To ignore the Dr and to keep feeding DS like I am?

[startrek90]

I have just got back from DS weighing in. He is 6 months old and according to the Dr is underwieght and needs more food.

I feed on demand atm. I thought my baby was getting enough. Some days he eats more and some days he eats less. On average his feeds go like this;

6am: 230ml milk
8am: 230ml milk and baby porridge
12 noon: Jar of baby food and 150ml milk
2:30pm: half jar baby food and 150ml milk
5pm: fruit pot and 150 ml milk
8pm: 230ml milk

he eats during the night if he wants and i give him more or less if he wants.

The dr said to force him to eat more and give him more solids but DS won't have it. Aside from the first and last feed I offer food everytime before I offer milk.

AIBU in ignoring the dr and continuing. I feel a bit crap now tbh.... I thought I was managing for once and now I feel rubbish....

Research the difference between gagging and choking, chewing and swallowing food rather than milk is a skill to be learned and some gagging is to be expected.

Milk should still be the primary food at 6mo, as this is more calorific than veg etc.

Dd eats loads of full fat Greek yoghurt and cheese for fat and nutrition.

Aside from the weight issue, foods dd loved at this age were roast sweet potato wedges, carrots and broccoli, and banana.

If you've already started with purée you might find LO struggles a bit with finger food as purée essentially teaches swallowing before chewing, so a puree baby will need to discover the requirement of chewing before swallowing for foods that aren't smooth.

*parents, not patients!

Ffs there are some sanctimonious arsehole out on this thread today.

op if you want to use jars then carry on, they are not poison and they won't harm your baby in any way.

Definitely try him on different food. How you feel if you lived off, say, tinned soup. A couple of times a day, everyday. Ok so there are different flavours but it's all pretty much the same, very little texture variation and not particularly healthy. Take on board the advice given here. Try toast, yoghurts, chop up fruit like strawberries and grapes, cooked meat and chicken, some veg etc all cut to finger food size.

I'm just slightly shaking my head at the "jars are what demon parents feed their children" mafia and people insisting on feeding pasta to a 6 months old. But I guess it's because I'm from another country in Europe, I have always been a bit horrified surprised at what's the norm when it comes to feeding babies/children in the UK I'm ready to be destroyed on this thread and probably deserve it

To answer your question, I guess you have to see if he dropped percentile. But it wouldn't hurt to offer a bit more puree (jar or homemade) at lunch and Dinner. Your baby will show you if he has enough

No one's said it's what demons feed bunny

but surely you can see the logic of suggesting offering higher calorie proper food vs addding oil to a jar.

At six months and babies main source of food and nutrition should be from milk so as a starting point I would be offering more milk and offering milk before food every time.

Force feeding is a recipe for disaster, it could cause psychological problems for the baby, perhaps a fear of eating if they are forced when they really don't want it.

In my honest opinion baby porridge and jarred baby food are a bit rubbish compared to proper home-cooked meals.

I understand not everybody has the time to be able to make fresh meals every day however if this is an option for some meals it may help get your babies weight up if it is a real concern. Also things like full fat cheese and yoghurt would help increasing weight.

I wouldn't ignore a doctors advice but you could maybe get a second opinion from another doctor or a health visitor if you really don't feel it is a concern.

Just had a look at a bottle of Aptamil I have stashed in cupboard and it says at 6 months baby should have aprox 5x 210ml per day [+ I assume food]

Your baby is having more than this and food, I don't see the issue really but I'd stop with the jarred stuff and puree your own food.

My dd2 was premature and I was told, note told, to wean at 6 months and no later. It was a nightmare as she pushed most food out of her mouth and she couldn't put anything in her mouth herself.

Most posters are ignoring that the op's baby is premature which may be the problem here. Did the dr take account of this when weighing? If the weight wasn't corrected then the baby may not be underweight at all.

You are not a bad mum.

Formula is Fine. Jars are Fine. It would be good to add some home cooked stuff into the mix but you aren't hurting him - it is just a bit dull and bland to have jars every time (not to mention expensive )

Adding oil to jars sounds yuck though. Do babies really accept that? Mine have always had quite strong opinions on taste but I might be a minority.

I don't think I would ignore the doctor either. Definitely do not force though, just up the number of feeding opportunities in the day. I personally think jars are not great because they are highly processed but my sister only gave her 2 jars for ages and said she rarely saw anyone give anything else where she lived (US). Also milk is more calorific than solids so keep the number of milk feeds as high as he will tolerate without forcing.

Blw is handy for finger foods. I also blitzed our food using a really cheap hand blender because it was easier to manage when out and about or with childminders.

