Still so small

[melja]

My little one was taken out of me at 29wks last aug 09 it was an emer c section as placenta was disintergrating fast. ( we were both given two hrs)
DD was 1lb 8ozs kept in for 13 wks came home nov 09 4lb 4ozs.
It was the most stressful and heart renching time of my life and my ex was no surport at all was surposed to carry on as normal as if nothing had happened threw him out in the june 2010
DD Was put onto Infatrini to gain weight and was told that DD would be on it until dd was one.
Still on it DD is nearly 15 months old on seven 100ml bottles a day and three solids now weighs 17lb 8ozs.
Nobody seems to have any answers as to when DD feeding will become normal.
Sorry I am really starting to struggle now DD is up at seven every mourning (after waking up at three in the night) three bottles and a solid falls asleep between 12.30 and 1 for maybe half an hour and hour if I am lucky.Then its another bottle and a solid then another bottle and its mine and my DS (who is 13 also have an 18 yr old in uni) tea time. Then tinker bell has her last meal and another two bottles and bed between nine and half past.
Doing this on my own and trying to run a buisness from home some times it works sometimes it doesn't.
I would like to no if anyone else out there has been through this or is going through it and is there any answers or surport.
please can anyone help

Just wondering if your dd is drinking too much milk? Seems like quite a lot. Does she eat well at mealtimes? Would it be worth cutting down the milk bit and trying more solid food?

They are only 100ml bottles and the dietican wants her to have 8 bottles a day, to get her weight up.She has three solids a day but as any Mum knows your baby will only take as much as they want if they don't want it they will refuse or threw it up.

Can you add her milk to food? I use to add their Nutriprem 2 milk to everything I could to get the calories and food into them. I added it to milk puddings, mashed potato etc. I also added full fat double cream, unsalted butter and olive oil to foods. Gave lots of naughty puddings too. They loved chocolate mousses (with extra double cream stirred in of course!) They are 2 1/2 now and on the 50th centile for weight for actual age so it worked a treat. (they were 2lb 9 and 2lb 11 when born at 28 weeks)

I think the health professionals have to realise that you can't make babies eat, but you can make every mouthful count for lots of calories. I also found adding the fats made the food more appealing too them as it tasted nicer too xx

Hi yes I have tryed to add it to her food but she doesn't like it. still on the packets of powdered food.
Was adding it to her breakfasts which wasn't to bad then she went of it as is teething and it was making her sick, try to add a small ammount without her noitecing, sometimes it works sometimes have to start all over again.
Are yours still on the prem milk or have they come of it?
At the moment it feels as lf I am consantdently being critacised by the H V's and by my ex as she is not developing as fast as they want, but she is developing at her own speed why can't they just accept I am doing everything possible and she is doing well. Instead of putting me under so much pressure.
There is no one that realises how hard I try every day they all seem to forget how small she was and that she is not a normal fifteen month old baby.
I no we are both strong and we are fighters as if we weren't we wouldn't be here.
Sorry going on a bit.

I think you have to develop a really thick skin with the health professionals, a lot of whom know very little about prem development and compare these babies to term babies
Is she on the centile chart or under it? My friends Lo was under it but still followed a line of sorts and gained weight all be it slowly. She's 7 now and absolutely fine!

As I said before you cant make them eat. I must admit I'm surprised by the amount of milk your Dietician is expecting her to drink. It's no wonder she's not hungry for food especially as the high calorie milks are so filling. I think I'd be reducing it and trying to get her appetite up, then add the fats to the foods to make up the calories. Why don't you give the BLISS advise line a ring and see what they say? It might help get things into perspective www.bliss.org.uk/page.asp?section=141&sectionTitle=Helpline

Do you cook for her? I found that way I could tempt them more and add in the extra butter and cream etc. I used the Annabel Carmel book (as I am a useless cook) then made up meals and froze them in pots. That way I wasn't cooking every day and just took out what I needed the night before and defrosted it - really easy!

Mine came of the high cal milk at 12 months corrected. I have to say they ate way more solids once they were off it

Don't worry, you're doing a fantastic job. It's easy for the professionals to say 'get her weight up / get her to eat more' but they aren't the ones trying to get her to eat and as I said before you can't force her

Hang on in there, it will get better xxx

Hi yes she is on the centile chart 23wks-1yr page she is on the 9th line which is brilliant slow and steady increase.
She is eating three reasonable size meals but like I said its the powdered she doesn't like any lumps as it makes her sick.
Got to go and see the dietican at the end of the month so will see what happens there.
It is really difficult to know wether you are doing the right thing or not. you just seem to be going round in circles all the time.Its just constant bottles all day and no let up.
On the upside getting her dressed this mourning and tickleing her tummy mouth wide open laughing spotted that she has cut her two top teeth Yeah so proud of her (thats a month after her first bottom tooth came through.)
Thanks for the surport xxx

Hi

If she's on the 9th centile and roughly sticking to her line then I would totally relax. It sounds to me like she's doing fine! I was lucky that my Health Visitor was an ex children's nurse with neonatal experience. She use to rant on about how a lot of HV don't understand the centile charts and think babies below the 25th centile are underweight. That's just not true. Those charts were devised by looking at a large group of bottle fed children and recording their weights and heights etc from birth to 5 years. Some were large(on the 95th centile), some average (on the 50th) and some, like ours, smaller (on the 9th etc). As long as they roughly hold their line and don't drop a whole 2 centiles no one should be concerned. The fact that she's prem and even on the centile line is an amazing achievement as most don't even manage to get on to the charts!
As for the lumps, both mine had reflux and vomited with lumpy food, but you have to keep at it as learning to chew also helps speech development. I gave lots of finger foods which seemed better as they had control of it and just kept going. It does get better as they get use to it - honest. I started off mashing, then slowly mashing less and then cutting the food into small lumps.I also invested in some big plastic bibs with pockets at the front form Boots!!!

xx

Just to add, mine always went on their Weightwatchers diet when they were teething! Anbesol liquid is great for sore gums if she's struggling xx

Sorry, one last thing. It took till the age of 2 (corrected) for my 2 to catch up with their peers. All their developmental checks before age 2 showed slight problems, but no one worried as they felt they would get there in their own time. By 2 they were hitting all their milestones and in some areas doing more! It's still very early days for your little one xx

Hi there,

Sounds like your DD is doing fine. It's interesting how different doctors do things differently! My DS is a 27 weeker and weighed 1lb 4oz. He's also 15 months now but only weighs about 15lb and is under all the centiles. Noone is concerned, we have not been referred to a dietician and he has never had high calorie milk, in fact he only has one bottle a day now and two BFs.

I add cheese, cream and butter to everything. He will usually eat custard if nothing else! He also loves crackers (Carr's melts mostly) and chocolate fingers.

I would say that it's worth asking about dropping some of the milk feeds. Let us know how it goes.