Is your baby eating enough?

The past 7 weeks have been a whirlwind really. First, our newest addition, Jean, decided that she was going to jail break 3 weeks early. Nothing triggers panic quiet like going into labor prematurely. We were terrified that something was going to be wrong with our new baby. Thankfully she came out pink and healthy with all 10 fingers and 10 toes with no indication of anything being wrong.

I applaud the moms who choose to breastfeed, but let me say now, that's just not me. My first birth was a c-section and I don't come out of the anesthesia quickly so Lena had been fed several times before I ever woke up and wouldn't latch no matter how hard I tried. This time, I didn't even bother.

Bottle or not, even before we got to bring her home from the hospital I expressed concerns about the fact that I was having trouble getting Jean to eat and that I was concerned about how much she was spitting up. The nurses however kept telling me that the small amount she was eating and spit up was completely normal and not to worry.

During her first week home she continued to be difficult to feed. When we took her for her one week checkup we discovered that she had been losing weight instead of gaining it. Her pediatrician recommended that we bring her back the following day for another weight check.

Again, in 24 hours, she'd lost another ounce. At this time I mentioned my concern again about her disinterest in eating and that she was spitting up. It was dismissed again. Her pediatrician simply told us flat out that she had no idea why she'd be losing weight. Instead we were instructed to bring her back the next day and if she lost any more weight we'd have to readmit her to the hospital.

We hadn't even left the parking lot of the pediatrician's office when we called my stepmom, who thankfully happens to be the head NICU nurse for the hospital she works at. "I don't know" wasn't even a thought in her mind. She immediately asked her weight and started calculating the amount of food that our daughter should be eating within a 24 hour period. Evidently there is a specific calculation for how much an infant needs to eat in order to gain weight.

1 pound = 2.2 kilograms

Your baby should eat 120-150 milliliters per kilogram

Your baby should eat every three hours - no exceptions if they are losing weight.

Example: Our daughter was 5 lbs 7 ounces
5.7 / 2.2 = 2.59
2.59 x 120 = 310 millimeters
310 is the minimum amount your baby should eat in a 24 hour period

Personally, we use the Dr. Brown's bottles since milliliters are clearly marked. The lavender and pink are really cute, but I will tell you that it's harder to read the side of them to see where your water level is. 

We spent the next 24 hours basically force feeding our premature newborn using any tactics we could to keep her awake. What seemed to work best was using a cold baby wipe on her neck and legs. I have never felt more cruel than I did that day. 

When we returned to the pediatrician's office the following morning our little girl had regained her lost ounce and we were able to keep our baby home.

A couple days later, my mom came down to do a full check up on Jean. When we first described her symptoms over the phone she attributed her lack of eating to her being premature, but after spending the day with us and handling a couple of feedings with her, she determined that she had GERD, or what's more commonly known as infant reflux. That has come with a whole different set of challenges that I will address in a later post.

We followed the formula and the eating regimen religiously. We documented every milliliter that she ate and when she ate it for a month straight. I'm pleased to say that she has been consistently gaining weight at a steady pace ever since and she has now begun to demand food on her own without being forced. Sometimes we still have to wake her up during feedings because she has a bad habit of falling asleep, but for the most part she's taking 4 to 5 ounces every three hours, even if it does take her an hour to finish them.Needless to say, we're also in the market for a new pediatrician.