How to forumla feed on 3hr easy

[Skadiver13]

Hi all, so LO was switched to hypoallergenic formula and additional rice added (no judegment please) due to severe reflux. He's on zantac now etc. BUT He's only been eating about 20-22oz a day and the pedi says he needs to eat between 24-28. I know a lot of it is due to the reflux so I'm trying to get him to eat more now with the cereal in teh bottle etc. BUT he doesn't seem to be hungry after 3hrs so how do I stick to a 3hr easy when he isn't hungry. His awake/sleep is 3hrs but he's not always hungry after he wakes so he'll only take 2oz but then gets hungry during his nap. How do I fix this. He really  nees to be eating more but I refuse to try and force it down his throat when he's not wanting to eat.

[Lolly]

How old is your LO? What weight is he and what dose of zantac is he on? What bottles are you using and what flow teat are you currently using? Have you tried feeding him at 3.5 or even 4 hours?

I'm not judging for the rice in the bottles because your Dr obviously suggested it but there are better alternatives. Rice cereal is a choking hazard because it doesn't thicken evenly and rice is really hard on the digestive system for babies. It can cause constipation which makes reflux worse and it is probably filling him up which is contributing to him not taking much milk. Consider how much you are having to add to thicken the milk - when you start weaning the max they take is one or two teaspoons once or twice a day, I bet he's getting much more than that over 24 hours in his bottles! You can get non-food thickeners which would work much better than the rice.

My two refluxers both needed 4 hours between feeds by 12 weeks (DS would have gone longer if I let him ) so we had to do a non EASY until their A times caught up. It was somerthing like EASAES, we just made sure we didn't feed to sleep when E came right before S and it was fine until they were able to do 2 hours A time.

Laura

[Bex09]

Hi, no judgement from me either hun but just wanted to share our experience with rice cereal and our DD who had reflux. We tried it early at 5 mo to see if it would help. Our paed said it would go one way or the other, a huge improvement or a disaster. Well it was the later one, our DD just could not handle it and it caused her so many tummy problems and pain from the reflux was much worse. Hope things get better soon, life with a reflux bubs is hard going... Hugs.

[Skadiver13]

How old is your LO? What weight is he and what dose of zantac is he on? What bottles are you using and what flow teat are you currently using? Have you tried feeding him at 3.5 or even 4 hours?
 
   He is just 12 weeks on thursday. He weighs 11.5 and he's on .8ml three times daily. I am using Dr. Browns and Avent. With pure formula he was using level 1 which was fine except with the reflux he could barely take 2oz at a time. I have tried level 2/3 nipples nether work, I tried the Y nipple and he drowned in them. I've taken to poking a hole in the level 1 and 2's which sort of works if I don't make it too big but it's been quite the trial and error process spending lots of money on the ones i've had to throw away.  i have not since we just got started on the cereal AND Zantac yesterday for the first time. He is'nt predictable when it comes to eating. Sometimes he's hungry after 2hrs sometimes not till 4. A lot of this i think has to do with the reflux i think.

I'm not judging for the rice in the bottles because your Dr obviously suggested it but there are better alternatives. Rice cereal is a choking hazard because it doesn't thicken evenly and rice is really hard on the digestive system for babies. It can cause constipation which makes reflux worse and it is probably filling him up which is contributing to him not taking much milk. Consider how much you are having to add to thicken the milk - when you start weaning the max they take is one or two teaspoons once or twice a day, I bet he's getting much more than that over 24 hours in his bottles! You can get non-food thickeners which would work much better than the rice.

  I don't really think a long time pediatrician would suggest something that was a choking hazard? I know a lot of people believe this and that's fine but if it makes my lo eat (I can barely get 20oz a day in him) then I'll do what's best for him. As for the stomach troubles he already has those issues so i"m on the lookout for any changes etc. and if I see any I will definitely see about switching to a thickener but he could use the extra calories the cereal gives him right now. He gets 1TB per 4oz. So thats about 7TB a day.

