Is this healthy? Too much formula?

[Rachel89]

My LO who is 10.5 months old, refuses to eat solids, and never really has. He is on formula and suffers from constipation. The past two nights I have given him two bottles of water, and I know that sounds like a lot. But I live in the Caribbean and it is ALWAYS hot here (humidity is around +80% and it's always +30 degrees celcius). He is on Alimentum, for milk protein intolerance which also causes his constipation :-/

I am starting to chart how much formula he drinks, I still feed on demand because he doesn't drink a lot in one feed due to his upper lip tie and tongue tie.

He used to wake up only for one bottle, but for the past month or so he has been drinking two bottles during bed time instead of 1 ( either 1 bottle before bedtime and one right before bedtime, or one bottle at bed time and he would wake an hour later for the second bottle) + one bottle in the night. But now that one bottle has become 2 (sometimes 3) though he sometimes finishes all 2 bottles, and sometimes drinks 70% of both.

So 3 more bottles than usual. It IS very hot at the moment though, though it always is..mmm?

His schedule is kind of like this:

Wakes up, has first bottle around 7:30 am
Bottle around 11 am
Bottle at 12:30 pm
Bottle at 2-2:30 pm
Bottle at 4 pm
Bottle at 5:15-5:30 pm
Botte at 7 pm
Bottle sometime middle in the night (around 12 am)
Another bottle sometime middle in the night (after 12 am)
Another bottle around 3 am

So I am concerned that is getting this much formula :-/ isn;t that bad for him? If it was breast milk I wouldn't have been concerned other than him refusing solids.

What can I do? How much water is too much? He down right spits out the solid food if I can even manage to get it in his mouth, and he will shut his lips tight and shake his head.

 

[Peggy O]

Are you doing 9 oz bottles? My friend exclusively formula feeds and her 5 month old eats 9 oz every 3 hours (he sttn), in Texas, US...also very hot there. I am not sure what a normal amount is. I would ask a pediatrician if you are concerned. I am pretty sure solid food is not really required till one year.

 

[Scottish mum]

Weird my lo has started waking twice in the night for more milk too he's 9 months!! I think it's a growth spurt but my lo has lots of food during the day!!

 

[Scottish mum]

Weird my lo has started waking twice in the night for more milk too he's 9 months!! I think it's a growth spurt but my lo has lots of food during the day!!

My lo takes around 20-25 oz a day including night time!! Sometimes more tho x

 

[Tor]

how much does he have per bottle? I think as its hot and hes not eating any solids he probably needs the milk, plus if he doesn't have much in each bottle, hes probably just more a little and often baby especially with his lip/tongue tie.

Personally I wouldn't restrict him I would just keep trying to encourage solids and let him play with finger foods.

 

[Rachel89]

Okay but by the looks of it if he continues this way and has the usual opcoming bottles he would have had 54 oz of formula in 24 hour period..though i did replace two bottles for water. so about 12 oz water and 42 oz formula. He would've had more milk if I'd let him :-/

 

[Tor]

I'm no expert but 42oz of formula for a 10 month old who doesn't eat solids doesn't really sound excessive, like I say though just my opinion.

 

[Rachel89]

Thanks guys! this helps a lot, my told me to get a syringe and open his mouth and force him to have some juice or pureed food this way, so he can have a taste of it.

So this is my only place to come for sane advice thank you ladies! But are the 2 bottle of water excessive?

 

[nevernormal]

If you want to give him water, you need to space it out during the day I think. From what I've read, it can create an imbalance in their bodies if you give them too much. But then again, I was reading for younger babies. You should ask your doctor!

 

[Rachel89]

If you want to give him water, you need to space it out during the day I think. From what I've read, it can create an imbalance in their bodies if you give them too much. But then again, I was reading for younger babies. You should ask your doctor!

my doctor is useless they don't believe in tongue ties and believe that ff is better than bf. so yeah! She also never took his constipation seriously and brushed it off, here we are 7 months later and it still hasn't resolved itself (albeit I do try other things).

I live on an island and I don't have a choice all the doctors here are rubbish.

