Grossly Overfed Baby

[EchoMom]

Thoughts please:

9 month old baby I've had since 10 weeks old.
Is in the 95th percentile in all areas.
25lbs. Crawler.

He poops LITERALLY 4 times a day. BIG, STINKY poops. A few months ago his parents were sending home made purees and ground up meals. They LITERALY would send HUGE containers with 10 times the portion he should have. It's always extremely pungent, acrid smelling horridness!

They send unlimited amounts of formula bottles and just kept the food coming and coming and coming. This is a baby that could eat you out of house and home. However, he seems to eat out of boredom as well. If distracted, or allowed to roam he often forgets about eating and goes to play.

We have eliminated the foods sent from home and only now feed him appropriate portions of the food we serve here. We have also significantly lowered the number of bottles he's given here.

However, he still poops a TON and OFTEN of the nasty type of food he gets at home. Leading me to believe that they are LOADING him up with the dog food looking stuff they used to send.

Thoughts on this? Do I say anything? But how can I dictate what/how much they feed at home? Do I just have to **** it up and deal with it? It's an issue that isn't going away and drives me nuts. He poops more and stinkier than any other child here and he makes the room STINK.

[butterfly]

I feel like I have to do my part at daycare, but I can't tell a parent how to parent - for the most part. I would just **** it up and let it be. If you are doing your part at daycare, that's all you can do.

[KSDC]

If they are open to hearing your thoughts, then go ahead and make kind suggestions. Brag about how great he is doing with less bottles. Talk abut the kinds and amounts of food he enjoys at your daycare.

But, unless the parents are open to advice, I think you just have to deal. They are his parents and get to choose how to parent their child when he is not at your daycare.

[itlw8]

If a child is 95th % in both height and weight that is fine. the numbers match. And yes I would expect a child like that to eat more along the lines of what a 1 yr old would eat. But you have no idea what the dish was they blended it could be very healthy. But there could be one thing like corn or cabbage that causes the problem...

Just say I noticed he poops more than many children and it smells. Do you have any idea what he eats that makes it so smelly?

Remember a normal portion for a child in the 50% will be less than a child by genetics is in the 95%

[SilverSabre25]

I bet there's a food allergy/intolerance component to it. Poop isn't actually supposed to be that nasty. When it is, it's a sign of something imbalanced in the gut. He could just need more water (if he drinks formula, then he needs water too), he could need better gut flora (load him up with yogurt! I often mix probiotic powder into everyone's smoothie or yogurt for even more nutritional awesomeness), he could have a dairy issue....

[Maria2013]

I feel like I have to do my part at daycare, but I can't tell a parent how to parent - for the most part. I would just **** it up and let it be. If you are doing your part at daycare, that's all you can do.

that's me

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I feel like I have to do my part at daycare, but I can't tell a parent how to parent - for the most part. I would just **** it up and let it be. If you are doing your part at daycare, that's all you can do.

Yep.

I had two children come in this morning to eat breakfast after eating Doritos at home and the other child had the chocolate covered mini donuts that come in a bag. NOT how I would do things as these items contain no nutritional value whatsoever, but not my place to say anything either since they ate them at home.

[Leanna]

It sounds like you are giving him a healthy diet at daycare. As far as what the parents feed him at home, unless they are feeding him "junk foods" and other highly processed foods (in which case you could talk to them about fresh foods and other options), I wouldn't feel comfortable discussing what the child eats at home. Many ethnic dishes may look/smell totally unappetizing to us but be perfectly common to them. I had a little girl who had very stinky BM's but her parents fed her black beans, seaweed, etc. There isn't anything wrong with those foods so I couldn't very well ask them to change their diet just because her poopy was stinky KWIM?

[Heidi]

I bet there's a food allergy/intolerance component to it. Poop isn't actually supposed to be that nasty. When it is, it's a sign of something imbalanced in the gut. He could just need more water (if he drinks formula, then he needs water too), he could need better gut flora (load him up with yogurt! I often mix probiotic powder into everyone's smoothie or yogurt for even more nutritional awesomeness), he could have a dairy issue....

hmmm...

food program says no yogurt before one year (and no honey). :confused:

[Familycare71]

I bet there's a food allergy/intolerance component to it. Poop isn't actually supposed to be that nasty. When it is, it's a sign of something imbalanced in the gut. He could just need more water (if he drinks formula, then he needs water too), he could need better gut flora (load him up with yogurt! I often mix probiotic powder into everyone's smoothie or yogurt for even more nutritional awesomeness), he could have a dairy issue....

I would not be ok having someone give my child a probiotic without my knowledge!
Also filling him up on water doesn't help much...
I had my own DS who was over 100% on the scale. He was not over weight - just big. He still is!
Is he over weight- not just chubby but fat?
He is 9 months old I find it hard to believe he would over eat at that age- like someone else said he is in a higher percentile so keep that in mind with portion sizes

[Jewels]

hmmm...

food program says no yogurt before one year (and no honey). :confused:

You can't record yogurt, but you can feed it as an extra for a baby, my baby gets a yogurt for snack sometimes, and his formula, but I only need the formula for the snack, the yogurt is just extra.

[preschoolteacher]

You can't record yogurt, but there's nothing nutritionally wrong or dangerous with a baby eating it before they are 1. Honey, on the other hand, can cause botulism.

For this kid, I would give him as much as he wanted during designated mealtimes only.

Is he spoon fed or is he beginning to use his fingers to feed himself? I'd encourage him to start feeding himself--he's not too young to start! That way, he would be in control of how much he ate and you could be assured that he's eating what he needs, not just ****ing down what someone else shovels in!

[cheerfuldom]

I definitely think a baby can be overfed. a young baby can basically be trained to eat way too much and like the OP said, given food in replacement of activity, comfort, etc.

A relative of my sister was feeding her child 9 jars of baby food per day plus a lot of bottles. I have no idea where she got this number from as it was an insane amount of food for a baby way under one year. This child was not getting outdoors and not get much activity at all. Mom used food as a way to bond and care for the child. He is three now and has horrible table manners and mom is still spoon feeding him.

all that to say, nothing you can do about it! you might bag the stinky diapers individually and get them out to another trashcan but there isnt more you can do.

[SilverSabre25]

I would not be ok having someone give my child a probiotic without my knowledge!
Also filling him up on water doesn't help much...
I had my own DS who was over 100% on the scale. He was not over weight - just big. He still is!
Is he over weight- not just chubby but fat?
He is 9 months old I find it hard to believe he would over eat at that age- like someone else said he is in a higher percentile so keep that in mind with portion sizes

My dcps know that I do it...thanks.

And I never said he should "fill up" on water, just that when they start solids, it's recommended that formula fed babies get water along with meals.

[SilverSabre25]

hmmm...

food program says no yogurt before one year (and no honey). :confused:

Well honey, yeah.

But yogurt? Weird. If they can have cheese they should be allowed yogurt. They are both cultured dairy products. And since most formula is cow milk based I fail to see the difference...that's just dumb. Not saying you're wrong, just saying that the food program is stupid.