BLW 13 mo old, underweight now on infitrini, was great eater but now refuses all foods!

[oregonianabroad]

Suspect he might be teething, but his appetite has been decreasing ever since he was put on infitrini (basically milk for starving babies, god I feel shit). He has always been small, but he dropped off the centiles before Christmas and has not really caught up. Can't see the point of the extra calories in the milk if it is messing up his food intake, and he really was a great eater before, whereas now he will only eat a small selection of sweet foods (grapes, yogs) and cheese, only in very small amounts.

Advice? Comments? Experiences??

och you poor thing, you must be worried. i suppose the thing is that at least you can be sure what he's consuming is packed full of calories if he's on the milk.
what exactly are the docs saying?

We've been referred to a pediatrician next week to invesitgate his 'failure to thrive'.

I am so annoyed, because he is thriving, or he certainly was till the milk thing!

Seem to recall ds1 went through a similar phase, although he was never really underweight (but he was born at 42 weeks weighing 8.4 lbs, whereas ds2 was born at 35 weeks, at 5.9lbs!).

DOn't know whether to stand firm and only present foods that the rest of the family is eating, supplimented with the high cal milk, or cave in and give him the healthy sweet things I know he will eat (although this list is getting shorter by the day)?

so it's a centiles thing, you're not worried apart from that? that's a relief at any rate.
tbh my pal's wee boy fell through the centiles and he wouldn't eat (was bf) and the paeds took it really really seriously, they wanted to check he didn't have absorption problems etc. he was fine, but it's as well that he was checked.
do you think there's any terrible harm in doing what they want until the appointment?

Well, I wouldn't say I'm not worried.

I wasn't until recently. But he doesn't seem very well now at all. Can't say if this is a loss of appetite from teething or a cold; and what's more, he has been poorly off and on since Christmas -- normal, I know, since he started nursery at the same time. But this week he has been particularly niggly and really off his food.

I bf'ed till he turned 1, really wish now I hadn't stopped -- I thought everything was going so well.

I don't mind waiting till the appt, but just wonder what to do in the meantime -- the extra milk is supposed to be supplimenting his calorific intake, rather than replacing it, right?

dunno, all bets might be off i think if his weight's not great. is that what the doc said to you?
certainly until 1 the gist is that the solids supplement the milk rather than the other way round, and tbh 13 months isn't so much over 12.
sorry i don't have any actual experience to bring to bear here.

PS, can I just also say thanks for taking your time to talk me through this!!

And I have just been reading some of my posts and realise some might sound contradictory. I stopped bfing because he had lost interest and it had been 4 weeks or so since he had been weighed (HV recommeded we give it some time, so we didn't get obsessed), and I was convinced he would have been gaining tons of weight with the amount he was eating and the 200mls of extra milk. He seemed to have lost interest in bfing at the same time, and I stopped at 14 months with ds1, so it just seemed more or less the right time.

But then, when he was weighed, he had only gained less than a pound!

Hey, don't be so modest!

ah you see i am Especially Useless when it comes to weight because i had such a nightmare bfing dd in the beginning i stopped getting her weighed. [head in sand emoticon]
does he like the infiniti? is he guzzling it?

Yes, he does. In fact, he seems especially thirsty -- isn't this a 'bad sign' of somethinghorible?

I suppose I shall have to see what happens on Thurs, and take it from there.

thirsty for water? before you google that, it can be a sign of thirst. if he's drinking a calorie-packed 'meal in a glass' then it would totally make sense that he'd want to wash it down/dilute it with water. i think the bad thing you're talking about though is diabetes but doesn't it have heaps of other symptoms anyway? [non-medical]

He is thristy for anything -- he'll reach out for any drink in his range even if he has his own right in front of him (be it infitrini, full-fat cow's milk, water, or diluted juice).

has he only recently nailed using a cup?

No, he has been using a cup for several months now.

the theory that the new milk would make him thirsty makes sense to me, though, doesn't it to you? i think you're right, you're just stuck waiting for the appointment, really.

have you thought about starting a thread asking for help from anyone who's ever had a paed app, especially for food stuff. are you good in these sorts of appointments? (i'm rubbish without a list and taking notes, for example).

That's a very good idea, thank you!

Will do it tomorrow, am off to put my feet up.

thanks very much for your help tonight.

night night.