My 6mth old is not gaining weight and is losing it. She eats 5oz every 3hrs and 4, 4oz jars of food along with 4oz of cereal a day. I have taken her to the doc and they say she is fine weight to height ratio, although her gastroenterologist differs. He tells me at one point she has acid reflux, mal absorption, and milk protein allergy. He wants me to take her off food and just give her a bottle. I don't know what to do because now he is telling me they don't know what it is. She is 11lbs 6oz and 25in long. The gastroenterologist put me her in the hospital for 24hrs to see if I neglected her. She is in the 5th percentile for her age. Now she is only on formula Similac Alimentum 6oz to 4scoops, every 4hrs like her gastroenterologist says. She still has not been gaining weight though. Her gastroenterologist has now concluded that he doesn't know what my 6mth old has. They have done an upper gi, blood tests, urine tests, and chest xrays. She projectiles when she pukes and does not spit up. She has met every milestone for her age minus completely crawling she likes the army crawl. Otherwise she is happy and has a great personality, very strong, and very smart.
I was called Yesterday and they put my daughter in overnight admission at the hospital to see if I was neglecting her which they found out I wasn't. She is 11bs 6oz, 25in long therefore in the 4th percentile for her age. She is at the right weight for her hight. Her PCP has no problem with this but her Gastroenterologist thinks I am a neglectful mother.
what are her numbers? If she is falling from the 100th%tile down to the 75th that is fine, but if she is falling from the 75th down to the 25th then you are right to worry.
What tests have them done? When did she start losing weight?
I suggest that you try what the gastroenterologist suggests if he's experienced with babies especially since they don't know what it is. We often learn how to deal with situations thru trial and error; even doctors do.
Because a baby's primary source of nutrition at 6 months is their formula/breast milk and many babies don't start eating solids until they're closer to a year in age doing this will not harm your baby. My grandchildren did not eat as much as you describe when they started eating solids around 7-8 months. They probably ate around 2 oz of cereal and 1-2 jars of food. Perhaps your daughter is not getting enough of the fat and other proteins that is in the formula because her stomach is too full with solids. 20 ozs of solids and 40 ozs of milk sounds like too much food/milk. It may be possible that her system can't handle that much. It may also be that her digestive system is not mature enough to metabolize solids.
Did he suggest something for the acid reflux, milk protein allergy? Did he find the cause of malabsorption? Was his diagnosis based on symptoms or tests or a combination of both?
My granddaughter had a milk protein allergy, diagnosed thru a blood test, and the pediatrician recommended a formula that did not contain dairy. Her symptoms were gas, always spitting up after eating, stomach pain and diarrhea. There are 2-3 brands of dairy free formula. She was also allergic to soy and so her mother didn't try that. This formula is expensive but worth it. After a couple of weeks on the formula she was free of her chronic symptoms.
I have assumed that you are feeding formula or breast milk. If you aren't then that in itself could be the problem. Babies need the extra nutrition and fat found in formula/breast milk.
My grandson had acid reflux. I think my granddaughter did too, tho I don't remember for sure. Both babies had always slept better in their car seats and continued to do so until they outgrew them. I know my grandson was prescribed medication which helped with the constant spitting up. We also kept him upright for at least 30 minutes after he fed. It's important to keep his stomach from bunching up.
I don't know much about malabsorption except as it's related to Celiac disease and not much about that either. As an adult, Celiac disease was ruled out when I was having difficulty with gastric reflux, nausea and an upset stomach while I was losing weight. Did the gastroenterologist rule that out thru testing?
I would definitely try giving your baby just dairy free formula for a couple of weeks to see if that helps. You have nothing to lose and something to gain.
Try a naturopathic doctor. Mine had me give my son some Absorb-Aid, probiotics and Glutamine. First 2 are to aid in absorption/digestion, second is to help heal the gut.
