DCbaby Has Insatiable Appetite!!!

[countrymom]

poor kid sounds like she's starving him. I have a 3 yr old like this too. Mom even said that she doesn't want her to be big and controls her food. Poor kid is so hungry when she gets here that she eats everything so fast that I wonder if she tastes the food. We are busy all day their bodies need fuel to keep up.

this is where I would just feed him, not over feed him but more than mom is giving him. This is where common sense prevails stupidity. Oh, he needs more milk too.

[Solandia]

My foster son is like that - he is 30mo now, but he was like that as a baby, too. He came here straight from the hospital eating 4oz every 2hrs. And he would scream the house down for food from day1, and still does. At around 1yo he would eat essentially 5 meals a day...a snack could never be a snack, it was close to meal sized. Just now, it is starting to even out a bit. HOWEVER, he was always proportional, 75% for height, and 75% for weight.

Mom just might be following her pediatrician's advice, too, on what to feed baby. I know my son's pedi freaked out at every appt on how much he was eating. Like TOLD me to cut back his bottles at 6mo(yup, he wanted me to let him scream and withhold food from a baby). Stating 'obesity risks' as a huge concern....that is when I started lying to the dr about his eating because I was not going to put a baby on a diet. Ds has NEVER been overweight. Always right on his curve.

I could never just let a baby/young toddler scream for more food. I would encourage more water drinking, only give self-feeding items (slower to eat), and let loose with the rice cakes. They are satisfyingly crunchy & take a bit of time to chew, and very few calories. It is what I give my ds while I am making dinner (as soon as he hears someone in the kitchen he HAS to eat). I would tell mom to pack more things for baby to eat, or I would send him home if he cries constantly b/c he thinks he is starving.

[GotKids]

If you have already had multiple talks with mom about this I think it is time to give choices. Hand here the typical meal plan for that age, she can provide a drs note stating a different plan, or bring food according to the plan. This would be a good time to give her the opportunity to do the $2 meal plan again. If she continues to be unreasonable then it would be time for me to give notice. I can't imagine any of my parents expecting me to let their child go hungry.

On a side note, do you have access to a food program in your area? You might be surprised how much more you could get than just $2 and it wouldn't cost your parents anything extra

[momofsix]

As for encouraging more water: remember that babies should have very little water-only 2-4 oz./day for babies over 6 months and under one year.

I too would have a VERY hard time not feeding a hungry baby.

It seems like mom is sending appropriate amounts of food for lunch (at least on paper) but is not sending any snacks for him at all. I think he needs food and he is really hungry!

I'm afraid what is happening is that he's so hungry and so worried about food that when he does get the chance to get some (like when you fed him more) he's going to overfeed himself because he doesn't know when he's going to get the opportunity again! I think mom is unwittingly setting up a pattern of an unhealthy obsession with food by trying to limit it at such a young age.

[Heidi]

As for encouraging more water: remember that babies should have very little water-only 2-4 oz./day for babies over 6 months and under one year.

I too would have a VERY hard time not feeding a hungry baby.

It seems like mom is sending appropriate amounts of food for lunch (at least on paper) but is not sending any snacks for him at all. I think he needs food and he is really hungry!

I'm afraid what is happening is that he's so hungry and so worried about food that when he does get the chance to get some (like when you fed him more) he's going to overfeed himself because he doesn't know when he's going to get the opportunity again! I think mom is unwittingly setting up a pattern of an unhealthy obsession with food by trying to limit it at such a young age.

When I suggested the water, I thought he was eating too much...didn't know the whole story!

[Heidi]

Dear Doctor So-and-so mentioned above:

Regarding that obesity problem in America:

Lets face it... it's NOT because BABIES are getting too many nutritious meals and breast milk or formula to their hearts content...

It's because people feed their babies "desserts" designed for babies (really?), put juice (or soda) in their bottles, and put them in contraptions to contain them 80% of the day (in front of the t.v, quite often). It's because people let their 3 year olds carry bottles or glorified bottles (those sippy-cup things) around wherever they go, every waking minute.

It's because people don't kick their kids outside in the yard often enough and say "for Gosh sake's GO PLAY". They let them eat Cheetos and soda (but it's diet soda...) while watching endless hours of TV or playing video games.

It's because they have 24hr-a-day access to ice cream, chips, candy bars, store-bought cookies, and other junk disguised as "nutritious", like Go-gurt, "granola bars", pop tarts, and high-sugar cereals. Most of us now-adults got ONE of those treats a few times per week. I remember riding my bike 2 miles to get them. "Oooh...let's drive down to the milk depot and get chocolate milks!"

It's because dinner 4 out of 5 nights a week is picked up from McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut (no offense to those particular companies...just the most popular around here).

It's because most of us (looking in the mirror now) sit in front of the TV too many nights a week instead of getting our butts outside.

So, yeah...THAT"S why we have an obesity problem in America; not because a baby got too much formula or drank (the horror) whole milk after the age of 2.
My dh grew up drinking gallons of milk from the bulk tank daily, and he was certainly not an overweight child. Of course, he was helping with farm chores as a young child already, and I doubt they owned a T.V., much less cable.

So, Mr. Doctor, please don't worry because baby is in the 75th percentile! Parents have enough to worry about without being told hogwash, and you probably have more serious matters to deal with.

Sincerely,

Heidi

This is my opinion, and is NOT directed at anyone here. I just can't understand how a doctor, someone who is supposed to be educated, could come up with that kind of baloney. Uh, I mean carrot sticks...bologna is fattening!::