Breastfeeding and child nutrition (8 month old)

[Silverhand]

So me and my wife are panicking a little bit. My son has not gained any weight in over a month. He plateaued at around 5 months and has been gaining weight very slowly. Each month it is within measurement error. He is now 8.5 month and weights 16lb and 4oz to 16lb and 8oz. He has been exclusively breastfed until six months. We are now introducing solids in the form of rice porridge, steamed carrots, wheat cereal and other foods like that. He readily eats everything, prefers homemade to store bought. But he does not eat enough. He eats what he wants and then refuses. A very distracted breast feeder. Prefers to play with nipple and milk is just coming out being wasted. Wife prefers to feed him before naps and at night when he is sleepy. He is happy, never cries, plays non stop, thin but has fat cheeks, chubby arms and etc.

My wife read some resources on baby related message boards. People say that plateau happens for breast fed babies when solids are introduced. Same was told to me by my co-workers when I asked around.

Our doctor wants to see us in two weeks to see if he gains weight. He gave my wife some advice on feeding. It amounted to pumping breast milk and measuring how much she gives. She is very much against it. She thinks that feeding from the breast is far better then bottle.

I am just looking for any advice from any one familiar with this.

For now we are going off solids again and will try to go all breast milk.

[barn]

Hi @Nikita Perminov

There's a member here by the name of Elizbaeth (spelled 'ae', yes) who's a mother of two boys if I recall correctly. You could pm her and ask what was her experience...

Other than that, sorry for not being able to help more (I guess you've also checked out the threads for keywords too, using the search function)

Let us know what worked,

Barnsley

 

[Frederik]

I haven't had any kids yet, but I can offer some of the reasoning that I would go through. Maybe that is of help to you.

I believe that your son, offered the options, will choose – feel – what is best for him and his body.

I would make sure he is given the options – the breast first and foremost, secondarily easily digestable foods like fruits and vegetables – and not worry about the details.

If he does not want to eat I am sure that this is best for him, just as I may lose appetite when I am sick. My body is the authority on when, what and how much to eat, not me.

My baby is the authority on when, what and how much to eat, not me...

In the end the weight is just a number. Whether your son is happy and satiated is what matters most, I believe. The rest naturally follows.

 

[Jsbrads]

Who told you to give an infant before 1yrs old wheat?! Hopefully your baby won’t suffer any repercussions.

Dont give wheat to babies

[Elizbaeth]

@Silverhand

Hi! So both of my sons were/are breastfed. My first was a very very fat baby (he just turned 2 and is no longer fat - the fat goes away) and we never had any issues with weight gain. I gave him baby food around 8-9 months, and then it was pretty sparingly. I wasn’t against it, but I really just didn’t see a need to give him baby food when he was so clearly thriving with breastfeeding. I also did not want to give myself the extra work of making or preparing baby food if it wasn’t necessary. Mostly what I did was just hand him pieces of fruit to gnaw on, and he sort of went from breastfeeding to eating real food. I think it had an “official name” - I think it’s called baby-led weaning. That may be a good solution. 

Your doctor advised pumping because it’s a good way to measure how much milk the baby is getting. Your baby would still be getting the nutrition of breast milk, so it’s not a total loss. However, the intimacy is much higher for the Mom and baby if breastfeeding continues, and your wife may be really attached to this and may not be wanting to sever or displace the lovely bond. 

Have you considered just forgetting baby foods for a while? Your baby won’t suffer nutritionally without them. 

The only other reason I could think of for your son not gaining weight would be if the breast milk was inadequate. My cousin had to switch to formula because her son was woefully underweight. Once he started formula he immediately plumped up and grew. But they knew early on -like 3 months old - that something was wrong, and it sounds like that’s not the case with you. 

Hope some of this helps!

[barn]

2 hours ago, Elizbaeth said:

@Silverhand

Hi! So both of my sons were/are breastfed. My first was a very very fat baby (he just turned 2 and is no longer fat - the fat goes away) and we never had any issues with weight gain. I gave him baby food around 8-9 months, and then it was pretty sparingly. I wasn’t against it, but I really just didn’t see a need to give him baby food when he was so clearly thriving with breastfeeding. I also did not want to give myself the extra work of making or preparing baby food if it wasn’t necessary. Mostly what I did was just hand him pieces of fruit to gnaw on, and he sort of went from breastfeeding to eating real food. I think it had an “official name” - I think it’s called baby-led weaning. That may be a good solution. 

Your doctor advised pumping because it’s a good way to measure how much milk the baby is getting. Your baby would still be getting the nutrition of breast milk, so it’s not a total loss. However, the intimacy is much higher for the Mom and baby if breastfeeding continues, and your wife may be really attached to this and may not be wanting to sever or displace the lovely bond. 

