@deborahallen This does make more sense to me. I’ll admit I (obviously) have no idea how much the parents were diluting the bottles, so I could definitely be off on my assumption that adding any amount of water to a bottle is fatally dangerous.
@greenie123 I don't know what happened with my formatting above!
This is unfortunately another example of a type of fear mongering from medical professionals and the government. I see it often, where instead of proper guidance and education on reasonable things, parents are told to not do it at all. (Sort of like abstinence only sex-ed).They think we're too stupid to understand the nuance of weighing risks associated with parenting choices. So instead of saying" limit added water intake to 1 ounce per month of age per day" (a very reasonable guideline), we're told no water at all. There are multiple examples of this, including no bedsharing, not sleeping in car seats or swings, no walkers or jumpers, no sunscreen until 6 months, etc. It's something that occurs with guidance for adults, too. As a NICU nurse, I really wish the focus would be on education and risk management.
@deborahallen I understand your frustration, but maybe it helps to remember that guidelines and recommendations are often worded in a way that even someone with almost zero common sense can look at them and understand them and have a safe outcome following that recommendation. No baby should suffer because their caregiver did not, in fact, understand a guideline that allowed for nuance.
@caowen Thanks. I do understand that and also realize that unfortunately many us adults can't read very well. I recall hearing the average reading level is around 8th grade, I think. But it is frustrating for parents and adult patients to be given an absolute like this and perhaps not even knowing there is wiggle room.
@holy_venom95 This may indeed be the right answer, though you should not do this. The guidelines are for typically developing healthy kids. Your kid is a little bit “off balance” in some way, and if he is either a little dehydrated or having some gastric motility problems, intervention is called for.
But at 7 weeks this requires the guidance of a pediatrician. The nurse may be correct - experienced pediatric nurses see a lot and know a lot. But she still cannot make this call.
FWIW my son had this issue and it was easily resolved with a supplement of prune juice, home brewed by an experienced grandma (not his). But he was 6 months old so we did not need to wait for medical clearance to try this. I would not have dosed him on my own at 7 weeks, or before 4 months.
@holy_venom95 Are you preparing formula from powder? If so, you might want to try preparing from weight instead of volume. We found that a scoop of formula usually had more formula in it than it was supposed to and the markings on our bottles were too small. After weighing everything we realized we needed to use what looked like an ounce more water per 8 oz bottle to get the actually correct dilution, and figuring that out really helped our baby. Our pediatrician had given the same advice yours had (with an older baby, though), so I guess they were technically right.
@bel13 This is a great response! Definitely weigh the formula and the water to make sure the proportions are right and baby is getting enough water per scoop of formula.
I also always mention enfamil reguline to parents with formula fed babies struggling with constipation. We added 1 scoop per bottle for our daughter who has always been prone to constipation and it helped a lot. It comes in a green container.
