Is he eating to please me?

[Anonymous]

When I feed Brian, I can tell that he does not like it at all, he would either shake his body or frown, it looks like I feed him poison, but he still opens his mouth, if he does not like it, he would foce himself throw up. Is he eating to please me? Does anyone have the same experience?

[Anonymous]

Nathan used to do the same thing all the time. He’d open his mouth for the bottle even when he didn’t want it. He’d either spit it back out, or more often he’d actually pretend to suck. To this day, even when he DOES want the bottle, his latch on it is so lame that you can slide the bottle right out of his mouth. Now his pacifier, on the other hand, you’d have to use tools to pry it out of his mouth!!

[Anonymous]

Sharon, I have to say that at that age, children are so egocentric that I really think they try to please themselves and rarely others (not until they’re much older anyhow, but that’s just my opinion). When Hailey will open her mouth for food (which is rare these days), she will often make a face and grimace, or sometimes if it’s gross to her she’ll shake/shiver, and if it’s really bad she’ll gag it out. I really believe that if he didn’t want to eat, then he wouldn’t open his mouth- especially since in the past when he didn’t want to eat, he wouldn’t take it. The behaviour that you describe sounds to me like a baby who is probably hungry and wants to try, but might be very sensitive or apprehensive to different tastes and textures. I think that this is very common of refluxers. As for the purposeful vomitting of something he doesn’t like, I think it’s pretty normal. When something goes into their mouth that they don’t like, there’s no other way for them to get it out. Either they have to swallow it, or if it’s really gross to them and they want it out, then they have to gag it out or try to push it out with their tongue. In refluxers, I think that the hypersensitive gag is just so strong that when they do this, it can often trigger vomitting. I think it’s great that he’s willing to try new foods now. I know it’s not perfect, but he really seems to have come a long way.

[Anonymous]

I doubt he’s “forcing” himself to throw up. I would say either the texture or flavor is making him gag which is making him throw up. Babies learn preferences for food very quickly, he probably just hasn’t learned that HE is in charge of what goes in his mouth. I remember when Hailey finally learned this, she would clamp her mouth shut for certain foods but open them for others. There was eventually a time too where she refused to open her mouth for me but would feed herself.

[Anonymous]

Thanks every one for the reply. I really can not post anything good anymore (he opens his mouth for food), now he is not open his mouth, even he opens his mouth, he would hold food in his mouth and not swallow.

Lori – Brian’s eating has been gone downhill for the past week, I really hate the feeding time now, plus he is not gaining wt., I am really going crazy. We are going to see the nutritionist in the feeding team next Tuesday, I hope she can give me some good suggestion on what to feed Brian, I will ask her about Duocal, I have been feeding Brian oatmeal+chicken mix with chiken broth every meals these days, because it has more cal, he gets so sick and tire of it. Does Hailey get any new feeding therapy these days? I remember you mentioned that Hailey used to be a comfort feeder before, did you start her on med early? Brian was a comfort feeder before too, he ate so well the first two month, so he gained 5lb within that 2 month, but I have no idea that he had reflux, I often wonder if I found out sooner, he would not have feeding aversion now.

[Anonymous]

Sharon, I’m sorry that Brian is giving you a hard time with eating again these days. I know how frustrating it is. Regarding Hailey’s “comfort feeding”, she did this ONLY during her first 6 weeks or so. I was BF, and she was on me almost all day long… I even would carry her around the house nursing her, it was nuts! I started thinking that something was wrong when she was a week old- she would want to feed, but not suck for more than a minute or two, and as she got a bit older, she would pull off a lot, and choke, and milk would come shooting out of her nose. We did zantac at 8 weeks, then losec at 9, and now prevacid at 9 months. Still no improvement in feeding at all. Hang in there… I know…STINKING REFLUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry you’re having a tough time with Brian. I can really relate. Since you have been feeding him oatmeal and chicken for most meals, he very well may be bored with the taste. I would try giving him some fruits to hopefully perk up his interest. Bananas are a great source of calories. You can also add a 1/2 scoop of formula to a 4 oz jar and thats gets him 130 calories in one jar.

Noah really doesnt care for vegetable or meat based baby foods and I find that if I alternate a couple bites of fruit and then one bite of veggies, it helps to get more food into him. Lately he has started to spit out anything that he doesnt care for, so we are having a tough time with him too.

If you change your feeding strategy, let us know how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Lisa: Brian has been afraid of new taste for the past week, I do not know why, he does not like most of fruit at all, maybe most of jar fruit are kind of sour taste (even Bananas), he likes veggies better, but they do not have much cal. He has been eating 18oz of 30cal baby food and 18oz of 30cal formula everyday, but he is still not gaining wt, I do not why, I will ask new nutritionist about the Duocal to add to his food. He likes to eat my food, so I am planning to buy a small blender to blend my food for him to eat. Does Noah see OT everyweek now? What does the OT do to help with his eating? Brian is seeing a ST everyweek, but not much help at all.

Sharon Liu2006-3-9 21:20:9

[Anonymous]

Sharon, what is the Speech Therapist doing with Brian? We are also seeing one and she is trying to get her to eat puff and dissolve foods (like cheezies). No improvement yet. I’m supposed to eat them in front of her to role model… needless to say, I think I’ve gone through half the bag while Hailey’s yet to eat one!!!s&h’s mum2006-3-9 21:16:51

[Anonymous]

Lori – the ST asks me to put fingers into Brian’s mouth to massage his gum and muscle, he does not like it at all, I think even kids without feeding problem would not like it. We saw an OT from feeding clinic once, she suggested to give Brian dissolve foods to eat and thicken his puree, she thinks that once he knows how to feed himself, then he may eat more. I saw your another post saying that Hailey is 19.5lb in 9 month chech up (I remember Brian was only 18lb 12oz at 9 month, and he is a boy), wow, that is great that you do not need to worry about her wt gain.

[Anonymous]

Sharon, I’m glad that she’s gained, but I still do worry, because if she ever loses weight then they’ll start pushing for the tube. My doc feels that because she’s not very active and must have a super slow metabolism she can gain weight on very little. But my older daughter was huge (over 20 lbs at 6 months, almost 30 pounds at 1 yr), and he feels that Hailey is also probably destined to be a large baby if she would eat normal amounts. Right now, thankfully, she’s about 50 percentile, so I can’t complain. But we still have to worry about dehydration and malnutrition (since she only takes 18 oz), because a lot of her weight has been gained from oils and sugars, and not extra nutrients. Hopefully a nutritionist will be able to help us with that.

[Anonymous]

s&h’s mum wrote: because a lot of her weight has been gained from oils and sugars, and not extra nutrients. Hopefully a nutritionist will be able to help us with that.

Lori – What do you mean by Hailey’s wt. gained are from oils and sugars? When will Hailey see a nutritionist? If you get some good suggestion from nutritionist, please let me know. We are going to see a new nutritionist next Tuesday (the old one only wants Brian to have more dairy product, but he hates pretty much all dairy products), I can not wait and already got a list of questions. Does Hailey sit with you during dinner time? Have you try to get her food that you eat to taste? Brian likes to eat my food.

[Anonymous]

Sharon,

Between 6-8 months, I was adding a lot of oil to her solids, and corn syrup to her milk. It helped with her weight gain, I think, though really she has been pretty steady overall. She now takes no solids, and so no oils, and since corn syrup is not great, we are giving water for constipation, and doing an extra scoop of formula to make it 24 calorie per ounce.

[Author]

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