Finger foods can be anything a chicken leg, a chop, bread, bread sticks, all kinds of veg raw or cooked although se like carrots should be cooked. We avoided sausages as a choking hazard, anything salty, and popcorn as far as I can remember but almost everything else we are ourselves was fair game.

Startek90 I formula fed and jar fed my first, like you it was what I thought you did because its all I'd seen others do so please don't beat yourself up about it.

Over time though I did start to replace jars with real food, just mashing or hand blending anything that we ate. Things like cauliflour cheese, soups, fish pie and pasta with tomato or cheese sauces went down well and just increase the lumps as you go on until you get to normal foods.

At first it does seem scary when they gag but as others have said its a learning curve, gagging is accompanied by sounds and choking is silent.

I went onto 'baby led weaning'(or lazy bugger finger feeding as I call it) my second and its been amazing for us :o

I did baby led weaning from 6 months....tbh the first few months were not so much about actual eating but exploring tastes and textures but she did eat a bit as well. I think it really is good for them to be able to have a range of different food types but definitely don't try to force anything

baby led weaning

And please don't be hard on yourself, you are clearly wanting to do the best for your baby and that's the most important part.

There is nothing wrong with formula. Jars do not have anything 'wrong' with them either but they just might be a little dull when there is a whole range of things to try. You can also just start by giving a little of what you are having. Your baby may be interested in eating more if it is different stuff?

What length is your DS? Looking at the charts he appears either to be on the 2nd or 9th centime? Does this match his length? Is he gaining weight appropriately and sticking to his centile or dropping off slowly?

If you still want too feed the baby jars can you not move him up to the stage 2 ones? They have a bit more texture, I used jars nothing wrong with them I didn't feed them to the baby every meal. Ready brek for breakfast, a small sandwich with full fat cream cheese for lunch, some banana, a jar for dinner followed by a yogurt. He should still be drinking plenty of formula though. Sounds like your doing a great job you can't force a baby to eat what they don't eat what they don't want though.

Those of you wondering where 'force feeding' has come from clearly didn't read the OP.

Don't feel guilty about using formula, there's no point as it will only make you feel bad. Why would you want to feel bad when there's nothing wrong with using formula?

If I were you I would quit with the jars. Just offer him some of what you are having. Of course he can manage pasta, even if he has no teeth then gums are pretty hard.
Have a look online for babyledweaning.com you'll find a alot of support and reassurance there.
He will be getting everything he needs from milk right now anyway, bf or ff it doesn't matter.

And people have offered an alternative which eliminates forces the baby but listens to the Dr with regard to his weight and can achieve this in a healthy way.

no one else has said to force the baby to eat. You can't.

All the rest of us have said to feed other foods that will help I stead of unnecessarily adding stuff to something that adds no further nutrition to the meal.

Hi
I,ve just charted him on our growth charts, (WHO charts for boys 0 to 4 years) taking into account his prematurity and correcting for gestational age.
He was on the 50th centile at birth and is now on the 25th centile. Its not at all uncommon for children to bobble between two centiles for the first year. He is not underweight he is perfectly healthy. You would only be concerned if he fell to the next centile. If you want you can reweigh him in a few months time. (its not recommended to weigh more frequently unless there are issues, as children often move between centiles before 1 year old). But if youre happy with him and his development then you can just wait and see, otherwise I would just take some of the advice here regarding feeding finger foods and baby led weaning.

Not read the whole thread, but be careful with jarred food. Low in nutrients, taste, quite sweet and a homogenous texture that I am sure makes it harder to introduce home made food to babies/toddlers as the texture is so different. AK is great! It is so easy to make baby food, but I would get a blender as its hard to mash everything. I think stick blenders are under £10.

Sweet lord people. don't slag off the shite that is jarred food. ended badly last time......

That sounds like a lot of solids for a six month old baby.

Did you replace milk feeds with solids?

A baby this age should be getting most calories from milk and beginning to taste/ learn to chew other foods.

If he is underweight perhaps its from filling up on fruit puree.

My dr told me dc1 was underweight at 5 months and like you - I was quite upset.

Anyway no advice other than advice I got from a Chinese mate - she said to boil white rice down to a pulp and add abit of butter. That seemed to bulk up my baby - but mostly I upped his calories by adding cheese, butter, full fat milk to all his meals. He's fine now at 3.

DO NOT ADD OIL TO JARS OF FOOD!!! Whilst healthy fat is good, excess amounts of oil, especially olive oil, will give him the runs! You could add a little bit of mashed avocado or grated cheese to the jars to make it more nutritionally dense or add some baby rice to the fruit puree.