When does it become a concern?

Recently my boys stopped being hungry (it's obvious when they are) every 3 hours, so we began every 4 hours.

At every 3 hours they were eating 5oz with 2.5 scoops of rice cereal.
Now at 4 hours, they eat 6oz with 3 scoops of rice cereal.

They use the Dr. Brown bottles w/ a Ycut nipple.

It's becoming like a hit or miss if they finish all 6 oz. Out of 4 feedings a day, it seems like at least 1 of them they only take half and drink only 3 oz. Sometimes it's 2 feedings a day though. They don't stop and appear that their in pain. Most of the time they are laughing or kind of playing with their tongue against the nipple.

They do still appear to have reflux issues. They don't appear to be in pain while eating or every right after. However, they do still have their "episodes" where they arch their back super hard for 30 seconds or a little more, looks like their eyes will pop out of their heads, and are trying to cry, but can't seem to get the cry out.

What does it sound like to you? I was thinking I'd take them into the doctor tomorrow, but it's a struggle to get the military doctors here to really listen to you.




ETA: I should add that these still have nice & wet diapers and a couple poops a day.

 

It sounds to me like they could still be struggling with the reflux. My babies, in the beginning, would cry and arch, but then they just started refusing bottles, or refusing after just a couple of ozs. Can you try and video tape one of their episodes, so that the doctor can see it? I would take them in for a weight check and discuss it again with the dr. Be persistent, I know how it is to have drs that aren't listening. :gah: :hug:

 

I'm going to try and keep the camcorder right next to me all day so I can hopefully catch their episodes on video. We've done it once before, but it's not as scary on video, but hopefully it'll help.

Thanks

 

It seems to me that 6 oz in a feeding is pretty good for 2 months olds (adjusted). Mine didn't get to that (one still hasn't!) until a good bit later (but mine weren't the best eaters either). You said you feed 4 times a day. Can you add in a dream feed? ARound 10 or 11? But in the end, as long as they are gaining, i would try not to worry too much.

We also made our formula more concentrated to give them more calories since mine didn't take too much--but he wasn't gaining well either. So that could be an option if you are concerned w/ calorie intake.

I guess they are on reflux meds? If not, maybe you can try that....

Good luck!

 

I can't remember what kind of meds they are on, but it sounds like maybe an increase in the dosage may be needed. Good luck with the hard headed docs!

 

They on prevacid. They take 1/2 solutab, twice daily. I'm gonna go ahead into the doctor tomorrow to get a weight check and talk about the prevacid. I'd really like a referral to a GI specialist, but we will see if I can get that.

 

as i'm sure you are well aware of my feeding issues. the boys refused bottles for a month or so eating 14-20oz a day total, often times down right refusing meals. we were offering 5 bottles a day and averaged 3.5oz to 5oz a feed if they took it at all. sometimes they would go to bed for the night without eating a thing or sleep through the night and refuse their morning feed and not eat until their next feed mid morning. we had LOTS of cereal to their bottles. i think it's about 2.5tsp per ounce.

as of yesterday we have dropped a bottle, going from 5 to 4 because we were noticing that everyother feed would take twice as long and go nowhere. now they eat every 4.5 to 5 hours and do decent but it's only been day two.

i took them to the ped on friday and they actually gained a pound in a month...that whole month they were refusing bottles they still managed to gain.

so if anything go in there and at least ask for a weight check. you don't often need an appointment for that, at least then you'll know if this is starting to affect their weights.

have they started solids yet or cereal from a spoon? we are still on straight bottles and are going to start solids at 6 months (5 months adjusted).

i'm not sure if it's reflux or not. we never could figure it out with our boys and still can't. i think a large part of it right now is that they are teething, TONS of drool, red cheeks, constant chewing...so their bellies are full of saliva from swallowing so much of their drool. sometimes they will throw up and it's all drool, it's gross.

i hope it all works out though. but try not to worry to much unless they start loosing weight. if you are really concerned and this lasts for a period of time try and take them in for weekly weight checks so you can monitor it and know if it becomes a problem. until then try not to fret...i know easier said than done, right?

 

Yep, I knew your feeding issues. I've been wondering for a month now if they were teething due to LOTS of drooling. It could make a huge ring around their neck. I basically leave bibs on them all day at this point. They are sucking on their hands like crazy. They'll suck on each others heads if they're laying next to each other if you don't stop them.

They eat 4 times a day and at least 2 of them they've been finishing off 6oz, so they get 12 oz there. Then anywhere from another 6-12oz depending on if they finish their other two feeds. So I guess there's getting anywhere from 18-24oz a day. Ok, I guess it doesn't sound as bad when I put it like that :headbang: I would say that they haven't gotten less than 15oz a day

 

Good luck at the doctor, be sure to let us know how it goes! :hug: