help = 4 month old not gaining

[Anonymous]

My 4 month old has not been gaining very much weight. He has reflux and
is on prevacid. He nurses all the time and pees and poos a lot (around
4-5 poopy diapers a day). I am avoiding dairy and soy but his poo is
still green and sometimes mucousy. I have tried to offer him a bottle
of pumped milk but he refuses the bottle. At his 2 month appt, he was
in the 44 percentile, at 4 month appt = 16 percentile. A week and a
half after that, he hadn’t gained anything and is at 9 percentile. I
don’t know what to do. Is BF not working? but why does he have so much
output and why does he refuse the bottle?

here are his stats:

7/28/2008 – 3.16 kgs

8/8/08 – 3.52 kgs

8/28/08 – 4.3 kgs

9/25/08 – 5.39 kgs

10/03/08 – 5.4 kgs

11/21/08 – 5.81 kgs

12/02/08 – 5.84 kgs

length:

8/08/08 – 53.34 cm

10/03/08 – 59.69 cm

12/02/08 – 64.14 cm

head circumference:

8/08/08 – 36.50 cm

10/03/08 – 39.75 cm

12/02/08 – 41.50 cm

[Anonymous]

It’s pretty normal for nursing babies to refuse bottles. They would much rather have warm momma against their cheek, you know? If you really want him to take the bottle, it is a learned behavior that he will probably need to practice a little each day. Sometimes having someone besides mom give him the bottle will help.

As for the green poos.. YOu say you are avoiding dairy and soy. Is that ALL Dairy and soy? Even that hidden in the ingredients of other prepared foods? How long have you been off those foods? It could be that he is reacting to something else. It may be worthwhile looking into the TED to see if you can pinpoint other foods he may be reacting to.

Also, OAL can also cause green frothy poos. Any chance you have this? That, and foremilk/hindmilk inbalance. If he is only getting the foremilk from you, that can cause the green poos. The foremilk isn’t the calorie rich milk, so that would also cause a slow weight gain if he never has a chance to drink that fatty part of your milk.

[Anonymous]

I don’t particularly want him to take the bottle, but I tried it to see if I could supplement just in case he wasn’t getting enough from the boob. I am pretty sure that I’m eliminating all hidden sources of dairy and soy.

I am pretty sure that I don’t have OAL and I keep him on the same breast for awhile I think. Could an allergy cause no weight gain?

[Anonymous]

oh I’ve been off dairy for about 2 months and soy for about 1 month.

[Anonymous]

if I decide to try to supplement with formula, would I use a hypoallergenic one like alimentum? or would I need something like neocate?

[Anonymous]

Over time intolerances (ie: green poos, etc) can cause a stall in weight gain (or even failure to thrive). I believe this happened to Dianne… her ds went from a healthy weight @ 4mths old to almost off the charts @ 8 mths old – then they finally got it all figured out when she went on TED.

[hellbennt]

sounds like you want to continue to breastfeed?

so I would do the TED and then if you want to supplement w/ formula, you could use neocate which is where your milk will be once you clear it out of everything- the TED is a pain in the neck & not fun, but it has been worth it to so many of us. I was lucky, in that it really wasn’t anything (except for a few ‘odd’ things like eggplant, tomatoes and tuna) in my diet affecting jonah’s reflux…

[Anonymous]

Like others have suggested I’d try the TED. If you decide to supplement, neocate or elecare would be best. Also, what dose of prevacid is he on? Maybe it’s too low of a dose?!

[Anonymous]

thanks for the help I guess I didn’t really want to hear about doing TED. I’ve already lost weight on the no-dairy and am a little worried about this diet. I hope I can do it.

[Anonymous]

Long-term TED is very do-able – challenging, but definitely not impossible. I’ve been on very very strict TED since June & though I have lost weight, I’ve lost it gradually so my supply hasn’t suffered.

You can do it!!!

The keys (in my opinion) to not losing more than 1 lb/week (that’s considered “safe” during breastfeeding as to not affect suppy) are:

1) drink 64+ oz water/day

2) eat 1800-2000 calories/day (at the bare minimum 1500) – in the beginning this means writing everything down & counting

3) aim for 30-50 grams of fat/day (this is super easy if you’re cooking with olive oil)

I feel like I’m forgetting something but that’s a start…

Anyway, feel free to PM me or I’ll check back to this post!

Hang in there…

[Anonymous]

thanks for the encouragement! All the TED moms on this site are very inspirational.

[Anonymous]

there are several food ideas for a TED mom.

for grains: quinoa, millet, rice

for meat Homel natural deli meat is gluten, soy and casein free and taste good. grass fed beef.

vegetables: eggplant, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots.

use two tablesppons or good oil in salads, such as olive, canola, sunflower, grapeseed, flaxseed oil.

i belive presgo spaguetti sauce is gluten and casein free.

rice milk, potatoes based milk, hemp milk (choclate flavor) are good sources of caclium and vitamin D. Take a hypoallergenic multivitamin.

juices from the Zoala brand (i think that the name of the brand, but could be wrong) are good. Also fruits like cantaloupe, mangoes, blueberries, pears, green apples.

good luck.

[Anonymous]

How high is the med dose, that can make a difference as well.

I am no help in the TED breastfeeding dept. Jedd’s heart defect prevented me form nursing, all though we gave it a good shot.

[Anonymous]

we just saw a GI today for the first time. Now he’s on half a solutab twice a day, so 15 mg of prevacid a day. He was previously on the compounded stuff. He also prescribed some kind of steroid to help heal inflammation in his intestines and a digestive enzyme for me to take.

[Anonymous]

also, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate this board and the time everyone puts in to help. sometimes I feel a little sorry for me and my baby but I know that so many of you have bigger struggles than we do.

[Author]

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