REAL AGE/ADJUSTED

My baby just turned 1 year old two weeks ago. She was born 3 and half months premature. So her actual adjusted age would be about 9 months.

I took her to the pedetrician for her 12 months follow up. He said to

1. go ahead and get her off Neosure to Whole Milk.

2. Star feeding her on regular table food that you eat (not baby food but make sure food is not too hard)

3. Stop feeding her from the bottle. Instead start using cups and let her start feeding herself most of the time.

4. Do not give her apple juice at all instead give her natural apple sauce

5. Give her a cup of milk with every feeding but do not exceed 18 ounces of milk in a day

6. Give her water throughout the day.

7. Do not let a day go by that you do not read to her.

Now my question to you mothers who had premature babies are:

Does your pedetrician advise you to follow her adjusted age or actual age when advising on the above

I am alittle reluctant to switch her to whole milk or to feed her on table food and not baby food.

She just learnt how to hold the bottle and she does not hold it throughout the feeding. How is she going to hold the cup?

Please someone who has babies early advise... also let me hear from those of you with a 9 months old coz that is her adjusted age even though real age she is one. She only has 2 teeth at the bottom. She sits up on her own for 10 or 15 minutes. She is not crawling yet but turning alot or she can push herself to the object on her stomach.

 

QUOTE(lisakim @ Apr 19 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]226696[/snapback]
My baby just turned 1 year old two weeks ago. She was born 3 and half months premature. So her actual adjusted age would be about 9 months.

I took her to the pedetrician for her 12 months follow up. He said to

1. go ahead and get her off Neosure to Whole Milk.

2. Star feeding her on regular table food that you eat (not baby food but make sure food is not too hard)

3. Stop feeding her from the bottle. Instead start using cups and let her start feeding herself most of the time.

4. Do not give her apple juice at all instead give her natural apple sauce

5. Give her a cup of milk with every feeding but do not exceed 18 ounces of milk in a day

6. Give her water throughout the day.

7. Do not let a day go by that you do not read to her.

Now my question to you mothers who had premature babies are:

Does your pedetrician advise you to follow her adjusted age or actual age when advising on the above

I am alittle reluctant to switch her to whole milk or to feed her on table food and not baby food.

She just learnt how to hold the bottle and she does not hold it throughout the feeding. How is she going to hold the cup?

Please someone who has babies early advise... also let me hear from those of you with a 9 months old coz that is her adjusted age even though real age she is one. She only has 2 teeth at the bottom. She sits up on her own for 10 or 15 minutes. She is not crawling yet but turning alot or she can push herself to the object on her stomach.


Wow, that was a lot of advice from your ped. Mine were also born 3 months early and we swithced them to whole milk at 12 months. Our ped. usually switches at 9 months (we did this with my oldest DD), but we waited with the twins since they were preemies.

I gradually started dropping the bottles around 11 months. So by 12 months they were only on 2 bottle a day and had been on some table food since 11 months. At 12 months Emilie was mostly on table food, with only her 2 bottom teeth, and Trevor was on some table food with some baby food. He stopped baby food at 13 months. My ped. said it was fine for them to still have some baby food at our 12 month appt.

We were told no more than 16 oz. of milk a day, that most of their calories/nutrition should come from food. There are many foods they can eat with only 2 teeth, anything soft, pancakes, waffles, mac and cheese, toast, cheese, pasta, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, etc. Just be sure it is cut into small pieces. They mash everything with their gums until they get their molars anyway.

I don't give mine water, I do give them one sippy of diluted juice, 1/2 juice 1/2 water. I have never been told not to give juice, but just limit it.

I was also told it was okay to still be on a few bottles at 12 months. Everyone is different about when they give those up. If you aren't ready to completly give them up now, start slowly dropping them. Give her a sippy cup at meals to practice with. Trevor did not drink well from a cup though until his daytime bottles were gone.

She should be able to hold a small sippy cup with handles, if not it won't take long for her to figure it out.

We went by actual age for feeding except we started milk at 12 months as I already said.

Don't do anything you aren't comfortable with. There is no harm done with keeping her on bottles and formula for a bit longer right now. I was just ready to get rid of them though.

Is your DD sitting up on her own yet, oh I see she is for 10-15 min., what happens after 15 min.? As for the crawling, she will get there, just be sure to give her lots of tummy time to practice.

I hope I answered all your questions. Feel free to PM me as mine were also born very early like yours.

 

My boys (only a few weeks early) and the other preemies in my preemie group followed their actual age for feeding, for the most part. That's what all of our pedi's suggested, too, so maybe it's pretty typical?

 

my boys were born at 31 wks and the pedi told me that she wants the babies on neosure until 15mths so mabye it varies from pedi to pedi. 1 of mine is way under weight so that may be why..

 

How is she doing with her weight? Mine were born 9 weeks early but were doing well on their weight gain and table foods, so we switched to whole milk right at 12 months actual. It made me very nervous, but they are doing fine with it. Mine were off Neosure at 6 months.

Table foods and the sippy just really take practice. Have you ever let her try using a straw? If she can do it, I'd get her a straw sippy cup. My girls do best with those.

 

First - go with what your gut says. IF you feel it is too early to do these things than it probably is.

Next, I am a pediactric dietitian - I follow LOTS of pre-term babies. For babies your girls age - I would wait until they have hit an adjusted 12 months to switch them to milk. As far as table foods vs babyfoods - let the babies tell you what they want. I doesn't hurt to keep babies on babyfood longer than a year. Conversly, if you try to force them to table foods when they are not ready - you can get some major food battles going one. Again - go with your gut here. You know your babies more than any doctor does. They have guidelines to follow - but every baby is different and you need to adjust for those differences!

As far as the bottle - I would wait until she is 12 mos adjusted. IF she just got the hang of it - let her get comfortable with it! Those are my suggestions!

Angel

 

My son was 13 weeks early and I had one ped suggest to change him at 12 months (9 adjusted) then I went to a new ped because I just not comfy with that. Even his new ped suggested to hold back on switching, so we did expressed breast milk til he was 13 months, then formula til he was 15 months, then gradually weaned him from that. I did all feeding according to this adjusted age, regarldless of the suggestions that were given to me. I just didnt feel like he was ready yet. My girls though they were 8 weeks early and are much more developmentally on target so Im thinking of beginning the switch to whole milk.

 

Just remember, these are recommendations, not laws- go with your gut, I'd work towards accomplishing these suggestions but make it an easy transition. If they're still taking a bottle for a while, it's not going to hurt them. If they stay on baby food a few weeks longer than suggested, that's not going to hurt them either. Take your time and do what you can, when you can.I can promise you they won't go to college using a bottle and eating baby food (or any of the other things that babies do), so take your time and do what you're comfortable with!

Also, switching from formula to whole milk is easiest if you go gradually anyway- try mixing 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk, then after a bit move to half and half and so on. Otherwise some kids have a hard time with the swithc. The same can apply to baby food- mix some baby food with chunkier stuff, give them options of both at meals, etc. This gradual approach will beasier on the kdis and on you!

Good luck.

Mellie