Tiny appetite and progressively slowing weight-gain

[zoeselina]

I have sometimes tried pumping after a feed, but I often forget or don't get a chance with so much else to do. I should really get into the habit of doing that for a while. The times I have done it, almost nothing comes out, so I'm fairly sure Ella is getting everything she can from me. I have had her latch checked at the health clinic and it seemed okay.

Her length was average, but has slowed down lately, so her weight for height is looking better now. Her head circumference is okay for her age too.

I'll keep you posted on how we go. I have a sneaking suspicion that her teeth had a lot to do with her lack of appetite. She had a pretty miserable time for the last two months with teething pain.

[Vicku]

I have a sneaking suspicion that her teeth had a lot to do with her lack of appetite

yk this happens a lot! No fun eating when it hurts so they only take in the bare minimum to take the edge off the hunger. Fingers crossed she starts eating more now

[zoeselina]

I'm now supplementing each feed with a bit of formula, and finally Ella is starting to eat! Now that we're allowed dairy again, she is much happier with "real" formula instead of the prescription one. I'm pumping after every feed and if I get anything, I'm giving her that after the next feed too. For once I'm actually looking forward to the next weigh-in. Fingers crossed!

[Vicku]

Great news Come back and update when you know how it's gone

[Tay]

That's good news! She'll start picking up on the weight soon.
xxx

[zoeselina]

Update!

Bad news is that after a few days back on dairy, her hiccups, acidy breath, coughing and tummy troubles were back, so we're now off dairy again for a couple of months at least.

The good news is that I took Ella for a weigh-in today and she's gained 225g in the last two weeks! Hooray! She's been seriously making up for lost time, and eating for longer and longer sessions (unfortunately a lot of them are at night). I've gone back to EBF because once again we'd have to use the icky Neocate if she wanted formula.

One thing I wonder though... we've been off dairy for over a week again now, and last time we saw improvements in that time. This time she is still having pretty much the same symptoms except for the acid breath. Now I wonder whether it hasn't been just a teething thing this whole time. She has at least one more tooth on its way now (and I strongly suspect it's a molar, even though that's unusually early) and the last time we went off dairy, it coincided with her first two teeth coming through.

Do any of you know whether teething can cause excessive farting? She is puffing away ALL the time at the moment. And PHEW are they stinkers!

[Vicku]

Hi Zoe!

Great on the weight gain!
Hmm, I think it can take quite a while to get rid of the symptoms of MPI so maybe go dairy-free for another couple of weeks at least and see how you go? Then you could do a test again and see how she reacts.
Teething definitley always caused tummy upset in my DD1 (DD2 hasn't got a single tooth yet so not sure about her ) so I'd think the farts could be due to teething as well but it's so hard to know isn't it? I'm not sure what to advice but if it was me I think I'd try to hold onto the MPI free diet until I could see improvements and maybe then be able to tell either way if it's due to new teeth having made their way through or the milk free diet. I mean if teeth came though and she then seemed fine again, I'd probably then do a trial with milk again to see if anything happened. It's such a guessing game and I remember it well! Hope things improve soon.


/Vick

[zoeselina]

Yeah, that was what I was thinking too. The last thing she needs is to go through all that again just because mummy is experimenting on a hunch.   So we'll wait until these next teeth are through and things have settled down, then we'll try introducing a small amount of dairy back and see if she has a reaction. We may never know which thing it was, since the doc said she could well grow out of MPI by eight months or so anyway.