feeding a 6 month old

[omgimdoinitagain]

Hi all new to this site and kinda "new" to parenting ,,again . My grandson was born addicted through the mothers drug habit after several weeks of weaning him @ hospital, the state took custody , he was placed with us recently ,finally, and grandma needs some help . He is almost 6 months old and on a soy based formula ,he does spit up quite a bit still ,his doc didn't prescribe soy the foster mom chose it ,and i accidentally grabbed cans of the same name but something called "comfort foods" easy to digest ,INSTEAD of soy , Can i feed this formula to him or should i exchange it ????
We have also started a 1st stage foods of oatmeal w/applesauce for breakfast and once again at his last feeding ( about 4-5 tablespoons ), he sleeps through most of the night on this regime ,only waking once at about 1:30am for two ounces of water . His schedule seems to be a 7 oz bottle at 7 am with oatmeal , 7oz @ 11am ,7oz@ 3pm , and 7oz@ 7 pm with oatmeal , and then 2 oz water @ 1:30 am . Am i remembering this correctly or am i over or under feeding him ??
I have also gone the route of homeopathic meds for his teething (hylands), he has a nebulizer for his lungs also ,does anyone else have/had an addicted baby that has any advice on alternative meds for colds/fever and such that i'm positive he will contract sooner than later please let me know it would help us tremendously :-)

[fuzzy]

Seems like a good regime!I would exchange the formula you bought though for the stuff he usually get cause they can have alot of digestive problems when switching formula(they always suggest sticking to one!)Good luck!I'm sure you're a great Grandma!

[MommaC]

I'm with fuzzy--if the formula he's on isn't bothering him, don't switch. My daughter is 7 mos, and she's on the same schedule/feeding routine! I'm sure he'll let you know if you're under-feeding him. Does your grandson have a pediatrician, and can you contact him with questions? Just curious.

[ra11en]

You should find out if possible why he was on a soy based. There is no need to be on soy based unless he has specific dietary restrictions that prevent him from digesting the enzymes in regular formula. After discussing with our pediatrician when we switched our daughter to a soy formula, she informed us that soy will not be easier for her to digest like most people think and that babies NEED the extras in regular formula. So unless your pediatrician specifically instructs you to soy, I would put him and keep him on a regular one. HOwever, with that said, anytime you switch the formula it should be done gradually and not all at once. That's pretty hard on any baby's digestion, and with his drug addiction you may not want to put him through that. Good luck, and kudos to you for stepping in for your family. Quite a sacrifice that I hope one day you are properly appreciated for.

As for colds that he will soon be getting - good luck. Most OTC cold remedies are no longer recommended for such young babies and they don't really work anyway. Long before they were pulled from the shelf we noticed they didn't work so we stopped giving them to our daughter. Our pediatrician prescribed a good decongestant for when we needed one, but otherwise it was just good old fashioned nurturing through the colds and sniffles. Long snuggle sessions in the steamy bathroom, cold mist humidifiers (gets through muscus easier than warm mist), and baby vicks on the chest to open the breathing passages.

[omgimdoinitagain]

Thank you fuzzy i appreciate the input, its been almost 30 years since my son was a baby and they have changed everything it seems , thank god the babies haven't changed or i'd be in trouble .

Thank you also MommaC ,yes we brought him in to his pediatrician 2 weeks ago , the " doctor " had the wrong childs chart ,was rude ,rushed and told me straight out that babies cannot have any allergies in a condenscending tone, when i know for a fact that this child is allergic to a few things already , the cat , he'd sneeze, his eyes got watery and his breathing became labored and wheezy ,said cat has since been moved to a loving relative and the home cleansed from top to bottom , dust also seems to bother the lil man , as well as pollen , so far , the thing is i KNOW allergies my son and myself suffer 3 seasons out of the year ,since he was a baby ! I'm hoping we don't have to go the prednizone route this time around, scary. He also told me in no uncertain terms NOT to give the baby water until he is at least 1 y/o . We will in the next month or so find a reputable doctor whos main concern isn't his wallet and my grandson just a dollar bill.

Ra11en ,I'm thinking the foster mom mistook his withdrawal pains for colic and choose on her own to use a soy based formula , she told me the doctor read her the riot act . she choose not to change him back to the original . im not laying blame she just had no clue what an addicted infant goes through ,( We raised the babies brother, and i did know the signs but we had not known each other yet ), and it could easily be mistaken for colic, poor babies. after reading about soy based formula i am a bit worried because there are proteins and other things in reg formula that he certainly needs and lacks because of his 7 month incubation in the world of drugs. thank you for the kudos , there is nothing i wouldn't do for my family and friends .bought the baby vicks already ( they naver had that years ago , will use the cold mist :-) thank goodness for people who share knowledge . , greatly appreciated folks :-)

[MommaC]

Sorry to hear you're dealing with such a rotten doctor! I will say that my doctor gave me the okay for water and pear juice a few months ago (mainly because she deals with constipation issues). He said the water's okay as long as the baby is getting all the formula he/she needs (I think the minimum is 24 oz...not sure on that). And your grandson is getting to an age when he can start learning to drink from a cup...which they usually recommend contains water since formula is so expensive.

It is SO nice to be able to check with other moms...I double-check pretty much anything my doctor says by comparing with what my friends have been told by their doctors.

I don't know if you've done the whole formula switching thing before, but our WIC staff gave us pretty specific instructions for how to approach it....

