My 11 wk. old Grandson is consuming 5 ozs. of formula every 3-4 hours, he never seems content, has been irritable , has a constant drooling with red gums, has 2 upper impressions of teeth showing through the gums. We took him to his Ped. and pointed out all these issues, even showing him the gums. he stated we were overfeeding him and gave him heartburn meds. Several days later, we took him to the E.R., with a positive Streph test and the confirmation of the E.R. Doctor that he was cutting teeth! So now that we are treating those areas of concern, I want to make sure we are feeding him according to the guidelines! Adrian weighs 13 pounds , he never seems content with his formula, we ask the Dr. if maybe he needed a change of formula because he has been spitting up often! He refused to change it! He said to add some rice cereal to aid with the reflux, but then tells us were overfeeding him, we are frustrated and Adrian even more so! I%26#039;d appreciate any advice you all could give us!
How much formula is appropiate for an 11 wk. old baby,also, has your baby began cutting teeth at this age?
Well I dont know about an 11 week old but my 4 week old like 4oz and even wants more sometimes and thats every 3-4. No teeth here yet.
Reply:Wow. Sounds like you may want to find another dr. I can%26#039;t believe he missed strep throat and teeth! That, alone, is unacceptable for me. I think if he does not seem satisfied with the amount you are giving him, you may want to try another ounce and see if he takes it. Also, if he is spitting up often, like every time you are feeding him, he may have reflux, but he may also have a reaction to the formula. I don%26#039;t see any reason to start on rice cereal first. I would change formulas first. Our son was spitting up with almost every feeding, too, and we changed him over to Enfamil A.R. for babies who spit up frequently. It already has rice starch added to the formula so, you don%26#039;t need to add rice cereal to that. I%26#039;d give that a try. We noticed results within one week.
Reply:You need to find a good doctor. This one sounds lazy, and uneducated. Adding rice cereal is nothing but a filler which would likely do nothing but add to his digestion issues. You are feeding the child so if you feel a change in formula is necessary then do so. Do it correctly though, slowly and over a period of time.
Most importantly though, find a good doctor.
Reply:You don%26#039;t have to have his doctors premission to change his formula. What kind is he on now? I hear that the Carnation Good Start with comfort protiens is really easy for babies to digest. This may help him. My son is on Similac Isomil, it%26#039;s a soy formula, but his father is also highly lactose intollerant so we assume that Draigh is also. Do a little experimenting. Find out what works best for that baby. Doctors don%26#039;t ALWAYS know best, some of them are just jack*sses. You could always take him to a different pedi and see what they have to say. And as far as over feeding him....SOME BABIES ARE JUST HUNGRIER THAN OTHERS...Your grandson may be one of those babies that starts on rice cereal earlier, but I would wait a little bit to do that, at least until he%26#039;s older than 3 months. This may also help satisfy him longer. Good luck.
Reply:Sounds like the amount is okay, but the formula is not setting well with him. I would definately suggest burping his really well and trying a different brand or switching to a soy based product. (Humans tend to be allergic to cows milk even though we don%26#039;t recognize it.)
And why in tarnations do doctors just give medicine to fix every issue? That makes me so mad. Did he do any tests to check for acid reflux before prescibing meds? You can try changing baby%26#039;s sleeping position to help if that really is the issue. (try the swing or an Amby bed)
Reply:My daughter is eight weeks and she eats four ounces almost every two hours..The docotor has changed her formula once. She started on regular but in the hospital she wasn%26#039;t holding it now and they put her on soy ...now she%26#039;s on something really different...she kept spitting up so i went ahead and put a teaspoon of rice in her four ounce bottle and she%26#039;s doing alot better. I would go ahead and switch his fomula without permission or consider going to a different doctor.
Reply:My daughter is nearly 4 months old and she eats 3-4 ounces every 2-3 hours. She weighs about 14 pounds. I have been told by doctor that a baby should drink 4-5 ounces of formula for every kilo that he/she weighs. My daughter was spitting up often as well and I changed her formula on my own to a soy-based formula and all is well now.
Reply:my 3 week old son eat 4-5 oz, the doc said it is very good. he spitts up but gains weight which is fine as long as he is not loosing any. your grandson is fine change the ped.
Reply:#1. You have a really, really, really, bad Doctor. Sorry to tell you that. For the teething(which can start happening at 6 weeks, but you probably won%26#039;t see a tooth until 6-9 months) follow the instructions on the bottle, use dye free baby motrin(you can always ask the pharmacist if you are unsure).
