My daughter has severe acid reflux and is tiny. The doctors are watching her weight closely. I am very happy with what they have done and are still doing, she is just a difficult case. My son, who is two, was a chunk, so this is very different for us. My daughter takes in about 8 ounces of breastmilk every 2 hours, and only weighs 11 pounds. She was 8 pounds even at birth. In 5 months she has only gained 3 pounds. She is reaching all her milestones (many of them early) and is very alert and happy! I just hate to see her so tiny. She is still wearing 0 - 3 months clothes. I am just curious for a comparison. On average, what do other babies her age weigh, and how much do they eat? Should I be concerned that is a problem other than just the reflux that is keeping her small?
2007-01-22 10:15:07 · 4 answers · asked by Concerned Mom 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Lots of answers PLEASE! I really want a comparison! Even if your child is older, and you remember this information at this age. I know kids can be very different and fall on different parts of the chart, so please as many answers as possible so that I can truly have a comparison! Thank you for your time!
2007-01-22 19:43:04 · update #1
Baby's parents on both sides, grandparents and all are generally big people. We've got tall people and we have big people, so she is not the norm for our family. We have never given her plain water, we are too concerned over her gaining weight, if she gets food, it's going to have nutrition in it! We have even put her on high calorie formula, which only made her spit up worse. Now she gets formula that is partially digested for her. (When she gets formula - no more than one a day and often just once that week) I primarily nurse her cause it's better for the reflux, but have been willing to try different formulas to see if they help. So far, no luck. Thank you for your answers!
2007-01-22 22:22:51 · update #2
I very seldom give her fomula, but when I do, or if I give her breastmilk in a bottle, she requires 8 ounces. That is my concern. If I stop her at 6, then she screams still hungry and the more upset she gets, the more she spits up, so forcing her to eat less only encourages her to spit up more. I don't feed her according to the clock, I feed her when she shows me she's hungry, on average, she's asking to eat every two hours. We tried cereal and she spit it up even worse than the breast milk and formula. She sleeps great! I lay her down around 8 and she sleeps until 6 or 7 the next morning. I've had some doctors tell me to wake her in the night to give her another feeding beacuse she sleeps so well. Thanks for all your responses and sorry for the long information I give, but if I can keep getting some info and advice on here, I want to. Thanks again!
2007-01-23 20:17:29 · update #3
Well, at five months your daughter eats more than mine did. But mine gained much more weight. At birth she weighed 8lb 4oz and at 5 months she weighed around 17lbs. As long as it is something the doctors know about and are watching, I wouldn't be too worried. She might just be a petite person. But on average a healthy baby should double their birth weight in 6 months, according to my pediatrition.
2007-01-22 10:33:30 · answer #1 · answered by arfiegel 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, my daughter was about 18-19 lbs at 5 months and she usually had 5 oz every 4 hours. I breastfed her for the first 4 weeks but had to stop due to my health problems and she was on nestle formula from then on.
It does sound like your daughter is quite tiny based on her weight. Firstly, I wouldn't worry overly because children are sensitive to our emotions especially when they are so tiny at that stage and stress can add to it. Has your prediatrician mentioned anything about trying her on cereal or some mild stage 1 baby food?
Secondly, you mentioned that you are giving her 8 oz every two hours. That is a LOT of formula to put into her and may be the reason behind her reflux. An infants stomach is very small and doesn't require this much (even for a larger baby like my daughter was). I know that you are concerned about the weight and probably think that feedling more frequently will help for her to gain but I think that this is way too much for her! Babies on average at this age should be taking a bottle every four hours or so.
I advise trying to start her on some rice cereal to see if that will make her more content (do it in the evening before bed to satisfy her). That will also give her and you a better night of sleep. Sleep is also a very important thing for infants at this age. It is SO important that they have frequent naps and are in a calming and relaxing environment. And it is even more important that she sleeps through the night because she needs that rest in order to grow and develop.
Since she has reflux, avoid propping bottles or giving them to her when she is laying down. Burp her every ounce and also make sure that her bottles are at a lukewarm-warm temp because sometimes when you give her a cold bottle from the fridge that can cause her to spit up as well. I know that my daughter would spit up more if it was too cool.
But try to remember that she is developing and meeting milestones so perhaps she is just meant to be tiny and petite and there is nothing wrong with that as she is obviously getting more than enough nutrition from formula/breastmilk. This is a hard time and in the next month she will be ready to start baby food and then she should be more satisfied and start to put on some baby fat. best of luck to you and you are doing just fine!!!
2007-01-23 20:57:41 · answer #2 · answered by Mom_of_two 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i am really sorry to hear that, my daughter was 18lb at 5months and she would drink 6-7 ounces of formula every 2 or three hours...
2007-01-22 18:32:45 · answer #3 · answered by D_na 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
is the baby mother very slim? have you ever give baby alot of plain water to drink?
2007-01-23 04:32:15 · answer #4 · answered by Angeline 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