Who has used Pediasure?

[*Beema*]

V had a similar start to Nakita, with very slow weight gain, she hadn't put on any weight when we were discharged, she was 2180 on dishcharge, a week later 2170, but lucky enough that in the third week she put on some weight so we were ok to keep going, she took 4 weeks to hit her birth weight so a bit quicker than V and things went along slowly until she was about 10 weeks then she started losing weight, so it was at that point we were "told" to use formula top ups, I am in two minds as to whether at the time this was the right thing to do or not, as there were a number of factors that resulted in the weight loss and I should have persevered for another week to overcome those issues and see how we went, especially after doing quite a bit of research afterwards.

I know what it is like having a baby with no fat stores at all, Nakita was all skin and bones as well, she has rolls of skin, and her bum was just a series of creases (like lots of bum cracks ), not even a little bit round or plumb. But as she was my first I knew she was small but didn't really realise how skinny until I was with other mums at a mums group and I saw chub next to my very skinny minny . She was 45.5cm at birth so quite tall, so that didn't help the "look" of her.

I completely understand the word FTT as well, that is what we encountered at 10 weeks, she was almost 1kg under the 3rd%ile. Hearing those words is like a knife through your heart, using the word "failure" to a mother is the most horific word to hear, I felt like I had failed.

I would have to agree that inserting a NGT may be a step backwards, with quite a few tube fed bub friends I have seen the impact that the tube has, and when you think about it, it would be horrible having a tube tickling the back of your throat 24/7 trying to swallow food, milk etc would be very uncomfortable, and I have seen bubs go backwards being on tube feeds.

A mum from mothers group had a little girl at 36 weeks who was SGA she was just on 2kg and she is a very petit little thing, and I find it interesting that her Paed like yours looked at the whole picture of her size, her growth and development milestones and even though she was quite tiny, similar to V, he never mentioned FTT as it was "normal" for her.

Have they recommended fattening up her meals, with butter, cream etc, to get extra fats into her that way as well?

N is doing well, when she started solids at 6 months she just started putting on weight, it was like a light turned on and she was off, we have been lucky in a few ways that she wasn't an active bub, the hypermobility meant she didn't roll until 12 months and has only just started crawling in the last few weeks, so we got extra time for her to chub up, if she was an early mover it might have been a different story, as when they are little and get moving they can move a lot quicker as they have less weight to shift and getting them to chub up while on the move can be even harder.

N lost 400 grams during her first stay, from loss to regaining back to her pre hospital weight it was 8 weeks. But at that stage she had enough chub for it to not be of a concern.

Sending you all the chubby vibes I can , I hope V doesn't need to go through too much testing

[Janie]

Oh hun, sending you lots of hugs . It sounds as though you are doing a wonderful job with your little girl . I can't imagine how stressful it must be to go through this over such a long period of time.

My DS was borderline IUGR, and borderline FTT for the first 4 months of his life. He was born at 35 weeks, so that complicated things a little bit in the early days. I found it to be so all-consuming, worrying about his weight and feeding all the time. For whatever reason, things picked up when he was about 4 months old (well, there were probably a few reasons, but I won't list them all here). The biggest factor we could find was when he was diagnosed as having cow's milk/soy/nut protein intolerances. The more he had of those proteins, the less weight he put on, and the more immune deficient he became. Especially past 12 months of age. Fortunately, it wasn't too long after that that he was diagnosed, and changing his diet made an enormous difference in many ways.

I'm not at all suggesting that this in any way relates to your lovely DD, just sharing my experience, and saying that sometimes there is often a reason for these things. Of course, figuring out what it is is the hard part. Sending you lots of strength and support as you continue this journey

[csab]

They have told us to add butter/marg to everything she eats etc, but it is getting her to eat them. She is such a stubborn child too, if she doesnt want something she wont have it. She fights you, not to have it. So what are you to do.
As you mentioned once they start moving around its harder to put on the weight, V started crawling about a month before her last pead appt, but was commando crawling alittle before that. Which we were trying to get her to put more weight on before that happened. It certainly didnt help her last appt with her on the move, but her pead didnt take that into consideration either. You is flying around the house now, and is liking holding onto hands so she can walk, so it may not be all that long that she will be getting up walking.
With FTT, I felt the same, like I have failed her. It isnt a pleasant word to hear.
I too stopped BF at around 6wks with V as I started to feel as though maybe it was my milk not giving her what she needed to gain weight, but even when she was on formula, it didnt make much more of a difference. She also got constipated while on the formula and would scream and cry everytime she needed to do a number 2. I ended up changing her formula to Novalac constipation to help her out with that and it worked.

Was a bit worried about how she would cope with the change to cows milk, but she hasnt had a problem with it so seems good.

I am glad N is doing better with her weight gain, thats great. Your lucky she waited alittle bit before getting on the move. I was hoping V would gain abit of weight before she was more mobile, but at the same time I was worried that if she wasnt crawling at least then it would give the DR's something else to pick at with her. So I was in two frames of mind. V is a quiet little thing, very happy and loves her big bro's and sis's, she laughs at them all the time. She has the cutest little tantrum, when she wants to be picked up. She sits on the floor and lays her head down on the floor, with her arms laying flat, and whimpers then sits up with a sad face and waits for you to come and pick her up, if you dont come quick enough she repeats it. lol. Sounds like N has a similar temperment at V, its very girly. So cute. My other DD's would just yell the house down until they get what they want. Fingers crossed V doesnt follow their footsteps in that regard.

V and N did have a similar start didnt they. V was 2180gms at 2weeks old. She was 47cm long and a hc of 34cm when born.
As of 2weeks ago, she was 5.9kg, lgth: 65cm and HC: 43cm.

If you would believe it, they even had me worried that her head may not grow as her fontonell (soft spot) was too small, and they were saying that if her head didnt grow then they would be looking at doing surgery. So glad she proved them wrong with that too.

Thanks for this chat Beema, it has been helpful.

[csab]

Janie - Thankyou for sharing about your DS, so glad they found out why your DS wasnt gaining weight. So glad all is going great for you and your little man too now. Thats great news. How is your pgcy going? I hope all is going well.

[csab]

HI all,

Just thought I would continue on with this, and let you all know that the pediasure seems to be helping little Miss V. Although at the beginning she would only have the pediasure and seemed to full to eat anything, she has now started to eat a bit more. Even has started eating some meat. She started out with a bare weight of 5.9kg and 5weeks on is now clothed weight 6.5kg, I can actually start feeling her getting heavier. Ohh and her little belly is getting abit more plump.
She has her pead appointment Mid December so hopefully she would have put a few more 100gms on each week. Hopefully will impress the pead, and dietician as well as Genetics Dr's.

Will let you all know what her next weigh in will be, which will be her bare weight from the pead. HUgs all,

[*Beema*]

WOW

That is wonderful news CSAB, what amazing gains for little V, for a plump little belly I am so happy for you today, your news really brightened up my day

[csab]

Thanks Beema, I have never seen her with chubby thighs, and now you can see little rolls. Its sooo nice to see. Its nice seeing her fill out a bit. Still getting asked by people if V was premmie. A lady yesterday had her DS same age as V running around and asked how old V was. When we told her she was 13mths, she couldnt believe it as her DS is double the size. lol. Hows little Nakita going?