I wonder what kind of solids the nine month old who is losing weight is
getting?  Since commercial baby food is mostly water, and the flakey baby
cereals also hold a great deal of water, that could be part of the problem.
Between that and the time and effort it takes to get much of that down a
baby, the mother can feel like her baby is eating alot more than he really
is.  If she is getting both watery food and juice and water supplements, it
wouldn't be that surprizing that the baby wouldn't be gaining, especially
since that is an age that babies typically don't gain much, and are often
starting to move around more and burn more calories.  I think I would
suggest that the mother give solids with more nutrition and less water, in
addition to suggesting that she stop the water and nurse more frequently.
Where there is a grandmother who evidently is not well versed on
breastfeeding and a mother who takes Grandma's advice, I would think there
is a danger that breastfeeding could be interrupted if the baby does not
start to gain soon.  Maybe changing the solid foods being given would be
less likely to meet with resistance from the Grandmother.

On a side note, In the past it was fairly common for people to suggest that
adoptive mothers nursing with a supplementer add extra water to the formula,
to make the baby nurse longer.  I have always discouraged that, but seen a
few babies who did OK, and appeared to nurse more to make up the difference,
but others who did not.  I just thought of another reason that thinning
supplement could backfire.  The more water is in the supplement, the faster
it goes through the tubes, which certainly wouldn't encourage the baby to
work hard to express the breast, and could even make it uncomflortable for
the baby to suck deeply because of getting too big a mouthful at once.

Aloha,
Darillyn

_________________________________________________________________
There are now three new levels of MSN Hotmail Extra Storage!  Learn more.
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=hotmail/es2&ST=1

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html