My son has malabsorption and several food allergies including a milk protein allergy. He has had many, many tests done to find out what is causing the malabsorption to no avail. He completely stopped growing at 18 months and continued to lose weight down to 22 lbs at 4 years old despite the fact the he ate more than any grown man I've ever met. At one point he was consuming over 3000 calories a day! He was always hungry and would even steal food. He was never satisfied. Finally, this past February, the gastroenterologist put him on a liquid diet (he drinks 4 cans a day and each can has 375 calories, 17 g fat, and 13 g protein ). His idea behind that suggestion was to let his intestines heal without having to break down food. Well, as hard as it has been to keep a 4 year old from solid foods, we have done it for 3 months now. My son is growing like crazy. He weighs 34 lbs and grew 2 1/4 inches in only three months. He is like a different child. He has lots of energy to play and run, never complains his tummy hurts or that he is hungry, and his hair even changed from light blond to brown. I highly recommend that you follow the advise of a pediatric gastroenterologist. They really know a lot more than a pediatrician when it comes to these issues. It may save your baby from years of poor growth and possible developmental delays due to malnurishment as my son as dealt with. My son has learning disabilities that the doctors also attribute to his malnurishment. It sounds like your baby is pretty hungry. I'm can imagine you are wondering how you can only feed her breast milk or formula. I would definitely try it. She might actually be more satified by the milk alone as it may help eliminate some of the intestinal problems. Her main source of nutrition at this age should be breast milk or formula anyway so it won't hurt her at all. If you continue to have concerns, there is nothing wrong with seeing another GI doc to get another opinion.
Have you tried maybe soy formula for the milk protein allergy to see if that helps? Does she have any other symptoms other than weight loss that would explain the acid reflux/ malabsorption prognosis?
You could have your child tested for Celiac Disease (celiac-without the 's') by bloodwork, but young children who have it don't necesarrily always test positive for it. But it might be worth a shot. Make sure you have the FULL Celiac panel run---many doctors only run part of it. you can find it listed on a Celiac expert's webpage: www.celiaccenter.org and click on FAQs A gluten-free diet would help
check out this site for 6 month milestones, page two talks about feeding.
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby-development-6-month-old
I don't know why he would recommend taking her off food, maybe to see if there is an allergy there or vitamin deficiency, but it's usually recommended to feed high protein solids at this age, especially with weight loss. Perhaps you need another professional opinion.
Also, consult this website as well:
http://drjaygordon.com/pediatricks/newborns/scales.html
Babies should not lose weight. Typically that only happens if they are sick. Go back to the basics.....just go to the bottles. It has all the nutrients your precious little one needs. Good luck, and follow your mommy instinct!
Hi Angela,
Has your daughter just started crawling? My son lost weight when he started crawling because he was in constant motion burning up every calorie he consumed.
You may want to try just bottles again or offering her less of the cereals and jars and more bottles since those are not "dense" calories like breast milk or formula.
I have to pipe in on the food....she is eating a lot of it! I think, way too much. The bottle, 4 oz. of cereal and one jar of food, or no cereal and two jars of food, per day is plenty at 6 months old.
I wish you luck and hope she starts to gain soon!
I would go for a thrid opinion. Especially since her main doctor says everything is fine. You can ask the doctor or the gastroenterologist for a name of another doctor that you can take her too. I would back off on the solids and go back to the formula and see what happens then. If she didn't have any problems before it could be the food.
Babies don't need solids until a year after bith. They can survive the entire first year on just formula or breastmilk. It sounds like you are giving her a TON of food. My duaghter wasn't eating that much until she was closer to a year old. When i started solids at 6 months, all she has was about 2 oz of cereal at bed time, and about 7 months i started on just 1 2 oz jar of food with cereal.
you can also look at it this way. 4 4oz jars of food and the cereal is 20 oz of food a day for her, and the 40 oz of milk is a LOT in a day. that's 60 oz of food, and their stomach is only the size of their fist. in terms of adult food, think about yourt in the 5 oz containers, that's you eating 12 containers in a day.
i would defiantly seek out another opinion and let them know everything that has been said by both sides, and what all she eats.
Hi - I would definitely get a second opinion/more testing somewhere. If a 6 month old is losing weight and eating that much food there might be a problem. However, 16oz of solid food seems like kind of a lot for a baby her age, so the gastro might be right about that. It may be too much for her digestive track to handle.
