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....

"Micro-preemie"

"Food until one is just for fun."

I didn't feed my DC proper set meals until they turned one. Up until then I did 'baby led weaning' and just offered them bits of fruit, vegetables, occasional wholewheat bread, peanut butter, hummus, falafels etc and if they wanted it, they ate it but mostly they just wanted milk... And they've all always been 90+ centile so very definitely NOT underweight.

Jarred food isn't the greatest as has been pointed out, it's also pretty expensive for what it is... Offer high good fats like avocado, hummus, eggs etc and a lot of refined carbs- fruits and vegetables, definitely a banana a day!

You say you and your DH are small though and he was a preemie so could just naturally be smaller than other babies his age. Definitely continue offering as much milk as he wants and switch to 'real' food, see what happens.

Hi, my reading of the WHO charts here is that your son was on the 0.2 centile at birth and is now between the 2nd and 9th so if anything he is going up the charts.

Both of mine were like this and made a step change at 1 year old. They are now very tall, slim children. I wouldn't ignore your doctor but I wouldn't worry either. My elderly mother says they were told that babies should double their birth weight by 6 months and triple it by a year and your son has done that.

If he looks happy and is alert then carry on as you are. Be kind to yourself, you are doing a good job.

Hi OP!

Just a quick word of support from a mother of another premature baby (born at 29 weeks). We found the early stages of weaning quite stressful, as I felt like I spent all day/night feeding her milk or food, only for her to put on fairly small amounts of weight (and one month she put on none!). If we tried finger foods or anything too lumpy, she'd gag and wouldn't eat any more. It was like that for a few months, with her ability to eat lumps and finger foods getting progressively better. Now that she's able to eat normal family foods, her interest in food had massively picked up and her weight gain has as well. A lot of prems are difficult to wean because their nutritional requirements are higher than average and their feeding skills considerably lower at any given age.

DD actually preferred baby pouches, but put on less weight when she had more of them, so I tried to give her home-cooked whenever possible. I added small amounts of oil/butter to any pouches once I realised that, as they are just lower in fat and less calorific than home-cooked purees. Different countries have different cultural expectations with regards to infant feeding. Don't stress about the jar thing.

Happy Seven - no, that isn't really correct. Growth of premature babies is assessed using their corrected age. The OP's DS's corrected age is 5 months. Using the WHO and prem charts, he was born at around the 50th centile and is now around the 20th.

Not all jars are created equal. Like any foods, there us a huge range. Some are crappy water filled and full of thickeners, some are organic vegs etc with no added stuff.

Really bad advice from some to ignore the dr....a medical professional who has actually seen the child, unlike anyone here. My dr was the first one to point out my son was underweight, if I'd ignored him, he would have died. Be careful handing out strong advice online, this is a real baby, not an abstract concept.

My middle child refused pretty much all food other than chunks of french bread (we live in France), breadsticks and teeny amounts of yogurt and fruit puree until well past a year old. On the advice of the doctor, I used to make a concoction of steamed vegetable soup into which I had to mix her usual baby milk. It looked vile to me but DD loved it so this is what she had every evening meal (with various vegetables, pulses, grains) until about 15 months when she finally showed some interest in "real food!"

There was no way I could have forced her to eat more or different food until she was ready.

She was underweight but the pediatrician (it's usual for French babies to see a pediatrician rather than a GP,) was reassuring and never worried as she was bright, healthy and meeting milestones. She's now 13 and eats me out of house and home

Op ditch the Jars and make batches of normal home cooked meals like cottage pie, lasagna, curry, spag bol, risotto.

Then add cheese (creamed or grated cheddar) drizzle meals with some olive oil.

Roast veggies in olive oil.

For snacks hummous is good with crackers or veg sticks.

Offer small puddings like yoghurt, fruit, custard, rice pudding or semolina.

If you like the baby food texture just blitz in a food processor but this isn't necessary.

Good luck

The variation in babies is such a. Massive spectrum, at 6 months he should only be sampling food - main nutrition can still be from milk. Perhaps you've been concentrating a lot of effort on getting food down him and let the milk bit go?

My DS1 was and is very much keen on being in control. (Although he wasn't underweight) he wouldn't eat solids until ten months when he became able to pick up a spoon or finger food himself. No baby bird opening mouth for spoon from him. It was only when I told other mums that i realised I wasn't the only one.

If baby is happy you should be using food to experiment and tempt - not shovelling it in. In a few weeks a bit of texture in mashed potato etc will be fine. Adding oil to food? Sounds barmy to me

I stand corrected, BedAfterDark. I'd read the bit that said:

"0-4 years

This chart should be uesd for preschool infants and toddlers requiring plotting of growth data in primary or secondary care up to age four. It is also suitable for moderately preterm infants (32-36 weeks gestation)."

and therefore assumed it was ok to use the non-corrected chart. Reading on I can see that both can be used although they give very different results.

I still think the OP shouldn't worry too much if her baby looks well and is alert. He is gaining weight and we are all different.

I wouldn't bother taking him to be weighed if you are happy with his weight gain and feel he is healthy. It's only worth going if you are concerned about his weight and will act on advice given otherwise it seems a waste of everyone's time.

Your baby is eating more than my two ate at that age. Granted, they were BFed, so I don' t know how much milk they consumed, but when it comes to solids it wasn't before 8 months that it really took off.

i have to take him to theseand he is doing appointments as its the law here and if I don't i will reported to social services. DS is really healthy and is doing almost everything he should (apart from trying to crawl or get in the positon too....he likes rolling literally everywhere. Can't talk your eyes off him for a second bless him) I adore DS and would hate to do anything that would harm him or hold him back. I am new to this so have no clue. My language skills are not great so I struggle to get support here so I mostly wing it.

Could you tell us where you are?

Is there anyone who could interpret for you?

Yeah to plot a prem on the WHO chart you chart birthweight in the small box bottom left which you can plot by gestational age (35 weeks gives 50th centile)
then you chart their current weight on the main chart but plot it at corrected age which is 6 months (26 weeks) minus 5 Weeks, so you plot at 21 weeks. this is around 25th centile. Her son is also 64cm which is 25th centile too. so he is in proportion for his weight and length.

I,m wondering whether the Dr failed to correct for his prematurity so he was showing as just above the 2nd centile which is the very lower end of the normal range, its a common mistake if you are not used to using these charts

Crab and anyone else coming on here to mention jars and "just blitzing" please read the whole thread before posting.

Yes meddie it's quite possible the dr didn't correct for prematurity. That happened with us (it was a HV too!)

Op you sound like you're doing just fine to me. I remember what it was like with my first, worrying so much about gaining weight and what he was eating. Really though, as long as they are happy and alert, producing plenty of wet/soiled nappies and going through the milestones that's all good. My preemie never crawled, never attempted to get in the position to either until well after he started walking. Some babies don't. He got about by rolling and bum shuffling so don't worry if Yours doesn't either. That's normal too.

Come of jars and give the boys some chicken and rice

At 6 months my youngest son had never had solid food, exclusively breastfed and he is a strapping 6'3" picture of health. I don't think they need lots of solids at six months, probably more than my son who was BF till 3 and would have happily lived without solids till that age.

99 have you read the whole thread?

Startrek, I think you should post again in Weaning or Infant feeding so you avoid all the posters who haven't read the thread.

Startrek agree with culture. Consider asking MNHQ to take this thread down. Due to the posters who obviously can't be bothered to read the thread before posting.

Another good section to consider posting in is premature birth