This sounds just like my baby (who is now 11yrs old!). This drives me  
insane hearing stories like this. My story is almost identical to this except  
my bagdering to give formula started at 4 mths and then continued with the  
same advice you listed here. 
 
It seems it is always the fault of breastfeeding,--the breastmilk as to the 
 cause of weight issues and formula the answer to it.  Breastfeeding  can 
and should continue as they pursue a reason for the underweight. It  makes no 
sense to stop breastfeeding and giving the one thing that the baby  will 
drink and provides so much benefit. I ask, if this baby was  happily drinking 
formula and the baby wasn't gaining would they say stop  giving formula??? 
NO! They would say give MORE formula or change to  pedisure since the baby is 
older but  it  is still formula. Is there other symptoms in this baby??  De
velopmentally on track? Eating solids ok, does the baby swallow the food  or 
have a hard time eating solids? What do the diapers *look* like, is it  
normal poop? Any other things that are "off" with the baby? How is head and  
height measurements been? We must take in the WHOLE picture to put the  pieces 
together to figure out what is going on. AND it very well may be that  
nothing is wrong with this baby. And of course there may be something wrong  but 
stopping the breastmilk will not help this baby when we know the norm  is 
to nurse past this age and it is even more important for this baby  to 
continue to get breastmilk in case there is something wrong. What  testing has 
this baby had? Labs?? Swallow study? Etc??
 
You ask about giving pedisure. I would say mom can approach it like she  
would like giving any other thing to her toddler at 14mths. She can offer it 
and  see if he will take it but I would NOT substitute it for breastfeeding 
and  would not wean. Sort of how at this age you are still nursing but you 
toddler  will drink water or juice.
 
In my case, I didn't supplement with formula and I didn't force feed  my 
baby solids at a young age. I did pursue the cause of his underweight  (and he 
also had other symptoms) and he turned out to have cystic fibrosis,  which 
if they had just thought lets do a simple sweat test (not invasive,  doesn't 
hurt, cheap, and instant results and later I come to find out a first  line 
of testing for babies who don't gain weight because even with the newborn  
testing it is not always reliable) we would have known so much earlier what  
was wrong but everyone seemed to focus on something is wrong with my  
breastmilk and just give him formula and that would solve everything. And just  
so you know formula would not have been the answer for a baby with cystic  
fibrosis and would not have helped with weight gain but formula would have  
put him at a higher risk for infection. So glad I kept nursing him despite  
not knowing exactly what the cause was for his weight issue. 
 
Does this mom feel something is not quite right with her baby? I do feel a  
moms instinct can sometimes tell us if something is wrong or not. I wish 
her the  best! And it is possible to find answers while continuing to nurse 
but it is  hard to deal with the medical profession to do so, so she will need 
to have  support through this. 
 
 
 
Kim Ann Lorber
LLL Leader Quad Cities IA/IL
[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) 
_http://cancercaughtme.blogspot.com/_ (http://cancercaughtme.blogspot.com/) 


 
 
  
 
 
In a message dated 2/22/2011 11:17:23 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I am  hoping the wisest women I know will have some insight. Permission to  
post.
I have been working with this mother for over a year. Her baby is 14  
months old and still breastfeeding well. There has never been a problem  
breastfeeding. However, this baby has struggled gaining weight. Mom has been  given 
varying opinions from physicians, most related to stopping  breastfeeding. 
For the first 10 months she stayed at the 4%. Then, she dropped  to the 2%. 
This was enough for the ped to refer to a gastro-specialist. Her  appointment 
was yesterday. She is now 17 lb. 4 oz.

She first met with a  dietitian who gave her the usual information on 
increasing calorie-dense  foods, which she had been doing. Then, she told mom to 
limit breastfeeding to  after snacks and meals, while eliminating a nursing 
session every five days  until weaned. 
The doctor then ordered only Pediasure, breastmilk, and  water to be given, 
eliminating milk and juices as they are less  calorie-dense.
This mother has no intention of refusing breastfeeding. She  is proud of 
what she has accomplished. 

My concern is with this very  low weight gain and drop in percentage, is 
any Pediasure warranted? I am not a  dietitian, and cannot give feeding 
instructions, but this goes against  everything I know to be normal. Have any of 
you wise women worked with a baby  like this? How can we get her to gain 
without introducing formula and removing  breastmilk?

Thank you,

Melanie Thurber
WIC BF Peer Counselor,  CLC, IBCLC hopeful

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