Aa
need help on ariana's feedings
we started ariana out on rice cereal with the approval of her pediatrician at 6 weeks for her reflux. she was crying an hour after eating and so we were feeding her far too much and she was over eating. what ended up happening is we put rice in her bottle and made it really thick and cut big holes in the top of her nipples. she was eating this EVERY feeding. i know thats a lot, and i made her pediatrician aware how much she was eating, and he said it was fine for the moment as long as it was keeping her happy and helping with her reflux/sleeping. at her 4 month appointment 2 weeks ago, she weighed 14 lbs. 12 oz and was 25.5 inches long. he said she was thriving and growing great, but that she was in the 95th percentile for weight and 90th for length. i found that a bit confusing because other people who had 4 month olds said their's weighed about what she weighed and their pediatrician said they were in the 60 something percentile. anyway, he said she was doing great but that its time to wean her off of the cereal and only feed it to her in the morning and evening. he doesn't want her to have excess calories / weight and be overweight going into her early childhood. and he also wants me to start spoon feeding her when she shows interest and then once she gets the hang of eating from a spoon she can have baby food. and obviously cereal during the day and baby food morning and night is far too much.
well what i did is i bought a formula with rice starch in it. my plan was to feed her that during the day until the can was gone, and then use regular formula. i figured the formula with rice starch was a good in between of what she has been eating and plain formula, and it would help ween her off of rice all together. she was doing great! she wasn't very fussy and was still eating every 4 hours. (her pediatrician said to continue feeding her every 4 hours) well the past few days she has been SO fussy. she SCREAMED bloody murder on friday and i just assumed something else was wrong because it wasn't time for her to eat. finally i decided to try feeding her after i exhausted all other options and that was clearly what she wanted. i was a bit surprised because she hadn't gotten hungry early until then, despite being on less rice. i thought maybe it was just a one time thing and continued following the doctor's advice of formula every 4 hours, and her fussiness and wanting to eat more often hasn't ceased.
last night she was screaming bloody murder for a bottle after 3 hours. we have increased her dosage of zantac. she is now on 1.5 mL morning and evening. part of the reason i think she is getting hungry early is because she's spitting up an uncanny amount. it at least LOOKS to be half of what she eats. i mentioned this to the doctor and he wasn't concerned.
i guess my question is this: should i continue with the formula during the day and just feed her every 3 hours, despite the doctor's orders to continue feeding at 4 hours? OR should i put her back on the thick rice every feeding and feed her every 4 hours? i do not want her gaining excess weight...i am not going to be so selfish as to cause her to have weight problems as a child. only thing is, the regular formula shes eating now really isn't regular at all. it has rice starch in it. when i buy a can of normal formula with no rice starch, i am afraid she is going to scream for a bottle at 2 hours and then what do i do?
a friend of mine has a 4 month old, and he weighed 14 lbs 11 oz at his 4 month checkup, and was told to be in the 60 something percentile i believe. she was only one more ounce and she had been eating cereal every feeding, he was just on normal formula. so with that comparison it doesn't seem to be causing her to gain excess, she seems to be on track with all other babies eating just formula. or maybe boys are supposed to have different weights? UGH this is all so confusing. any advise is very much appreciated because once again i feel at a loss for what to do for her.
well what i did is i bought a formula with rice starch in it. my plan was to feed her that during the day until the can was gone, and then use regular formula. i figured the formula with rice starch was a good in between of what she has been eating and plain formula, and it would help ween her off of rice all together. she was doing great! she wasn't very fussy and was still eating every 4 hours. (her pediatrician said to continue feeding her every 4 hours) well the past few days she has been SO fussy. she SCREAMED bloody murder on friday and i just assumed something else was wrong because it wasn't time for her to eat. finally i decided to try feeding her after i exhausted all other options and that was clearly what she wanted. i was a bit surprised because she hadn't gotten hungry early until then, despite being on less rice. i thought maybe it was just a one time thing and continued following the doctor's advice of formula every 4 hours, and her fussiness and wanting to eat more often hasn't ceased.
last night she was screaming bloody murder for a bottle after 3 hours. we have increased her dosage of zantac. she is now on 1.5 mL morning and evening. part of the reason i think she is getting hungry early is because she's spitting up an uncanny amount. it at least LOOKS to be half of what she eats. i mentioned this to the doctor and he wasn't concerned.
i guess my question is this: should i continue with the formula during the day and just feed her every 3 hours, despite the doctor's orders to continue feeding at 4 hours? OR should i put her back on the thick rice every feeding and feed her every 4 hours? i do not want her gaining excess weight...i am not going to be so selfish as to cause her to have weight problems as a child. only thing is, the regular formula shes eating now really isn't regular at all. it has rice starch in it. when i buy a can of normal formula with no rice starch, i am afraid she is going to scream for a bottle at 2 hours and then what do i do?
a friend of mine has a 4 month old, and he weighed 14 lbs 11 oz at his 4 month checkup, and was told to be in the 60 something percentile i believe. she was only one more ounce and she had been eating cereal every feeding, he was just on normal formula. so with that comparison it doesn't seem to be causing her to gain excess, she seems to be on track with all other babies eating just formula. or maybe boys are supposed to have different weights? UGH this is all so confusing. any advise is very much appreciated because once again i feel at a loss for what to do for her.
