I’m stressing out and I don’t know how to fix/help my LO’s eating

[vanguard227]

FTM here, and my baby will be 5 months old on June 25. She’s already petite according to the charts, behind on height and weight for her age. The pediatrician told us to try to aim for 28-32 oz a day up from 22-26oz and for awhile it was doable. She was eating 5oz every feed like every 3.5 hours, with a long gap through the night since she started sleeping through the night. We were getting a solid 30oz in her daily.

Then sadly the formula we were using from Costco (Kirkland formula) had a shipment delay and we stupidly hadn’t had a back stock of it while it was sold out across the entire northeast US or something so we had to switch to another and we chose similac. Whatever is the regular one. Since then she started having problems but now we are back on the Kirkland brand thankfully but her eating hasn’t recovered. She hated the similac but thankfully we only had to use one container of it to tide her over until Kirkland formula came back.

She will barely take 4oz a feed now so I’ve tried to feed her every 2.5 hours to make up the difference and she just isn’t finishing anymore. We’ve barely been getting 24 ounces in her nowhere near the 28. I’m badly worried about her falling further behind in height and weight. Her soft spot doesn’t seem super sunken in and is usually flush, sometimes very mildly sunken (we heard it being sunken in can show dehydration) I’ve also noticed her peeing less, which is obviously a result of eating less but it’s still looking normal when she does pee.

Should I just not let her sleep through the night anymore until hopefully her appetite recovers? She would go a solid 6-8 hours before all this happened. I don’t mind going back to the night feedings if it’s the only way to get all her oz in for the day I’m just so worried. I’m trying not to force feed her when she starts pushing away from the bottle it’s hard cause sometimes there’s so much left. Her pediatrician said to just try to get in as much as we can however we need to do it, like going back to nighttime feedings if needed.

Open to any advice here, and if this keeps going another week I’m calling her pediatrician again to make sure there isn’t a bigger problem. I just don’t want to traumatize her, I know the body’s nervous system forms memory before the brain (long story but something I learned in therapy) so I just don’t want to stress her out and hurt her in any way I’m just so worried she’s going to fall more behind in size. I’m not over feeding her at all, I wasn’t before this whole formula problem either, she’s not chunky at all and I just want to help her. Sorry for the panic I just don’t know what to do. Anyone else go through this?

 

[mattiehay]

@vanguard227 Hey, take a deep breath and relax for a bit. It's okay your daughter is small, not all babies are chunky or huge! Relax and look at the facts you see - is your baby having wet and dirty diapers? Does she seem upset or otherwise fussy after feeding? Poops are normal? If your baby is behaving normally and pooping/peeing, give yourself a pat on the back, you're doing a good job.

Now look at the future - she is 5 months old! For some babies, that's old enough to start food with doctor approval. Our boy was small too, but was hella interested in food from around 4 months of age! We started off small, like a taste here and there, and moved on to purees at around 5 months too. Perhaps it's time to consider small amounts of food for your daughter too, if you feel comfortable and your doctor approves. Some kiddos just need to reach the food stage before they start bulking, and that's totally fine.

Either way, your kiddo is small, and that's fine. As long as development is not delayed, there is no issue with being small. They change so quickly at this age! Best of luck and hope you aren't too hard on yourself.

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@mattiehay My girl has been extremely interested in food and watching us cook/eat since 6 weeks. I'm thinking she will eat solids like a champ, because she certainly doesn't seem to care for her formula (Enfamil with Kendamil to make it taste better). I'm going to ask about solids at 5 months at her 4 month appointment, I was pretty staunch about waiting until 6 months but since she drinks 22-26oz of formulab if solids help get some extra nutrition I'm all for it. We'll take a break from solids if her formula intake drops at all.

 

[lovelyhipopp]

@vanguard227 Change the formula can be hard on a baby, but she still getting a good amount. If you’re really concerned, you could call the pediatricians office to have them do a weight check. For us it was just a drop in appointment with the nurse. You might feel better if you see that her weight is holding steady or going up. For future reference all of the generic formulas in the US are made by the same company (Costco, Sam’s, target, Walmart) if you run out again in the future and can’t get the Kirkland, those might be a better option. I found that my baby switches seamlessly between Sam’s and Walmart brands and he has a very sensitive tummy.