Isn’t my baby boy adorrrrrrable? I can’t get enough of him. The last few days he waits in bed for me to get him in the morning. I go to check on him and he’s smiling up at me. Aaghhhh….heaven. Well, guess who cut their first tooth? Yep, bottom left center. This breastfeeding might come to a screeching halt with teeth coming in. I say that…but I’m probably going to end up being one of those moms that breastfeeds their kids until they’re ten. Already he grabs at my chest and yesterday I swear he was trying to undo the buttons on my shirt.
Today was Cole’s feeding clinic evaluation. It went as I hoped it would. We were told not to feed Cole in the morning and bring in lots of foods that we know he’ll eat and food that we feel he should be able to eat but doesn’t. I brought Cheerios, crackers, yogurt as foods I knew he’d eat and hamburger helper, a pastry, and a cereal bar as foods that he won’t eat. He did as I thought he would. The feeding specialist said that he had eating difficulties (oral-motor difficulties) and that the fact that 99.9% of his nutrition comes from his formula was a huge concern. She said that he was not age appropriate in his eating (or lack of) since he’ll be 2 years old soon and still on a bottle. He qualifies for therapy at the hospital two days a week. We just have to wait now for a therapist opening which should be another month. I felt the appointment went really well as the therapist voiced all my concerns with Cole. He is not eating well, he is not pooping well, and we can’t wait any longer with these issues. She also said that her department bumps heads with GI all the time because GI is only concerned with calories and weight gain and could care less about the functional day-to-day aspects of life such as pooping and eating. She said that maybe once he starts eating solids that his bowels will start functioning better. She also reiterated what the dentist said on Tuesday that we should not be offering bottles all day long. Instead we should offer bottles at certain times such as mealtimes and snack times. Cole needs to establish a hunger cycle which he currently does not have because his bottle is always available and he sips all day long. She also said that he should be on a cup but not at the risk of not eating. She wants us to wait until we are seen by the feeding clinic before moving onto sippy cups. She also said that sippy cups are training cups and we need to work very hard with both kids to move to regular cups soon. Apparently this process is very demanding on the parents because we have to help them drink and learn not to spill their drinks. Uughh.
Last thought before bed: Congrats to Gina on the birth of her second baby boy!! Can’t wait to meet him!!
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Wow. One of the recommendations of our OT’s was to offer cups with straws instead of sippy cups. Our girls WILL NOT use a sippy cup, but they have taken to straws - this opens us up to juice boxes, juice boxes with milk (I’ve never heard of these until yesterday!), restaurant cups with straws (and a lid), etc. Something about the muscles in the mouth more adaptively learning to use a straw, rather than learning a sippy cup and then learning a regular cup. I try to offer bottles only in the am after 1st waking, after nap, and then before bed. I try to offer the straw sippy cups at other times for drinking (although I don’t offer often enough because they’re a pain to wash). I still believe the girls will drink a larger quantity from a bottle than a cup, and that’s why we continue w/ the bottles. The cup just becomes a toy (like plates and utensils)… but I guess that I really need to be offering it consistently for them to learn that it’s for eating and not play. Oh well, another shame on me for taking the easier way!
Oh, yes… and remember, Cole still outweighs Lessa, and maybe even Ivy! We’re at 20.5 and 22.5.
Sheesh, I can’t wait to meet this new peed we’re interviewing next week. Maybe we’ll find someone who’s more proactive and not just reactive!
Oh I thought that teeth would bother nursing too. It doesn’t at all. He bit once or twice but as soon as he saw my reaction, he has never done it again.
I agree with trying straw cups. But my kid has never been able to use a sippy at all.
My little man was a FT babe, and he took a bottle until 22 months. He saw the dentist last month, and his teeth were perfect. He has a protein enzyme deficiency, so we push as much milk as possible. That included bottles, which were easier to push fluids in, and took less time for him to drink. Since we have an older child, we knew that milk all day was bad, so we offered him water as well to “rinse” out his mouth throughout the day, and also were good about brushing his teeth 2x a day, even if it was only for 20 seconds or so (before he HAD to take over).
The sippy cup thing is nuts. You should take a poll….I don’t know a single 2yo on a regular cup. I know a LOT of 3 yos who still take sippies. I say getting the fluids into them is more important than how, and unless you’re confident your child will be in the very tiny percentage of children who won’t need braces when they get older, don’t fuss over it.
HTH!!
We use the straw cups here too. We did use the Nuby brand but now we use the take and toss straw cups. They are much easier to clean than the NUBY brand, We use the NUBY in the car or stroller since they don’t spill for us. Our kids never liked the “regular” sippy cups since they didn’t like to tip things to drink out of, They never even held their own bottles (LAZY KIDS!!!). I was going to suggest the same thing that the specialist recommended about the bottles all day but wanted to wait to hear what you said. It was explained to us by our ped. in AZ that kids will not go hungry or starve themselves on purpose, they are just really stubborn. DH and I decided to withhold things for awhile to get them to use the straw cups and it was amazing how quickly it worked. We do that at meal times now too. I offer three things (veggie, protein, and a fruit) I try to make sure they will eat at least one of the three things. If they choose to eat all three great, if not they may eat one or two or nothing at all (that never happens) and if they are hungry later then they know to eat better at meals. Our kids are older than yours so it works now.
You never did say what his weight was now? From a previous poster though he seems to weigh more than our girls (and maybe even the boy). Sorry they are so concerned about his weight. Ours weigh between 20# and 23#.
Suzan
Such cute pictures!! My 18 month old weighs barely 20 pounds and I was told at his last appt to only give him 15 oz of milk a day. Well, that’s where he gets most of his nutrition too! What is he going to eat??? I don’t believe in giving him pudding and putting butter on all his foods like we’ve been told. Has anyone told you how to get them to drink out of regular cups? I’m just curious because we hear that too and my twins seem so far from not dumping milk all over the place! Good luck and again, what a cute boy!
I just want to say I think you guys are doing a GREAT job w/ all your kids. My son is also a 24 weeker and will be 2 in December. His doctors and I are not stress over his weight b/c his is following his own growth chart. I say as long as Cole is going up (even just a little) on his growth chart, try not to worry. Do worry if he has not gain any for several months. We got the same input from our dentist as yours. I told the dentist there is no way I was going to brush his teeth after his last bottle at night b/c the risk of him gagging and vomiting, and then have to spend another 30-40 minutes refeeding.
They don’t know what’s like to clean vomits all day long! do they????
Monica
My daughter has feeding issues too, although she is much younger. If Cole hasn’t had a swallow study done, you might request one. Nothing like feeding your child radioactive food after starving them… But it doesn’t make it easier to diagnose other issues - like the fact that my daughter can barely swallow makes it very hard for her to WANT to eat. Good luck!