7 month old not eating/drinking much and dropped two centiles. HV said to feed him up - any ideas?

[2point4kids]

Just had my 7 month old weighed today for the first time in 3 months, he has not put on much weight and has dropped 2 lines on the chart.
I had noticed that he wasnt looking as chunky and he has been much less interested in his food than he used to be so am not too surprised.

When I weaned him (5.5 months) he loved his food and wolfed down everything. Since then a few weeks ago he has been suffereing with asthma quite badly. He went through a week where the coughing and wheezing made him sick and since then really he's been right off all solid food.
I've been offering him 3 meals a day as usual and just feeding him milk on demand in between. He usually has a bottle in the morning and then not much more than one more bottle through the day and half the time wont even have a bottle before bed.

HV said to try and feed him up with high calorie stuff in the next month and then take him back to be re-weighed.
She suggested that if he doesnt eat his dinner that I should give him a formage frais or a stick of cheese instead of milk as it has more calcium and calories. She emphasised that I should be concentrating on solids rather than milk.

Any other tips or ideas to encourage him to eat more or other ideas of good things to offer him with lots of calories?

I would see the GP re food allergies. No harm in getting him tested, and it could be that he's avoiding eating something has upset him before.

xx

As long as he is still actually gaining weight and healthy, I would ignore your HV completely! They don't have to stay in the same place in the league tbles for ever! At 7 months he is probaby sitting and being much 'busier'. Some babies use up much more energy than others fidgeting and so on.

If you want to give him more high calorie food, avocado is good.

My DS lost loads of weight/had v slow weight gain, despite being v large whern born due to severe hidden reflux.

To feed him up I was advised by TikTok, a LLL counsellor and a nutrionist to boost the calrie content of meals and to introduce more milk feeds. I used to give him porridge with double cream or weetabix with cream. I added cream/cream cheese/butter to all savoury foods. Used easy first weaning foods that were high in calories like banana and avocado. Gave him stewed fruit with custard/fromage frais/yoghurts or rice pudding for desserts, and buttered toast etc for snacks.

Good Luck.

Some good ideas there. I wouldnt have thought of using cream instead of milk.
I'll get some cream and avocados and bananas tonight at the shops.

If it doesnt get much better after a few days on his new inhalers I will go back to Gp and also as about allergy testing too.

Thanks

My DS2 had health problems as a baby including asthma related illnesses. When they are breathless it does get really difficult to suck a bottle teat can you try a cup instead.

We also had to use a high calorie diet, lots of olive oil, cream, proper butter etc. (what womblingalong has said).

Good luck.

He didnt want any dinner, so I tried a bit of mashed banana instead.
He coughed and sicked up all his last milk feed, so that was no good!!

Hopefully will get another bottle into him tonight before bed and he will have a bit more of an appetite tomorrow!

2point4kids How is he today?

Thanks for asking!

He seems a little better I think. He slept a 5 hour stretch last night without waking which I think helped him feel better.
He's still very wheezy and coughing lots but a bit happier in himself.

He's not eaten any breakfast today but he has had a bottle and a half of milk and a few spoonfuls of cauli cheese for lunch so looking good so far!

That sounds better, glad for both of you he got some decent sleep.

I used to find when DS was very wheezy that sometimes if he had been sick and it was kind of snotty (grim I know) iyswim, that his chest would be a little clearer afterwards.

Hope he continues to get better.

How much air does he have? coughing and being short of breath makes eating very tiring. and he may cough up some stomach acid with his food which will hurt.

not sure hv is barking up the right tree. you seeing a paed?

Madmouse, I've spoken to a couple of friends and now I think I agree with you.
I am going to concentrate on getting his breathing under control first and then when thats improved I will only then worry about getting him to eat more.
I'm pretty sure he's struggling with the wheezing too much to eat well.

He doesnt have a paed, but he's only recently diagnosed. If no improvement by the end of the week then I will take him back t the GP and ask for further help then.

I agree actually, we ended up under a paed and a dietician. DS needed steroids and high calorie milk alongside a high calorie diet.

It gets into a vicious circle of being so breathless they are unable to eat, but also actually having to work at breathing uses up energy, so therefore he is using up more calories than he is taking in just by pure effort of breathing.

It's also heading into the time of year that is not good for asthmatics/ bronchie babies.

Good luck.