[catnat]

We have always had trouble keeping weight on H (actually I lie, he has just had a wonderful growth spurt and has hit 14.5 kilos at 4.5 ).

When he was that age however we were doing a combination of loading up his high-chair with high calorie foods and letting him play and nibble and then also doing purees with extras stirred through it. My other son was on a disgusting tasting formula and the paed got us to start with putting some golden syrup in it and then reducing the dose gradually and it took about a fortnight before he took it properly.

[squirt081]

maybe try adding nuttelex and canola oil to some food.

[Hootabelles]

I feel your pain. People can be so stupid. Ahh, yeah, I am well aware my child is little, no I am not starving him, yes I am aware he needs to eat more... do you honestly think that if you as a random stranger at the shops can notice his size that I as his mother would be unaware of it!! GRRRR

My son is a bit higher on the charts than your little one but some of the things I would suggest...

Try things like avocado, sauces (hard cause a lot are milk based), meat (nice fatty ones slow cooked).

Can you get a supplement from the paed with extra calories?

EDIT Just thinking, is the main drive for her to gain weight due to the epi pen? I don't know much about epi pens but I presume the reason is that it is too high a dose for under 9kg? Perhaps there could be another option? This might relieve some of the pressure on you re her weight gain. Surely there must be an option such as an measured injection of the same medication as is in the epi pen?

The Epi pen was my main concern but she is since not gaining anymore weight and has lost a bit of her energy so that is what is concerning me now. Unfortunately they cannot prescribe a lower dose of adrenalin.

i have googled poly-joule so will go to my chemist tomorrow as it looks like something that may assist me.
thanks

[Hootabelles]

We have always had trouble keeping weight on H (actually I lie, he has just had a wonderful growth spurt and has hit 14.5 kilos at 4.5 ).

When he was that age however we were doing a combination of loading up his high-chair with high calorie foods and letting him play and nibble and then also doing purees with extras stirred through it. My other son was on a disgusting tasting formula and the paed got us to start with putting some golden syrup in it and then reducing the dose gradually and it took about a fortnight before he took it properly.

Golden syrup..thats one I haven't heard of. I'll give it a go..might call dietician first to ensure it's ok. It doesn't have the bacterial concerns that honey does? She normally sees the bottle and starts to cry as I have been trying for weeks consistently as advised by DR's etc..

[Gonewiththewind:...]

Have you tried styringing formula or extra breastmilk in? I used to do this with my son. 5-10ml every hr or 2 adds up to 1/2 a bottle or so over a day!

[QueenOfTheDesert]

My son was put on Neocate for CMP and soy intolerances and the paed allergist recommended vanilla extract and/or icing sugar to sweeten the taste, gradually decreasing as tolerated. We used both then dropped the icing sugar then dropped the extract. It took about a fortnight but then he was happily taking the Neocate with no added sweeteners.
Touch base with a dietician that specializes in allergies/intolerances if you can. They are a wealth of info!
Also, if you are breastfeeding, it is very important that you remove ALL dairy from your diet as it passes through to breast milk.
Also, it's worth mentioning that anemia can cause appetite suppression. If your dd is anemic this will exacerbate the situation.
Good luck OP. it is such a minefield to have to navigate through.

[mayahlb]

We were told to use golden syrup in his bottles of neocate if he wouldn't drink it (he find it yummy for some bizarre reason). Most of the things we did to get him to put on weight have already being mentioned here. Polyjoule is a great help as well, we never used it but I know people have been (no we just got threatened with hospitalization and monitored feed instead)

I must also repeat what others have said about making sure all dairy is removed from your diet if you are still BFing (you probably have though as she doesn't sound like she is having hives from feeding).

[mumtoactivetoddl...]

Suggestions such as potato and leek soup made with lots of oil. This is also low in salicylates which can be a help if they are sensitive to that. Try mixing mango puree with the formula, and maybe try polyjoule which is great for calories. I second the new dietitian comment too. Also if your bub is refusing a lot of food they could be salicylate intolerant which my son was - he refused a lot of food and also was losing weight. Oh and conconut is high so if bub is salicylate intolerant they may not like coconut. A lovely dietitian basically said to me you need to get calories in for their brain development and if that means sweetening the formula a lot then so be it, or anything else. We are now dealing with the eating issues with DD but you know it was still better to have the battles and get the food in (it usually took 2 of us) and deal with the consequences now.

[OneMore?]

We have been where you are. My DD was 6.6kg at 1, and 9kg at 2. She is now 13.5kg at 3.5. It has been a long long long hard slog to get to where we are, and it still continues.

My DD is CMP intolerant and on Neocate, she was also FTT for the first 2 years of her life. We have tried it all, extra fats in all foods, prescription MCT oil, Polyjoule, Polycose and it either went straight through her (and burnt the skin on her bottom) or she would vomit it up. If the above products haven't been offered to you then you need to look for different specialists.

We ended up at 5 months of age getting a NG tube put in as she was losing weight not gaining, this is was a bit of an extreme measure, but in looking back she seemed to behave a bit like a premmie, if she didn't have to work for the feed then she put on more weight. Every ml was a struggle to get into her.

I am in no way saying this is the way to go, but the extra fats just didn't work for us, I know we are the minority.

I have a blog with some info on DD - let me know and I will forward you the link.

This post has been edited by OneMore?: 07/04/2012, 08:12 AM