High calorie baby food for 7 months +

[familygirl]

What foods are best in order to boost my ds's calorie intake?

avocado, add unsalted butterto cooked food.Have you been told to increase the calorie intake by a doctor?

more milk

do you have any more details familygirl?

DS born 7lb12 Lost quite a bit first week or so and weight gain slow so ended up just above 0.4th centile. Now tailed off to just below. He has 1 bottle of formula (introduced as an'extra' feed because he'd take it but not breast (just pulled off or fell asleep), 3 breast feeds and 3 meals (3-5 ice cubes each meal) a day. He is very active. Tried offering extra breast feeds but he won't take them. Am now wondering if I should try swapping to formula but wondering if high calorie food would be better, trying to boost calories without changing quantity which he doesn't seem able to take (just sicks up any extra!)

The OP has been considering changing to formula to up the calorie intake as baby is slowly going down the centiles, so I advised maybe changing the meals to higher calorie meals, I think that's why she has posted.

familygirl, have you thought about BLW rather than purees?

breast milk is a tiny bit more calorific than formula, no?
seems a bit early for 3 meals a day, an extra milk feed or two might be better than one of those meals.? he might be destined to be a little baby ... someone has to be on the lower end of the chart.. is he well, happy, content, weeing , pooing etc...

4 milk feeds is not a lot for a 7 month old? milk is more filling and more calorific than a little bit of food at this point

Crikey, yes, I didn't realise baby wasn;t having many feeds milkwise. Might help us help you if you can answer the questions I asked to your first post

Original post was here

Sorry...here goes:
He's not losing weight, just gaining very slowly. He is healthy in every other way as far as I know. He is very active, wriggling, rolling every waking hour. I think I do want to carry on breastfeeding, if it is the best thing for him-it's easy to say one way or the other depending on conflicting advice.
I have tried offering him breast more often, but he won't take it-at most will latch on for a couple of seconds.
I didn't realise breast milk had more calories, but either way am not sure I could get him to take any more breastfeeds-can only keep trying.
In addition, he seems to bring up a fair bit of whatever he's given (milk or food) being so active, which is really frustrating coz ideally he could do with absorbing as much as possible!!!

He sounds like a happy healthy little boy, if is very active he is obviously burning more calories than some babies. I binned the centile charts with my second,unless there is a real problem they can create worry unnecesarily iyswim.

mm dd was prem, but she had the same issues, she gained weight v v slowly and sicked up 1/2 of every meal for months and months. As long as they are gaining weight and not 'failing to thrive' I wouldn't worry much,

I'm guessing failure to thrive is based on more than just weight gain (or lack of)?

Yes failure to thrive is mroe than just weight gain, and if he is still gaining weight rather than losing it, all be it slowly I would say he is getting enough calories, just be nicer to get a bit more milk into him if you could.

So (sorry to seem daft or risk repeating myself) more milk if poss, perhaps by reducing food intake?
Now, I thought 4 feeds was plenty for 7 month old-what would you say a good amount of milk feeds & food for balance at 7/8 months and what would you base that on? My others were on formula by now and so were on 3 or 4 bottles a day. I know b/f is different but I'm still learning! And do I try to pack his food with calories as well?

Do you always offer the breast before solids??

I'd try that, and only offering him solids once you know he is satisfied with the milk.
I'd also change to BLW, that way he can get to taste things still, which is all they really need to do at his age, and will probably enjoy it more if he can play with his food (just mind the mess ).

If you want to ncrease his calorie intake when feeding him food as well I think there was something on the BLW website I linked earlier, if you can;t find it then I'll try grabbing Aitch when I see her and sending her this way (it's her blog).
HTH

I've been offering breast first, except for at lunch time. Will change that around tomorrow then. Thanks.

Hi I am new to posting a message and am looking for similar advice - but my lo has entirely stopped taking all of her bottle feeds. I am very worried.

I weaned her slightly early as she was never very keen on milk - at 5.5 months. She is now almost 7 months. She is very small for her age but had previously followed her centile.

She developed a fever a week and a half ago which she seemed to recover from this but then around 6 days ago started to faff with her milk feeds and then 4 days ago stopped taking her bottle feeds altogether. She was clearly not very well and was up in the night not sleeping properly and crying much more than she does normally. We were up around 10 times per night.

Since then she has been eating but not taking any milk at all. She was taking aprox 20oz over 5 feeds, one of which was a dream feed. All of these have stopped. I took her to the doctor this morning who said she had a virus and to get more fluid in. I thought if I didn't feed her purees then she would take more milk but it hasn't worked at all. She has gone to bed now asleep having not had more than 5oz today and not had any food.

I have also tried giving teething gel/ and or calpol before her feeding but it doesn't help. When presented with the bottle she arches her back and crys or when the going is good puts it in her mouth. Then spits it out and puts her thumb back in.

Please does anyone have any advice. I am just at a loss as to what to do and very worried as to how to get her to take milk again.

thank you

CL4DB, I've started a new thread for you as you and familygirl dont need the same advice, but both have important queries in your own right.
If you go here it's the thread I started with your question on it. I hope someone can help you.

Familygirl, let us know how you get on tomorrow, keep posting and we can keep helping.

bump

Going ok today, but he has awful cold so not sleeping well...Tried not giving him breakfast solids so he ate early lunch and hopefully will take a good bf after his nap. Just wondering, lulumama or anyone, I'm am puzzling how I would get more feeds into a day than 4 without waking him in the night? Or is that what you meant? We used to give him a bottle before we went to bed (just fell asleep on breast) but stopped once on solids, seemed to put him off morning milk which seemed a bit senseless then doing it.

are you offering milk before food?

at this age, and if is poorly especially, then the fluid is more important than food.

what time is his last feed of the day?

i would think at 7 months a milk feed before bed is a good idea...

just offering as much breast as he wants is a good idea..he does not need 3 meals a day at this early stage in weaning and milk is more calorific than food due to the amount of milk he can take ...

does he ever wake in the night?

i am not sure if waking in hte night is necessary.....sorry.. both of mine slept through early on, but had lots of milk in the day..

He usually wakes around 7.30 and has bf. I had started giving him breakfast but am now trying without. Then lunch at 11ish. Feed after nap usually around 2.30 before school run, but sometimes after. If he'll take it, bf at about 4.30 then tea around 5. Bottle before bed-usually around 6.15 and bed by 7. I was bf after lunch but am now going to offer it before. Doesn't help that the cold seems to be putting him off feeds even more! But he's a happy chappy normally so I'm sure he'll be fine.

i imagine once his cold has gone, he will up his milk intake

have you given anything to clear his nose, taht will make sucking easier> saline nose drops are great for this

Haven't yet-it only seems to bother him when he's in bed but is just bit less hungry perhaps. That said he's been less sicky (as in baby sick not tummmy bug) today which is good. He loves food but I'm just trying to get the right balance so he doesn't cut out too much milk, especially if a you say it is more calorific atm.