Not enough fat cells?

547 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by saintmom, Jun 26, 2004

Gidget

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2004

So, corysmilk and her post and my response have me wondering this. I have been wondering for a long time and need to ask it.

Alot of you know my ds was a formula baby after 3 months. I did not know enough or have enough support to make it work. Well, when he was bf and after he was ff'ed, he ate every three hours. More often on occassion. But it was normailly every three. He took a pacifier. When he ate till he seemed satisfied he either played or went to sleep. When he would get cranky at all I gave him his binky. if he still cried, I would feed him, if it kept him happy I did not. He is so skinny now it scares me sometimes. If he ever had cancer and had to be put on chemo, I doubt he would make it(I know, sick way to think). I am wondering if I did not feed him right as an infant and he did not get the chance to make enough fat cells and now is paying for my mistakes. It makes me soooo very sad I still cry over it.

He was not a chunky infant like his younger sibs, but he was a normal looking toddler. Thier dad is still on the skinny side. He, too was ff'ed.

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ShadowMom

· #2 · Jun 25, 2004

I'm not too familiar with your history as I'm new to this board, but it seems incredibly unlikely to me that you're the cause of his skinniness.

My AAP book says not to worry about using a pacifier; if baby is hungry, they will NOT want a paci and will scream until you feed them.

Makes sense.

Eating every 3 hours sounds pretty normal, as well.

So it doesn't sound to me like you did anything wrong at all.

I empathize with the formula-feeding thing, I have a very low supply and only produce about 10 oz a day, so DS is primarily formula fed. So sad.

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Gidget

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 25, 2004

Hi thanks for responding. I know you from elsewhere. I am, or was GMMalone over there.

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Gidget

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 25, 2004

Oh, and welcome. I hope you come to love this place as much as I do.

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Gidget

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 25, 2004

forgot to say earlier that with ds1 I was taught to feed him 10 mintutes on one side, change him and feed him till finished on the other. It would seem to me that he did not recieve enough hindmilk this way, yet, he still ate mostly ever 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

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dot2dot

· #6 · Jun 25, 2004

I don't normally post, but thought I would tell you what I learned at a LLL meeting regarding babies and fat cells. The fats in breastmilk are different from those in formula. When a breastfed baby gets bigger or "fatter," the baby's fat cells are getting bigger- kind of filling up. When a formula fed baby gets fatter, they are actually creating more fat cells, not just increasing the size of the ones they currently have like the breastmilk babies. This is why babies fed formula tend to have more problems with obesity as they age, once the extra fat cells are there it is more difficult to lose that weight. WRT your question, based on this information, feeding formula should not have caused your ds to not create enough fat cells as you are worried about. Most likely this is just the way he is!

I have no source for the above information. Like I said, my LLL shared it. If anyone does have a source or has conflicting data, please let me know!

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Messy Nessie

· #7 · Jun 26, 2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by dot2dot
I don't normally post, but thought I would tell you what I learned at a LLL meeting regarding babies and fat cells. The fats in breastmilk are different from those in formula. When a breastfed baby gets bigger or "fatter," the baby's fat cells are getting bigger- kind of filling up. When a formula fed baby gets fatter, they are actually creating more fat cells, not just increasing the size of the ones they currently have like the breastmilk babies. This is why babies fed formula tend to have more problems with obesity as they age, once the extra fat cells are there it is more difficult to lose that weight. WRT your question, based on this information, feeding formula should not have caused your ds to not create enough fat cells as you are worried about. Most likely this is just the way he is!

This is very interesting, if true... I will try to do search tonight to see if I can find any links!

Ginger and Kay (I know both of you from that other place, too!)

Anyway, Ginger, is he active and alert? A lot of kids are just skinny! My brother was soooooo skinny when he was small. I mean we look at pictures and laugh, he looked like a toothpick! He's a very tall, athletically built young man now. And our neighbors have an 8 year old little girl who is really tall and extremely skinny. Its almost painful to look at her- but its just the way she is right now. There will be plenty of time for them to gain as they get closer to puberty.

Please don't beat yourself up! From reading your posts, I know you carry alot of guilt about stoppnig bf-ing, but you are SUCH A GOOD MAMA! You did the best you could at the time and the 2 months of mama milk he got was so wonderful and important!

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ShadowMom

· #8 · Jun 26, 2004

Wow, it's like a big reunion!

Hi, Ginger and Nessie! Well, so far I really like this board. I'm not as crunchy as a lot of the moms here, but I lean more crunchy than a lot of the population, so it seems I fit in more here than other places. This is also a very active board, I love having so much to read.

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saintmom

· #9 · Jun 26, 2004

Hi!My 1st ds was so skinny he wore slim toddler sizes! this was a totally bf baby!I caught a lot of crp from relatives,got told he needed formula and ceral because I was "starving him"

Just do the best you know,learn all you can and don't beat yourself up

Sounds like your a pretty good mom

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