can someone tell me if DS is getting enough?

[Babettescat]

So my DS who's skate crawled along in the space between 9-25 centile hasn't gained any weight and lost an ounce in the past fortnight. He's 6.5 months old and has been on solid from 5.5 months. He has never been a hungry baby and has never really shown an appetite for milk or food. Here is a sample day for him -

6-7 am : morning BF at some point here

8 am: Plain full fat Greek yoghurt (3 tbsps) with a bit of homemade fruit purée - I usually make plums and strawberries or pears and apples. Water in a cup

11-12 am: 6 oz formula offered which he abjectly rejects and we may get him to take 4 oz. I am back to work so BF is now morning and night.

1:30 pm: Lunch is whatever we had the night before which he has whizzed up. For example half a piece of small chicken thigh with some rice and veg - makes 3/4 tbsps. Water in a cup.

3-4 pm: repeat performance with 6 oz formula as at 11 am. Treats its as a nectar for 2 oz and then bats it away and pulls faces

6:15 pm: dinner - whatever we've got like salmon with some avocado - usually over tired and doesn't take much

7 pm: BF and bed

10:30: 6 oz formula offered as a dream feed - rejected - has 3 maybe.

Dd barely drinks milk here too. I make her 6 Oz but spi can't remember the last time she drank that much. If i force get she then vomits her entire stomach contents so we're in a worse position than before!

I give lots of dairy with solids and make sure things like veg have butter on them etc for extra calories.

Is he having vitamins?

It's nOT rare for them to lose weight as they get more active.

He has the Wellbaby vitamins. I wouldn't ever force him to take anything though (!) we let him "lead" his intake.

Quite worried really :(

Have you tried giving him his dinner earlier to see if he takes more? Our DD has dinner at 4:30/5:00 as she is usually tired by 6:00.

Try mixing formula/milk into some of his food to get the calories into him that way -e.g porridge for breakfast made with his milk rather than yoghurt, stirred into mash etc.

Yeah when he has porridge we make it with milk. Dinner earlier is an idea his cm will have to do that then as we aren't back then

Agree trying dinner with childminder is a good idea. My ds was never very interested in formula once we started food. I would try little and often and a mit of foods so perhaps increase dairy (cheese and buttery potato) always went down well and eggs were great for weaning. Mashed banana on toast was always a surprise hit (and great for baby led weaning!) I agree not to force but if your worried just offer every few hours mixture of milk and food

He can't deal with eggs just spits out scrambled or omelette - he's also had a cold and a stuffed nose for the last ten days so maybe it's that as well?

I say force loosely. I don't pin her down...

I'd say he needs more calories. Ideally through milk but if not possible then full fat yoghurt, porridge made with formula or full fat milk. Toast with peanut butter (as long as they can sit unaided). Pasta based meals, mash potatoes made with cream or full fat milk.

But he won't eat. He doesn't like anything really. Even when he was pre-solids and breastfed on demand there was never demand of any major kind. Formula is refused. The following items have been refused over the past week -

Mashed potato made worth cheese and butter
Cheese
Poached and puréed salmon
Poached and non puréed salmon or chicken
Roasted veg whole
Roasted veg solids

Fruit purée in plain full fat yoghurt is accepted once a day.

It's all very fine reading My Child Won't Eat and letting them be but it's strange when you are back at work and neither bottles nor a variety of cups nor delectable home cooked delicacies nor any pouches are tasty enough beyond q couple of mouthfuls.

I sincerely hope it is his cold. But then o remember Reid active happy developmentally perfect baby never did even cluster feed . It's just like that. Eating and drinking are irrelevant t

But he is only 6mo. He shouldn't be needing loads to eat yet and he should be being offered lots to taste. You can't really say he doesn't like things this early.

Your problem is he isn't having enough milk. My 6.5mo is still feeding as much as he ever was ans because he is small that is every 2 hours.

When did you go back to work? How long has he been having formula? Has he always hated it?

Hi - yes indeed it would all be resolved if he had more milk. But the thing is that he has never had more milk. He sleeps 13 hour nights and awakes and coos contently till I offer him boob in the morning - I have never had him demand more than I could handle - never had those hours on end of cluster feeding. He has simply been a baby that has been undemanding whether on milk or solids.

Babies often plateau when weaning I'm told by the NHS, and not gaining or losing for ten days - especially in the first month of weaning and especially with a cold isn't that abnormal the HV said (he can't breathe through nose and so doesn't want to occupy mouth much).

So it's partly him partly the cold partly a phase it seems. So, we ride it out.

Do you think he'd prefer expressed milk in a bottle?

Colds, bugs, and teething all reduce my DD's appetite and if I need to get extra calories in, the only way is through milk.

Yoghurt is good with a bit of puree but remember that vegetables don't contain much in the way of calories. In fairness though, at 6.5 months many babies are still at the stage of eating a token mouthful or two so I don't think you need to worry about the solids as it sounds like he is doing well there. I am not sure of the amount of milk when combine feeding but FF babies need more than what your son is having. Are you able to speak to your health visitor at all for some advice?

I truly cannot go back to expressing milk. I've come down to morning and evening BFs and never expressed beyond the first months and I just can't. I take the point about more milk and will try to get more formula into him. But if a child won't take it he don't take it.

The health visitor has a valid point. He's cruising along his centile space and has never shown an aberration. What's the worry then as she asks? He's moving along his line as they expect.

Sounds like your health visitor isn't worried so try not to worry yourself. As you have said you can't do more than offer food/milk. Hope that if he's hungry or needs it he will take it. I used to battle with ds to get formula in him and it just made us both frustrated! Am hoping I will be more relaxed with dc2!