're supplementing with formula, that is likely why your wife's milk output when pumping is low. However, the amount of pumped milk is not an adequate measure of how much milk baby gets when they nurse, because babies are far more efficient at extracting milk than pumps are.

All that said - it sounds like there is a legitimate weight drop concern, and if your baby went a whole day or two barely having anything, that's also a concern.

6 months is still considered young for solids, for many babies. The majority of calories should 100% be from BM and/or formula. My DS dropped percentiles between birth and 6 months as well, going from 60th at birth to about 10th percentile, even 5th, later on. But he did gain steadily, and now at 3 he's around 25th for weight and hangs out there.

I agree with taking some time at home to see what's really going on, going to the doctor every week for a few weeks for weight checks, and moving forward from there.

Re: How to get DS to eat more? (6 months)