Don't know what to do anymore

[RhianaW14]

My dd will be 1 on Aug. 7th. We are still nursing but my supply is so up and down, I don't think she's getting much anymore.

Back around fathers day I took her to the Dr because she was sick- had a fever and was poopy. She was around 20ish lbs. A few weeks before then at a well baby check she was 21 lbs some ounces.
Yesterday was a well check and she is 19 lbs some odd ounces.

She has started walking the last week or so, so I am sure that some of that weight loss is due to that, but its not like she was inactive before then. She's been crawling for months.

Sometimes she nurses 5 mins. I hear her swallowing but then after a few mins I dont hear anything anymore, yet she's still sucking. I asked the ped. yesterday about milk, when to begin, and he told me he doesnt see it necessary, that she's getting what she needs in my milk, but I dont even know how much she's getting anymore.
Sometimes at night when we are in bed and she's nursing, I dont always hear her swallowing, and it takes FOREVER for my milk to let down. Sometimes she will just give up and roll over

WWYD? Should I begin weaning her to a cup or bottle of milk or formula? I'm not against formula, my 1st 2 were bottle babies. I am more for knowing she's gaining and satisfied. I just don't know how to do it.

[RhianaW14]

Anyone??

[Bokonon]

Has your period come back? I notice a dip in my supply (DD getting frustrated with slow letdown) around my period, so I've started taking Fenugreek and it has helped tremendously.

I don't think there is any reason you need to wean, as you can always supplement with whatever you feel comfortable with, or just give higher-calorie and -fat solids like avocado and yogurt.

[alegna]

I also see no reason to wean.

How many times a day is she nursing? (about)

What does her food intake look like?

-Angela

[RhianaW14]

My period just came back this past Thursday, but my supply issues have been going on for months. I was taking Dom. but I cannot afford to keep reordering it.

She is nursing every 3-3.5 hours just about, and will only nurse from 1 side. She will latch on and nurse and sometimes she's not even swallowing after a few minutes. She's lost 2 lbs since Father's Day weekend (when I was at the peds w/ her and she was 21 lbs some ounces)

She doesn't eat a whole lot of food. When she was on jarred foods, she wouldnt even eat a whole stage 2 jar at a sitting, she'd eat 1/2. On stage 3's she will eat maybe 1/2 but that's pushing it.
She will eat table foods now, but again, not very much before she's giving the "all done" sign, which I don't know if she's really done, or just signing because she knows how.

[alegna]

What kinds of solids is she eating? I would focus on making her solids nutrient dense and high fat when possible. Avocado, yogurt (full fat), etc.

-Angela

[RhianaW14]

Examples of what she eats:

breakfast- cheerios and yogurt or baby cereal like oatmeal or 7 grains w/ fruit mixed in, bits of waffles or pancakes

lunch- She was eating stage 3 babyfood- little less than 1/2 jar with an additional fruit, Gerber graduate pasta pick ups (either w/ spinach and cheese or a meat w/ veggie inside) I cut them in halves and she will eat a few, plus whatever I give her on the side like a fruit or veggie. I also have the tub meals of Gerber graduates and 1 tub will last her 2-3 days. She will also eat little bits of cut up cheddar cheese cubes, white meat chicken breast nuggets (maybe 1 chicken ring cut up w/ breading removed), soft cooked veggies like carrots or green beans, yogurt

Dinners- sometimes whatever we have, if not, then its similar to lunch.

Snacks- small cut up fresh fruit or cheese, whole grain fruit puffs, Gerber toddler snacks, baby goldfish crackers, cheerios

I give her Yo Baby Yogurt. I've never seen anything that says "full fat". What type of yogurt is that?

The ped. wants me to feed her more protein foods. He mentioned meats but to be honest, they take her FOREVER to chew since she's just getting in all 4 molars, she has nothing but 4 top teeth and 3 bottoms. Makes it hard to chew meat! He said I can give her tiny pieces of cut up turkey dogs, but I am not going to do that. i dont care for hot dogs myself. He said I can do fish for her too, but I don't eat fish so I dont know what type and how to cook it.

[alegna]

Full fat as opposed to reduced fat Most yobaby is full fat, though there is some that is reduced (the extra probiotic iirc)

I'd skip the super processed foods like the gerber dinners. Cheese is good. Avocado. Sweet potato. I'd personally not bother with the purees.

For meat- roasts and chicken shred quite well. At that age whenever I made something of that sort I took some and shredded it and froze it in small portions so I could get a little out for the baby when I needed it.

good luck!

-Angela

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by alegna

Full fat as opposed to reduced fat Most yobaby is full fat, though there is some that is reduced (the extra probiotic iirc)

I'd skip the super processed foods like the gerber dinners. Cheese is good. Avocado. Sweet potato. I'd personally not bother with the purees.

For meat- roasts and chicken shred quite well. At that age whenever I made something of that sort I took some and shredded it and froze it in small portions so I could get a little out for the baby when I needed it.

good luck!

-Angela

Try Greek yogurt, as it is full-fat and has a ton of protein in it. Much less sugar than fruity yogurts, even YoBaby.

For meats, you can try ground beef, ground turkey, or lamb. They crumble easily and babies can gum them even without molars.

Add olive oil or butter to the veggies she eats.

[RhianaW14]

Greek Yogurt is actually 0% milkfat. At least the ones at Trader Joes is. I was going to pick some up yesterday. Dr. suggested PLAIN yogurt, but I'd rather have her eat it w/ fruit for added nutrition since she doesn't eat much to begin with??

