Added thickner to bottles and amount to give?

[Elisabeth and Victorias mummy]

My dd is 7lbs 4ounces and is 2 months old, since she has reflux and an allergy to milk proteins we have her on nutramigen and add a corn starch based thickner to the formuls, it has the consistency between honey and pudding.  My question is she is only taking around 12 ounces a day in formula, and she use to be quite a good eater, she is sleeping qwell and seems quite happy,yet 12 ounces does not seem like enough to me, could the thickner have anyhting to do with this? Is 12 ounces enough for her to grow on?  Any ideas would be grratly appreciated.

Cheers

[evelyn]

Hi there, iv never heard of that thickener, but 12 0z doesnt sound like much for your lo, how are her nappies?
I used to mind a wee boy who had reflux and he had special formula(cant remember what its called) which was thicker alright but he was able to take the recommended amount for his age. I'd go to the pharmacy and check it out!
HTH

[*Natasha*]

Could you try and lessen the amount of thickener you are adding? It sounds like it is to thick for your baby to drink. We had the same problem we had to play around with the amount we added until we came up with a good consistancy that worked for DD. Have you also changed over to a faster flowing teat?

[LŠuren]

Elisas mum

DS was born at 8lb 2oz and dropped to 7lb 6oz, I seem to remember at the time it was an accomplishment for us to get 10mls (a syringe full) into him at a feed. By the time we brought him home I was feeding him 2 or 3 oz per feed.  So, it may be enough - she look verys small in your photo (but it may be an old photo).

We have a general rule of thumb in the UK 2.5 - 2.7oz for every lb of baby, remember you are also using thickener as well so it may affect this to a degree.

Are you getting wet nappies? How long have you been on the new milk?

If you are in anyway unsure or your instinct tells you otherwise - speak to your doctor or get her weighed on a weekly basis.

HTH's

[Shdef]

In intensive care the babies hated nutramigen They didn't drink much and hated the taste. It stinks to me and not many babies will like it. But maybe she will get used to it. The German Hipp follow-on-milk has thickener in it and DS drinks just as much. He hasn't even noticed a difference. It might be the taste of nutramigen that leads to that problem.

Anyway... maybe you can consult your health visitor to make the taste nicer? You could add some teat to it to change the taste or something... And if it's possible use a bit less thickener. But I would only get that checked out by the health visitor or doctor, really.

[Elisabeth and Victorias mummy]

Thank You for all your replies,   I have just changed to a faster flow nipple so I will seeif that works also I have made the thickner a little less thick so with the combo I hope she will start taking more.  DD seems to like nutramigen, she has not complained or cried from the taste, it does smell quite awful though I must admit.  I will keep u posted of our succes or miss.  Thank You again. 

[Jacksmom77]

My baby has reflux as well.  I was using a Playtex fast flow nipple, but since added rice cereal (the way our dr. recommended we thicken - to see if it would help) we have started using the Playtex "Tri-cut" (also called variable) nipple.  It is meant specifically for adding rice cereal to bottles &, when tipped upside down, the milk doesn't drip out - it only comes out when the baby begins to suck - which helped my lo not choke as much when they were taking a "break" from drinking - & that helped a little with the spit up.  My lo is a very fussy eater (due to the reflux) so I'm so accustomed to being worried about if he's getting enough.  I just go by his wet diapers to make sure he's not dehydrated & that takes away from some of the guess work.

Good luck!