Personally, I think that is way too much baby food for six month old. Not to mention it's processed food. She very well could be sensitive to something in her diet or her environment and it hasn't been identified yet.
You are using your Momma instinct that is telling you something isn't quite right. And acting on it. The doctor's really don't know everything and alot of times your mothers instinct lets you know better than they do. The fact that her reg doc and the gastroenterologist don't agree is a red flag.
When you say 5 oz - you mean breast milk or formula right?
If you are unhappy and frustrated with what her present gastroenterologist is saying - take her to someone else. I'd schedule a consultation with a specialist at the nearest children's hospital. Even if your insurance won't cover the cost of the appointment - it would be worth getting a 2nd opinion and maybe more clarity and solutions.
I have an 8 month who has had a lot of trouble. What I did first was take everything out of her diet except the formula (she is on Similac Alimentum b/c of tummy sensitivity to reg formula and soy). Then I did just cereal. She was on and off that for 2 months. I took her off it completely b/c it made her so constipated constantly. Then I added just fruit to her diet. Did that for 2-4 weeks to see how she digested it. And be sure to be consistent with the same fruit for a number of days to see if she is bothered by something specific. Then we just added veggies to her diet to see how she does. Same thing, one at a time for several days in a row.
If you do things one at a time for longer periods of time, you may be able to pinpoint something specific. Then give that info to the gastro b/c you have specific info to work with. With all that stuff at one time, her system may be overloaded and irritated. At least it will give you a starting point.
I am sorry to hear about what you are going through. You must be so worried. It's interesting that the pediatrician is not worried. How did you get referred to the gastroenterologist? Perhaps you should try another one? Maybe a pediatric dietician could help too.
It does sound like your baby is getting A LOT of food. My son had breast milk exclusively for the first 3 1/2 mos. Then when I was not producing enough, we started adding formula. Around 4 mos. our pediatrician said since he's not exclusively breastfed, we could try some rice cereal. We honestly had very little luck with that until after he was 6 mos. old, and even then it was only once a day. Much of what we read also said that introducing too many solids too soon can lead to allergies, etc. and that babies do just fine on breast milk and formula alone. I can't remember everything very clearly, except that we knew our son was getting most of his nutrition from breast milk and then formula. Between 8 and 12 mos. we slowly began to introduce more solids-different cereals, yogurt, and various pureed fruits and vegetables. Some were homemade, some were store bought. I believe when our son was solely drinking breast milk & formula we followed the guidelines of 2 1/2 oz. of milk for every pound the baby weighed. My son also never drank a whole lot at any one feeding until he got much older than 6 mos. My son would also vomit if he ate too much at any one feeding. I am not a doctor, so I have no idea if that is the case with your daughter, but at this point it seems that it would be safe to go to an all breast milk or formula diet. Maybe then you could see how she responds, then gradually add easy to digest solids like rice cereal once a day & see what happens.
It sounds like she is developing normally so far-doesn't sound like you have to worry there & I think it is normal for some kids to "army" crawl instead of normal crawl. My son skipped "sitting unassisted" and went straight to crawling, but then even tho' he could stand up and cruise holding on to stuff, he preferred to "walk" while kneeling on his knees. We called it "knee walking." It was very funny. He's perfectly fine now.
Good luck to you & let us know what happens!
At her age, she doesn't have to have food. She is fine on just milk but take her for a second opinion or even a third. If I get contradicting information that is what I do until we figure it out. Good Luck!
Is she spitting up alot? My son was the exact same way and everytime I complained about him throwing up, our family doctor would just say I was over exaggerating. My son went from 75%, to 50% to 30% before I said enough was enough and sent him to a pediatrician who diagnosed him with acid reflux and put him on Prevacid SoluTab. It was easy to crunch up and we mixed it in his food. Within a day, he stopped throwing up. Unfortunately, he was already a year by the time we switched doctors so he's very tiny now and I contribute it to him throwing up so often as a baby.
So, ask your doctor if you can get your daughter on Prevacid SoluTab and do it quickly We started with a 1/2 pill and slowly weened him off and within a year he was completely off.