My son also has a bad case of GERD and has steadily gained weight since birth. At birth he weighed 7 lbs 2 oz, yesterday (about 4 months and a half) he weighed 17 lbs 1 oz... But the pediatrician at the 4 months old visit told us not to worry because both weight and height were OK together (75% for both).
He eats non stop, every hour most of the time. He is now on 2 GERD medications... I hope his appetite gets under control soon!
I am also starting to give him some cereals by spoon, I may want to start solids before 6 months so he does not spend his whole eating drinking milk. First I want him to be able to eat cereals by spoon, not yet a complete success...
He eats non stop, every hour most of the time. He is now on 2 GERD medications... I hope his appetite gets under control soon!
I am also starting to give him some cereals by spoon, I may want to start solids before 6 months so he does not spend his whole eating drinking milk. First I want him to be able to eat cereals by spoon, not yet a complete success...
well the rice was the only thing that worked for awhile; but at the urging of her pediatrician she needs to be weaned off of it.
i tried to start doing smaller portions more often. after her 4 month well baby appointment i was told to wean her off, so we were doing 5 ounces every 4 hours. that wasn't working so i decided to try 3 oz every 2 1/2 and that is DEF not working. she screams after one hour. just now i had to rock her to sleep just to stretch her out till her next feeding; she was screaming bloody murder.
im guessing she wants to overeat due to the reflux. most babies get full on 5 ounces of formul and do fine. so there is something different about her, i am just not sure what.
ashelen: she was 6 lbs 14 oz when she was born. i think that put her in like the 25th percentile? something like that. since she was born she has steadily increased. she hasn't jumped all of a sudden, but its been a slow but steady climb. but, some of the percentile calculators online gave me different percents for her and it did have me put in her gender so i am not sure what to think. i put an email in to her pediatrician since he is a family friend and explained the situation. i hope we can come up with something that works.
i tried to start doing smaller portions more often. after her 4 month well baby appointment i was told to wean her off, so we were doing 5 ounces every 4 hours. that wasn't working so i decided to try 3 oz every 2 1/2 and that is DEF not working. she screams after one hour. just now i had to rock her to sleep just to stretch her out till her next feeding; she was screaming bloody murder.
im guessing she wants to overeat due to the reflux. most babies get full on 5 ounces of formul and do fine. so there is something different about her, i am just not sure what.
ashelen: she was 6 lbs 14 oz when she was born. i think that put her in like the 25th percentile? something like that. since she was born she has steadily increased. she hasn't jumped all of a sudden, but its been a slow but steady climb. but, some of the percentile calculators online gave me different percents for her and it did have me put in her gender so i am not sure what to think. i put an email in to her pediatrician since he is a family friend and explained the situation. i hope we can come up with something that works.
I am a bit surprised that you are feeding her rice at every feeding. I give my 4.5 month old baby rice with formula only once a day, in the evening because I am afraid it's too many calories at this age.
The rest of the time he has a mixture of breast milk and formula. He has a big GERD problem and tends to eat way more often than most babies, he would never be able to last 3 hours without eating.
I think I would go with regular formula every 3 hours instead of rice every 4 hours. It also depends on how much volume you give her. With my boy we do small amounts but more often because of his GERD, 4 oz at the most.
The rest of the time he has a mixture of breast milk and formula. He has a big GERD problem and tends to eat way more often than most babies, he would never be able to last 3 hours without eating.
I think I would go with regular formula every 3 hours instead of rice every 4 hours. It also depends on how much volume you give her. With my boy we do small amounts but more often because of his GERD, 4 oz at the most.
Boys do have different weight lines...
curious...what percentiles has she been in all along? The only time that a pediatrician usually worries about weight gain is if a baby was born and stayed in the (let's just say) 30-40% for weight for a long time, and then all of a sudden started going up....if Ariana has always been in the lower/mid percentiles and is all of a sudden in such a high percentile then yes it can be concerning, because it's all about consistency. If, however, she's always been in the mid/upper percentiles for weight it's not such a concern. all babies grow at different rates and have different weighs so as long as she's proportional to her own chart I wouldn't worry too much about it....but if she's going up significantly on the percentile chart then yes I would be concerned.
I think you got some really good advice on the other forum so I won't repeat, but I did want to add that about percentiles :). she's a little cutie pie!
curious...what percentiles has she been in all along? The only time that a pediatrician usually worries about weight gain is if a baby was born and stayed in the (let's just say) 30-40% for weight for a long time, and then all of a sudden started going up....if Ariana has always been in the lower/mid percentiles and is all of a sudden in such a high percentile then yes it can be concerning, because it's all about consistency. If, however, she's always been in the mid/upper percentiles for weight it's not such a concern. all babies grow at different rates and have different weighs so as long as she's proportional to her own chart I wouldn't worry too much about it....but if she's going up significantly on the percentile chart then yes I would be concerned.
I think you got some really good advice on the other forum so I won't repeat, but I did want to add that about percentiles :). she's a little cutie pie!
You must join this user group in order to participate in this discussion.
You are reading content posted in the Parenting newborns and infants, up to 1 year Group
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