Have you considered just forgetting baby foods for a while? Your baby won’t suffer nutritionally without them. 

The only other reason I could think of for your son not gaining weight would be if the breast milk was inadequate. My cousin had to switch to formula because her son was woefully underweight. Once he started formula he immediately plumped up and grew. But they knew early on -like 3 months old - that something was wrong, and it sounds like that’s not the case with you. 

Hope some of this helps!

Very nice of you.

[Silverhand]

So an update. We went off solids for now and doing all breast milk. It seems our little one is just very small. We did pump and had a lot of milk. He just eats his fill which is significantly less then what is expected. Doc suggested to space out feedings to get him hungry, so he would eat more. Either way I will give everyone an update in a month at our next weigh in. We might have to go to endocrinologist for some testing.

 

[Jsbrads]

Bushwomen give milk all the time. So instead of filling the tummy and then sleeping it off, the baby sips and keeps a more consistent slow flow. I actually thought that would make more sense for a small baby, but try the Doctor first.

Also, pumping... more convenient, but would the baby consume more if the baby nurses? Not sure, but it seems better, not sure how impractical that would be. 

[Elizbaeth]

On 1/27/2018 at 8:11 PM, Silverhand said:

So an update. We went off solids for now and doing all breast milk. It seems our little one is just very small. We did pump and had a lot of milk. He just eats his fill which is significantly less then what is expected. Doc suggested to space out feedings to get him hungry, so he would eat more. Either way I will give everyone an update in a month at our next weigh in. We might have to go to endocrinologist for some testing.

 

Please keep us posted! Sometimes babies do get a little anxious during a developmental phase and don’t eat as much. Or, your baby could just be smaller. If you do end up seeing an endocrinologist, then hopefully you can figure everything out!

[Elizbaeth]

Hey @Silverhand, how is your son doing now?

[barn]

On 01/28/2018 at 3:11 AM, Silverhand said:

So an update. We went off solids for now and doing all breast milk. It seems our little one is just very small. We did pump and had a lot of milk. He just eats his fill which is significantly less then what is expected. Doc suggested to space out feedings to get him hungry, so he would eat more. Either way I will give everyone an update in a month at our next weigh in. We might have to go to endocrinologist for some testing.

 

Yes. Definitely do that. Sounds good.

[Silverhand]

So update time. Nikolai(my son) had two blood tests taken a month apart. Endocrinologist does not see any hormonal problems yet and says you can't really known until he is 2. We will continue to monitor until he is 2 before we do anything else. Nikolai has had a growth squirt since I posted and it seems he is on the chart for height. The reason it's hard to tell now is because we went to measuring height with him standing up since he is walking now.  He is a really skinny kid. I did not expect diagnosis and such to take such a long time.

Still breast feeding. We go thought periods of eating a lot(solids + breast) usually coincides with a growth spurt. He is not exclusively breast fed anymore but big proportion of his calories still comes from breast milk. 70/30 breast milk to solids when he is not eating a lot and more like 50/50 when he is eating a lot.

[Elizbaeth]

On 6/23/2018 at 9:43 AM, Silverhand said:

So update time. Nikolai(my son) had two blood tests taken a month apart. Endocrinologist does not see any hormonal problems yet and says you can't really known until he is 2. We will continue to monitor until he is 2 before we do anything else. Nikolai has had a growth squirt since I posted and it seems he is on the chart for height. The reason it's hard to tell now is because we went to measuring height with him standing up since he is walking now.  He is a really skinny kid. I did not expect diagnosis and such to take such a long time.

Still breast feeding. We go thought periods of eating a lot(solids + breast) usually coincides with a growth spurt. He is not exclusively breast fed anymore but big proportion of his calories still comes from breast milk. 70/30 breast milk to solids when he is not eating a lot and more like 50/50 when he is eating a lot.

I'm happy to hear from you! Congrats on your kid walking! It's so much fun!

 

I'm glad to know that your son is on the chart for height. Does this mean his height is in a positive trend? 

I know I brought this up before, but have you ruled out using formula? I being this up again because of the two people I know who wanted to breastfeed, but neither of their sons really grew or filled out until they stopped breastfeeding and switched to formula. In most circumstances I'm very much against formula, but I think there are some cases where it can be a good thing. Both of the mothers I knew were very much attachment-type parents, who desperately wanted a good nursing relationship and to breastfeed for a long time, and I'm not sure what it was about their breast milk, but they simply weren't able to produce a milk that was rich and nourishing enough. Maybe the mothers had endocrine issues themselves. Who knows for sure. But my point is that a lot of pro-nursing moms might try to keep breastfeeding regardless of other signs, and in the end, the most important thing is that the baby gets nourishment. Just shooting around in the dark, hoping something will be useful for you.