Good luck to you!

[omgimdoinitagain]

MommaC , he too suffers from constipation and passes hard cat ball size poop after straining for days , i have resorted to prune juice and looking into flax oil which we add a tsp to one bottle a day to keep him regular and free of constipation cramping .Yes i also looked up the amount of formula which is exactly 24 oz, you are right .We did elect to keep the soy formula only because his system cannot take any more trauma at this time , with all the vitamins on the market im sure in a year we will slowly build his immune system with a suppliment and fresh greens and no sweets, ( my children were not allowed sugar/candy until they were around 5-6 years old and my son has agreed to go by that also)
We are just now getting him to use both sides of his body at one time , this week he reaches for things and can roll to him tummy, but not back yet . a sippy cup is maybe next month an entirely new milestone !,they are amazingly bright aren't they :-).
Unfortunately we are not eligible for the WIC program as my son lives home with the baby, but i wonder if i call them they might send me a list such as that .thanks for the good luck !

[MommaC]

Regarding the hard poop: my first pediatrician recommended a Tbsp of dark Karo syrup in each bottle for several days (until she was pooping well) and then slowly weaning her off. My second pediatrician recommended pear juice. He intended that I mix it half and half with water, but I had a hard time finding a great time to give it to her (she was never hungry between meals, and I didn't want to give it to her in place of formula). Now I put it in her formula: 2oz juice, 4.5oz water, 3 scoops formula. I do that for 2 of her 4 bottles, and it seems to be working.

The WIC office here seems very willing to provide information. If yours isn't for some reason, your pediatrician's office might be helpful. If nothing else, I can get the info you're looking for and pass it along to you. :)

[ra11en]

To keep my wee one regular, our pediatrician recommended putting a small amount of gerber white grape juice in her formula bottles. Not a lot, and still mostly mixing it with water. That really kept her regular for the most part, and kept it soft enough to pass without too much straining.

There are some great vitamins you can supplement him with since you're choosing to stay on soy. Then again, I know lots of kiddos that were on soy and grew up to be strong and healthy. :) Since you're already talking plenty of fresh veggies and no sugar, I'm sure he'll be fine regardless of what formula you have him on. By 7 months, we were introducing juices and fresh fruits/veggies. Especially fresh veggies every chance we got.

He absolutely can have allergies at such a young age! My husband has horrible allergies, and my daughter inherited them. Our pediatrician started her on zyrtec at 4mo because they were so bad. She is still on zyrtec now, at 18mo, and we can tell anytime we miss a dose. Watery eyes, sneezing, sniffling, you name it. Poor things. Sound like from your post that you already know that doctor is full of it. You have a great head on your shoulders, and this ain't your first rodeo! Trust your intuition just like you're doing! Opinions from other moms are just a keyboard away! :)

[omgimdoinitagain]

MommaC, because we had it handy, i used pear juice , it worked , all weekend he pooped on average 2 x a day !!!! yeahhhh !!!! (only a mother/grandmom could get excited over poop) , he still strained and cried @ first,but less each time ,since our lil man seems perpetually hungry/thirsty we had no problem coaxing him to drink 3ounces 2 x daily (1/4 juice 3/4 water) good news from the WIC office in my area also ,they will give us a months FREE formula and all the info we need on nutrition ,as well they will run a hemoglobin test on him to show us where his vitamin deficiencies (if any) lie . we also have a NEW doctors app. wednesday ( crosses my fingers)

Ra11en, hoping to try white grape juice next :-) yummy , am glad to know about babies growing healthy on soy , quite honestly i'd barely heard of soy formula and no one i knew used it .Will also set up an app. with an allergist this week in my area to test him . When i was tested years ago it was a series of 20-25 needles once a week for a few months up to a year .my son was never properly tested as i didn't wish to put him through that agony,so i resorted to OTC indoor/outdoor meds to take the "edge" off ,and was reduced to emergency care whenever he was "exposed" to something and they always used a steroid shot . is it still that way today?
* slowly climbs back on the horse @ the rodeo ,rubs aching hips *.. never hurt this much a million years ago

ps, ladies formula cannot be exchanged or returned as it is against the law , gave the cans to the social worker to pass on to someone on her list that uses the brand .

[MommaC]

Yay for poop! We get really excited about dirty diapers at our house too. :)

[ra11en]

Yup, we always got very excited over poop in our house too. :) Still, at 18mo, if I'm not the one taking care of her during the day one of the first questions I ask is 'has she gone poop yet'? She is just much more comfortable and agreeable when regular.

I didn't put my DD through an allergy test, and I didn't take her to an allergist either. Luckily it didn't come to that. My regular pediatrician had us give her Zyrtec and since it worked like a charm we had no need to identify exactly what were causing her allergies. If Zyrtec hadn't worked, then we probably would have taken her to a specialist to do the allergy test. The one time my daughter was exposed and had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic, it was shot in the ER that cleared it up for her so it seems that hasn't changed over time.

You're doing great!! Just like riding a bike - once you learn you never forget? :)

[omgimdoinitagain]

MommaC.. * claps * yeahhhhh for poopies! ( reminds self to go out for dinner and a movie pronto)

ra11en ... I have actually tried Zyrtec (and every other alergy med. out there) and it made me drool and fall asleep within 15 minutes * LOL , but i just might ask for that, i've heard great reviews from relatives with children also .thanx