She doesn't like the consistency of meat, which is why I think she's spitting it out. I do make plenty of meals w/ ground turkey or beef (trying to buy as much grassfed as I can- budget constraints )

So basically right now, I am trying to get her to eat what she will eat- even if its the Gerber meals. The Gerber ravioli that she eats doesn't have sauce, and its probably just as processed as any frozen type that I'd buy for our family. One tub meal has 6g of protein, but she wouldn't eat a whole tub in 1 sitting anyways.

Its much too hard for me to cook an actual meal for her for lunch when she eats maybe 3 tbsp of food for an entire meal. Lunches for my other 3 kids are pretty quick deals, so I don't make a 3 course meal for them for lunch. I give a main thing and then something like applesauce or yogurt. My 3 olders were pretty much raised on stuff that we are trying to phase out now, and being that my oldest doesn't touch ANY veggies and maybe 2 fruits, its just highly frustrating.
I wasn't AP or natural food eating until most recently (like when I became PG w/ my 11 mo old) So getting everyone on board isn't going so well.

I AM trying to get her to eat healthy, and she does for the most part. I will try adding some olive oil and butter to her veggies, rice and pasta. I did just buy an avocado today, so she can have that for lunch tomorrow.

I forgot, she was also eating cottage cheese and seemed to like it, so I will have to get more. She also likes cheddar. I bought the Tilamook brand because its vegetarian.

If you all have any ideas for breakfasts, I'd love to hear them. That seems to be my toughest meal for her. I made pumpkin muffins the other day and she didn't care for them too much. I think I added too much spice for her.

[AndtheStars]

I stir about 1 TBS of almond butter into DS's cream of wheat (he refuses oatmeal) In the beginning it was to give him extra fat and protein. Now its just because thats the only way he'll eat it. I also make pancakes using 1 cup of ground oatmeal in place of flour and whole(full fat) buttermilk. DS would eat three of them in a sitting if I let him. He's a big fan of meat so I can't help you there. I also feed him hummus on toast for lunch sometimes. You can always dip bread in olive oil too if you want her to do more self-feeding and she eats bread. DS likes the taste of garlic so I use garlic dipping oil. I make mini meatballs for DS with ground oatmeal (again), pureed spinach, garlic powder, and a little salt and pepper. He seems to like them and because they are a little more solid, they don't just crumble in his mouth. HTH!

[RhianaW14]

Thanks!
Unfortunately I cannot give almond butter. My 6 yr old has a high (level 6) peanut and tree nut allergy and needs to carry an Epi Pen. I am afraid that she may be the same way because she had eczema and showed all the same signs that he did when he was around her age.

I will try some plain hummus, or maybe even the roasted red pepper kind, because I like that kind. Do you think that is too strong for her?
She does eat bread and loves it!

I may do some steel cut oats for her in the morning, because she's always eating off my bowl!

My ped. did say to try to make little tiny meatballs for her, so I should try that. Thanks for that!

[SubliminalDarkness]

I'm curious... How much does domperidone cost for a day's worth? If you're considering adding milk or formula, I wonder what the comparison in price is between a day of domperidone or a day of milk or formula? It might be less expensive to keep your supply up regardless of the other things.

[RhianaW14]

Well, I have 3 other kids, so I buy milk on a regular basis for them, so it wouldn't be an added expense really. 1 gallon lasts 1 weekish for 3 kids. Right now I have 2 cans of unused formula in the pantry that I got free. I do have an opened one that I give her a bottle now and again. I only make 4 oz because if I make 6 then she doesn't drink it all. She only drank 1/2 of a 4 oz yesterday. I don't do it all the time, and I was just thinking of maybe adding in 1 bottle a day to see if that helps.

I paid $77 for Dom and it is a 600 tablet supply, and I took around 12 a day, so that is about a 50 day supply, which is more expensive than milk. I try to buy organic milk which is $5.99 a gallon here, so that is about $24-30/mo depending on how fast we go through it.

[Amanda Williams]

Hi mama. My little guy is the same way... born the same day, too.
Nurses about every three hours, only on one side, for 5 minutes MAX. I plan on nursing him until we conceive again, probably in about 6 months.

What about egg yolks. I fry them or scramble them in LOTS of organic or Kerrygold butter and my DS gobbles them up. We also do full fat cheese, brown rice noodles with butter and grass fed meat sauce, and homemade waffles made with coconut oil and extra eggs.

Good luck, I hope she starts gaining again. Hugs!

ETA: I also have three other kids and I kinda try to make them things that he can eat also. I use Annie's mac and cheese and boil the noodles in chicken broth for the extra nutrients. I also add a whole stick of good butter to two boxes of it to get the butter fat into my kids. I really believe the butter, whole fat cheese, eggs, avocado, coconut oils, etc. are much more important for her (and probably for your other kiddos) than the veggies, rice, and pastas are. Kids NEED lots of fat.

Keep up the great work. Those pumpkin muffins sound yummy!

[ElliesMomma]

maybe you can eat some of the steel cut oatmeal for yourself every day. it's a simple way to keep your supply up.

[Bokonon]

Have you tried Fenugreek? It's a galactagogue that is available at most natural foods stores, and some vitamin stores and pharmacies. It's an herb that's much cheaper than Dom., and might be worth trying.

[RhianaW14]

The last time I used fenugreek, I combined it w/ blessed thistle and it didnt do anything for me. I've been upping my water (which I dont know how thats possible lol) and its helped a little bit.
I weighed her b4 nursing on Thurs and she only got 2 oz from my left side.

I do eat steel cut oats now and again.

I feed her scrambled eggs (using the whole egg, not just yolks since she's nearly 1) and she doesnt finish the whole egg, it lasts about 2-3 days.
I bought some organic blueberry waffles (no waffle maker here) and she ate about 1/2 of it but I was also feeding her yogurt.

It seems like her appetite has been picking up a bit., and my supply doesnt seem as bad anymore.