Wendy and anyone else for advise on fattening baby up!

Hi Wendy,
I would just like to get some advise from you. I know that Grace was also a small baby like Carmen. They are now 5 months old, and Carmen is
really struggling to gain weight. She only weighs 3,8kg now and Bjorn 5,5kg. I am so worried, even if you deduct the 7 weeks she is still underweight.
I started giving porridge now, and changed her milk to Lactogen. The clinic sister reckons it is milk that makes babies fat. Can you remember what Grace weighed at 5 months?
Thanks for listening!
Elaine

Hi Elaine

I was just thinking about your twins the other day and wondering how they were doing - you haven't posted in awhile. I can really identify with your concern over Carmen - I was beside myself with worry over Grace and tried so many different formulas with her. Started out on Nan, then changed to S26 Gold and finally ended up on Novolac AR which she is on now. She had quite bad reflux from 3 months or so. I remember we had to wait for ages for her tor each 4kg to have her first vaccs. I think by 4 months she finally reached 4kg. By 5 months she was probably around 4.5kg. She is now 8.5 months and weighs about 6.5kg - still a little thing and only just learning to sit - whereas her brother (8.5kg) is practially crawling.

My Paed told me about a powder to buy that I added to her milk which basically is quite calorie intensive. I thnk it was called Polycose. You can buy it from the chemist with out a prescription. You add 1 spoon to each feed. I did this for a few months and I think it helped.

I still give her 5 bottles a day -(smallish ones as she doesn't drink a lot at a time) whereas Michael only has 3 bottles of formula. She also loves her solids and eats well - but I agree - the formula probably does have a lot of intensive protein so I'm keeping up the 5 bottles a day until she reaches about 7kg.

I think you need to persevere with as much formula as she will take and give her the solids as well. I am sure things will come right eventually. Have you chatted to a paed about it at all?

Grace is still a little girl and although 6 weeks prem I look at her more like she was 2.5 - 3 months prem because she was basically the size of a 29 week old baby when she was born (1.4kg)

Let me know how things go - I can really empathise with you.

Hi Elaine

So good to hear from you!!

Mine was a bit bigger that little Carmen (2kg) but I don't know if you give her formula according to the formula 120-150/kg devide by bottles per day or what stand on the tin.

I used the 150ml and know how much they had to drink in 24 hours. Mine struggled alot with reflux so it was really difficult to stay at a 3 hour routine but they got max milk and pick up between 400-500gr a month till they got sick at 9 weeks and again at 5 months but otherwise they picked up very good.

Unfortunatly they are on Isomil and the soya do make them pick up more weight than usual but on this stage they are 9 months old and not even 8 kg.

The only thing that I know from the solids is that is safe you alot of money on milk because they drink a bit less but the calories and nutrietanal value is not the same as formula. Mine pick up the minimum about 150gr a month from we start solids so that made a difference. You gonna need to get somthing that you can add to her milk like Wendy said that will help her gain more weight.

Good luck, hope you will come right!

Hi there
I posted a woe-is-me post on the same subject in the mommies' loungs. Although mine weren't that tiny (1.85 and 2.2kgs) they have recently slowed down a lot in terms of picking up weight. They are eating solids very very well and have up to 600ml Infacare per day, but they are now only 8.25 and 8.35 kgs, at 11 months (9.5 months).Now this may not help much but my nanny (who has looked after multiples for 20 odd years) tells me this is very often the case with twins, they just grow slower than singletons. I would have loved for mine to be those kind of babies that weigh like 8kgs at 6 months but the fact is the will never be like that, and althoug I worry I have to accept it! So as long as they continue to pick up weight, albeit slowly, and continue to develop well, that is OK. Anyway, who want big hulking, fat baby girls anyway, right??

Thank you Wendy and Melanie. Yes I havn't posted for a while. We've been in and out of hospital with Carmen. She is getting sick with bronchiolitis every second week. The pead was also concerned last week, that is why he suggested we start solids and maybe change milk. The Lactogen is not working, she only drank it yesterday and she was coughing the whole night. So it is back to Isomil. I am definitely going to by that stuff to put in her milk, thanks Wendy. Carmen does exactly the same thing Grace is doing. She drinks about 5 bottles a day, but the quantities are very little. She never finishes it, and no matter what I do she just won't drink. But she does like the porridge. I just whish we can reach the 4kg mark.

Thank you for helping me!!!!

He he, yes Paulae. I agree on that one. I am very thankfull that Carmen is the small one and Bjorn the big one. It would have been a train smash if it was the other way around. But it does stress me out that they grow so slow. Definitely not easy to get used to this prem thing

Eliane mine is also on Isomil and I must say - I would also not like the taste of the milk - poor babies.

But I must say mine drank every 3 hours till 4.5 months and they were on 5 bottles a day till 7,5 months and at that stage still getting a night bottle - I think that also helped with the weight but still they are not they weigth that they are suppose to be for a 9 month old baby.

As for the bronchiolitis - I struggled just as much with sick babies all the time and in and out the hospital or doctors rooms until we put them on sinculair at night and asthma inahler daily and I don't have sick babies anymore, they don't have this weezing chest of struggle to breath and couch anymore.

The bronchiolitis is a big thing and mine lost alot of weight everytime they were sick with it and that can also be why she pick up so slow!

HI ladies

I have the opposite problem Kian ate too much when he was small due to his reflux and although he eats less now I have to watch him as he has gained too much he is 9kg at 8 months!!! should I be putting him on diet?

Kerry I have the same prob with Noah - he refuses to eat solids but can you believe he weighs almost 9kgs at 5 months! and is tall like his daddy. Finn weighs around 1.5kgs less and is small (although he LOVES solids) I so hope the one isn't big and fat and the other small and skinny

Thanks for this post Elaine, I have the same problem with my twins as well. They both 8 months 1 week old, one weighing 9.5kg & the other one is 7.2kg, they both feeding at the same time & same portions but the tiny one is a fussy eater and takes longer to finish up her feeds.

I read somewhere on line abut Protifar, a powder that i add on her feed to fatten her up but now she has a runny tummy & refuses to eat any solids & she's vomitting if you forcing her. Am taking them both to Pead tomorrow,hopefully its nothing serious.

I guess as Pulae said, twins grow differently maybe we comparing them with each other a lot.