#2. You never give a baby under the age of 6 months rice cereal(especially in the bottle). There is no nutritional value at this age, everything the baby needs comes from the formula. This also stretches the babys%26#039; tummy and makes them more hungry more often. Adding the cereal to the bottle will also make the baby lazy at eating regular foods when it comes time.
#3. Because you grandson is fed formula, you might want to try giving him(bottled, not from the tap) 2 onces of water a day. Make sure that no tap water is being used(unless boiled first) because there are additives(like flouride)that are very bad for babies(lessen bone density)
#4. You might need to change the type of nipples that you are using. Maybe he is sucking too fast and getting to much milk to quickly, causing indigestion. Try slow flo nipples. Make sure you are burping the baby after every 2 ounces of formula. If the baby isn%26#039;t burped this also causes indigestion and then baby will fill up faster and be hungry sooner. You might also want to switch to a lactose free formula and see if that helps.(some babies cannot handle lactose).
#5. If he truly does have acid reflux, look for the signs. does he cry for no reason when laying flat on his back? Does he have a hard time sleeping at night? Acid reflux is caused because the esophogus is not fully developed, and as soon as it is, it goes away on it%26#039;s own. To alleviate his discomfort always carry him in the upright position, if he is laying down in his crib, put a pillow between the crib and the mattress to tilt the mattress so that the baby is not laying flat.
A baby should be back to birth weight by 2 weeks. Double birhtweight by 6 weeks and triple birthweight by 3 months. IF this sounds like your grandson then he is probably eating the right amount. Taking time and not rushing him to eat will aslo help because he will realize when he is full and stop eating.
My best advise is to find a new Doctor that got their degree in the last 2 decades and doesn%26#039;t practice medicine old school style. Good luck to you and your Grandson. I am sure everything will work out, especially with all the love the little guy has!
Reply:My daughter was 10 weeks old on Saturday. At her last appointment she was 13 pounds 4 ounces. She eats 4 ounces of Similac Sensitive every 2-3 hours during the day and usually sleeps for 6 to 8 hours every night. (total is 26 to 30 ounces a day, some days she is hungrier than others) She seems to be teething as well (lots of drolling and sucking on her hands but I haven%26#039;t seen teeth under the gums yet.)
At first she was on regular Similac. We switched her to sensitive which is lactose free and it seems to agree with her much better. Most of the time she finishes the 4 ounces but sometimes she stops just after 3 ounces. With her gaining weight well we aren%26#039;t worried about her not eating enough. Also our doctor said with reflux smaller more frequent feeding so they don%26#039;t spit up as much and she may spit up once or twice a day or maybe not any. Also with reflux try to hold the baby upright or at an upward angle for at least 20 minutes after a feeding. We use a bouncy seat or swing when we have to do something else. Also you can elevate one end of the crib (like on blocks) so that you can have him sleeping with his head elevated. My doctor did say we could try rice cereal in the bottle to see if it helped when we first figured out she had reflux. Her reasoning was if the rice cereal helped then we would look at switching her to a formula with rice starch in it. If it didn%26#039;t help we would look at a something like Alimentum (hypoallergenic) or Soy. The rice cereal was not a long term reccomendation just to see if it helped with reflux. After talking with my daughter%26#039;s doctor we do regular feedings throughout the day and before she sleeps all night give her a little cereal in a bottle with that last bottle. That way she can rest more peacefully and not spit up while sleeping. That may have been just to humor me, but we decided that the spitting up gets worse in the evening and at night and I just worry about her spitting up in her sleep. Also if she has a day when she hasn%26#039;t spit up then she doesn%26#039;t get any cereal in that nighttime bottle. The doctor didn%26#039;t want it in every bottle though because she doesn%26#039;t want her gaining weight too quickly. She also has 3 children and had one with more serious reflux issues. Not all doctors are equal and I like having one that actually has children and knows first hand what I am going through.
You and the children%26#039;s parents are with the child more than any doctor. Look for a doctor that listens to you and works with you to find a solution for your grandson. Also look for one that takes the time to talk to you and listen to you. With my daughters doctor she never rushes us out of the office, always asks for my input and addresses my concerns without making me feel silly about them.
With my daughter the doctor did say reflux gets better as a baby gets older, but there is not magic age that applies to them all. Each child develops at their own rate and be patient it will get better eventually. Her plan of treatment was :
try smaller more frquent feedings
try heavier formula (rice starch)
try soy
try hypoalergenic
do a swallow study to determine the severity of the problem and rule out any other problems
try daily meds as a last resort
then monitor her closely.
Thankfully we never had to get that far and my little one is doing better on her own.
HORSE
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