11 1/2 Month Losing Weight

Like others said if you are not seeing a ped GI I would get one asap. It could be an allergy to milk/dairy and/or something else or she could have something like celiac disease or reflux, or any number of things that fit these symptoms. IF she is losing weight it is time to get proactive. Dr.s don't always know how to be advocates for kids, parents have to be. Get the upper GI done and maybe an EGD as well as some allergy testing if those come back neg. Talk to the ped GI and demand something be done.I hope she feels better soon, but this doesn't really sound normal in any sense, so don't let them blow you off or wait to see if it gets better.

My son also had a problem with spitting up as well. We went to a ped GI dr. All test came back normal. We have an appt for an upper GI radiology appt on Monday. I tried everything. And nothing seemed to work. I finally came to the conclusion that I may have been over feeding him. So now, I feed him a little at a time, and in between spoonfuls, I give him sips to drink. I notice now that he burbs twice before his meal is complete. He still gets his 3 meals and 2 snacks per day, but I don't give him large portions. He still spits up from time to time, but not nearly as much as he used to. I'm still going to go to his appt on Monday though. Try to limit the intake of food. Instead of 2 pancakes, try a half of one, cut up in small pieces, with a half cup of milk. Not all kids stop eating when their full. They will keep eating as long as we keep feeding them. I no that its frustrating. You guys will be ok. This will not last forever.

I do not have any answers as to why she is spitting up water and watermelon. I recommend that you try goats milk with her for the dairy sensitivity. I have used that for two of my children as they could not tolerate milk either. For my first daughter it was the difference between night and day with her once she started it. Some stores carry it or you might have to find someone who milks goats. It would help her to gain weight if she tolerates it and likes it as higher in fat than regular milk. The two children of mine can now tolerate regular milk so I no longer use goats milk and have sold our goat but please give it a try.

I would take her to a pediatric GI asap. Is the upper GI being done thru pediatrician of GI doc. If not GI doc, before I went ahead with it, I would
see GI and let him decide when studies need to be done. He is the pro.
If she is spitting up water she willl never be able to get down the barium
that she will have to drink. Good luck.

Wow, a lot going on there. My first guess would be that she has a dairy sensitivity. Not necessarily allergic, but can't process the dairy proteins. You mentioned it was also a problem when nursing? Did you eliminate the dairy from your diet completely? My DD (also 11.5 mos) couldn't take any dairy until about 10 mos old, and I nursed the whole time and had to completely cut it out. It takes about 2-3 weeks for it to cycle out of the body, so you need to be patient on keeping it out for a long time. I'd go see a upper GI sooner than later (not in 3 weeks if you guys are this miserable!). Best of luck.

Gosh, she's awful little to be on meds like that.

I think that things like Citraboost, Optiflora prebiotic and Infant formula would really help. Maybe she was started too early on foodstuffs? --the immune system is not ready. I know moms who have given infants a little herb lax--1/2 tablet mixed in water and given with an eyedropper--has been used for over 50 years. The acid reflux is probably happening because the digestive system has not had a chance to mature to take solid foods yet.

For info on those items, you can go to my business tab on my profile page. Put the items in the search bar and then read the 'more info' tab.

Hope it helps.

It sounds like she has reflux, and many (I've heard up to 40%) of babies with reflux also have food allergies, such as an allergy to dairy. My son has/had both, and so this is my advice from my experience (outgrew the reflux, still has the allergy).

For the reflux - she will spit up everything until she outgrows it. Reflux means that the muscle at the top of her stomach that holds food down isn't strong enough yet, and so anything she eats can come back up - milk, watermelon, even water. The best bet is to feed her smaller meals more frequently, because bigger meals just mean bigger spitups (half as much food, twice as often is the advice I was given). The meds will help reduce the pain of the reflux for her, so she'll be happier and sleep better. But it doesn't do anything for the spit up, in my experience. You just need to wait for her to outgrow the spitup. For my son, this was around 14 months.

For the likely dairy allergy - like I said, common in reflux babies. For 'milk', I give my son Nutramigen formula made by Enfamil (it is totally free of milk proteins and so is alimentum made by similac; some of the other ones marketed for sensitive tummies are not milk free so be careful of labelling). My son also likes rice milk to drink. If you are concerned with weight gain, you might want to stick with the nutramigen. It is higher calorie than rice milk. For butter, there is one brand that I've found that is completely milk-free (Earth Balance). I use these (the rice milk instead of cow's milk, and the soy butter instead of regular butter or margarine) in all my baking and cooking, and on my baby's food. Other higher calorie foods my ped recommended that have worked for us: scrambled eggs with extra yolks (made with rice milk or no milk at all), ground beef, diced chicken, and avacado. There is also a soy yogurt that my son likes (called O'Soy I think). All these things are easily found at any bigger grocery store.

There are also cow's milk free cheeses, but they are harder to find. In my area (Pittsburgh), I've only found them at Whole Foods. If you have a Whole Foods or other specialty grocery store around, you could go that route too, to add soy cheese to her diet.

It is a lot to adapt to at the beginning, but it is worth it to have a happy pain-free baby. And once you know where to find what you need in the grocery store, it becomes easier. Good luck and feel free to ask me any other questions you have.

I see that the doctor recommended yogurt. Did that go over well with her? My son could digest it much better than milk. He still doesn't do milk now, and he's almost 2. I fed the Yobaby stuff to my son every day, twice a day and it really helped with weight gain. Remember to look for yogurts that do still have all the milk fat in them. It seemed like most of the yogurts in the store were lowfat and full of dyes and artificial sweeteners. Another source for good, healthy fat is avacados. Right now is not the best season for them, but they're very good in the summer. You buy them when they are firm, not rock hard or squishy. They're easy to cut into with a knife (watch for the big pit inside) and then mash it or serve in small chunks. The peices are almost like a firm banana consistency. Between my son's 9 and 12 month appointment we did tons of yogurt, avacodos and pieces of sliced deli cheese when he would eat it, and the doc was very pleased with his weight gain at his one year. Good luck!

If you are near Pittsburgh call the feeding program at children's Institute.

wholesomebabyfood.com

This is an awesome site, that gives you the information on what foods are higher in fat content, stuff like that. It has individual info for pretty much any fruit/veggie/meat/ you can think of.

Try feeding her avacado! VERY high in the 'good' fats!!! If the taste is too much for her, mash it with some banana. Babies LOOOOVE that! (at least the ones I have known...)