My two refluxers both needed 4 hours between feeds by 12 weeks (DS would have gone longer if I let him ) so we had to do a non EASY until their A times caught up. It was somerthing like EASAES, we just made sure we didn't feed to sleep when E came right before S and it was fine until they were able to do 2 hours A time.
 
   I can try doing the non EASY for now and jsut feed on demand as it were but I'm just worried as he's eating so little now with the reflux that spreading that out he'd eat less. And we have such a good schedule going but it's getting screwed up with the eating/napping issues.

[Lolly]

7 tablespoons of rice cereal would give about 70 calories over 24 hours where as an extra 5oz of milk would give 100+ calories - and it has the nutrients and fats that rice cereal doesn't. That's more than 21 teaspoons of solids which is a huge amount for a 3 month old baby to be getting, that has to be impacting on his hunger for milk If your Paed has always advised to use cereal as a thickener he may not be aware of non-food thickeners (like Simply Thick in the US, Carobel in the UK, there are others available). UK advice is to never add anything to a bottle feed because of the choking hazard.

He is on a fairly low dose of zantac so there is room for it to be increased - both my kids needed the full 4mg per kg for it to be effective and that's pretty common, it's also very weight sensitive so does need to be increased quite frequently. We used a reflux formula which thickens in the stomach and found the avent 6 month+ variflow teats to work the best, they have 3 'speeds' which you control by turning the teat.

Laura

[Skadiver13]

7 tablespoons of rice cereal would give about 70 calories over 24 hours where as an extra 5oz of milk would give 100+ calories - and it has the nutrients and fats that rice cereal doesn't. That's more than 21 teaspoons of solids which is a huge amount for a 3 month old baby to be getting, that has to be impacting on his hunger for milk If your Paed has always advised to use cereal as a thickener he may not be aware of non-food thickeners (like Simply Thick in the US, Carobel in the UK, there are others available). UK advice is to never add anything to a bottle feed because of the choking hazard.
 
    Hi Laura I ONLY started the rice cereal yesterday so that has NOT impacted his intake of milk the reflux HAS. I can NOT get him to take more milk at the moment prior to starting the cereal so the cereal is NOT the culprit. The reflux keeps him from eating more than 2oz at a sitting sometimes.  I will mention the non-cereal thickner at my next apt in 2 weeks. For now we'll stick with it.

He is on a fairly low dose of zantac so there is room for it to be increased - both my kids needed the full 4mg per kg for it to be effective and that's pretty common, it's also very weight sensitive so does need to be increased quite frequently. We used a reflux formula which thickens in the stomach and found the avent 6 month+ variflow teats to work the best, they have 3 'speeds' which you control by turning the teat.
 
   He wanted to start him on a low dose to see if it helps so we're giving it the two weeks. The lower the dose that works the better. He can NOT be on a reflux formula because he has a protein allergy so he is on a hypoallergenic formula so that wont work. I will try the variflow they were out when I went to the store earlier so I will try that tomorrow. But aren't those speeds just the same as level 1, 2 and 3 but all in one nipple?
 

[Lolly]

My two started out on a low dose and yes giving the least meds is always better - my point was really that most babies on zantac do need the full dose and as you are on a low dose there is that room for an increase in order for your LO to get some relief. It was not clear that you only started the cereal yesterday - so you are right, the reflux is bound to be the reason he isn't taking enough.

He can NOT be on a reflux formula because he has a protein allergy so he is on a hypoallergenic formula so that wont work.

I realise this, I was just relating my experience with a thickened/ specialist formula. There is a huge difference between the level 1 Avent teat and the 6 month+ variflow set at level 1. With the level 1 Avent there is a fairly slow drip out, it's much, much faster with the variflow. If you have the variflow turned to setting 3 even our formula (thicker than a normal formula but not as thick as your's probably is with the rice) was practically pouring out. We also used Tommee Tippee bottles initially, that variflow is suitable from birth and does not drip at all - just as a comparison of variflow teats.

Laura

[Skadiver13]

thanks for the clarification on the variflow. Will try that tomorrow.