 

[nevernormal]

Ok well I was researching giving water to babies because my baby wouldn't nurse as it was too hot... I did end up giving him about 1.5 oz 2 days in a row. But he was only 7.5 weeks at the time. It's not recommended at all under 6 months but he completely relaxed after drinking a bit, after screaming practically all day!

Anyway, what I read was no water for under 6 months, and also no more than 2 oz at a time. I'm not sure if the 2 oz was for under 6 months if you did give it anyway, or if that's applicable to over 6 months as well.

As far as it being hot and baby needing water instead of more breastmilk or formula, everything I read said to just give them more breastmilk & formula, not straight water. Like I said it was so hot my son wouldn't nurse (being up against me was unbearable!). Well I did try side lying, and he DID nurse some, but I could tell he was thirsty. So I gave in and gave him a bit of water.

I don't ff but I probably wouldn't give whole bottles of water. Maybe diluted formula if you think he's getting too many calories but he might be going through a growth spurt or something and need them!

 

[zorak]

Is their no way the tongue and lip tie can be addressed? This could be what is inhibiting his feeding.

 

[Rachel89]

Is their no way the tongue and lip tie can be addressed? This could be what is inhibiting his feeding.

Nope not one ped or ENT believes in tongue or lip ties on this island nor are they trained to do so.

I am a stay at home mom, but hopefully I will get the job I applied for (fingers crossed) if so, I will save up a year about 20K (guilders so roughly 12K dollars) (airfare+hotel+food for two week stay+extra for emergency) so we can go to NY and get it lasered there by a specialist (I think dr. Kotlow?). I will do this though after baby number two is born, since both OH and I have ties, lip and tongue, so I think it is only logical that all our children will have them.

My GP, told me that everyone has ties and I was being dramatic =) My ENT told me they used to believe in ties but that is just a fib, like fairy tails, it's all in my head. And my LO's ped gave it a thought, and didn't believe the lip tie interfered but believed the tongue one did, but she isn't specialized so couldn't help me except with a referral for the ENT who refuses to help (nor is he trained to do so).

 

[MummyMana]

If you do his weight in lbs times 2.5 that works out roughly how many oz he should have I think (i'm not sure cuz he's older)

Also have you tried giving a bottle 2oz water plus 2oz prune juice mixed for constipation?

 

[Rachel89]

Update..so he had 52 ounces of formula today and 12 oz of water in total :-/ I am going to keep taking notes of how much he takes in precisely for a pattern. I knew he was having more, but I didn't realize it was this much more! I am still unsure what his water intake is allowed to be, it does seem (or it might be teething, since it wouldn't help before) that the 12 oz, even though it is a lot is helping! It is very humid and hot here, so maybe it is not bad considering he is 10 months? But if I see that it won't help his constipation after all, and it was just teething I definitely will reduce the amount.

 

[Rachel89]

If you do his weight in lbs times 2.5 that works out roughly how many oz he should have I think (i'm not sure cuz he's older)

Also have you tried giving a bottle 2oz water plus 2oz prune juice mixed for constipation?

If I do this, then the 52-53 oz of formula he is currently taking makes sense!

 

[deafgal]

Poop texture changes as they get older... my breastfed one year old haven't had those breastmilk soft yellow mustard poo for a long time now. It is more solid now - easy enough for me to plop them off diapers into the toilet) What you are going through may actually be normal unless your LO is in pain...so it may be ok to give your lo's specialized formula.

 

[deafgal]

Is their no way the tongue and lip tie can be addressed? This could be what is inhibiting his feeding.

Nope not one ped or ENT believes in tongue or lip ties on this island nor are they trained to do so.

I am a stay at home mom, but hopefully I will get the job I applied for (fingers crossed) if so, I will save up a year about 20K (guilders so roughly 12K dollars) (airfare+hotel+food for two week stay+extra for emergency) so we can go to NY and get it lasered there by a specialist (I think dr. Kotlow?). I will do this though after baby number two is born, since both OH and I have ties, lip and tongue, so I think it is only logical that all our children will have them.

My GP, told me that everyone has ties and I was being dramatic =) My ENT told me they used to believe in ties but that is just a fib, like fairy tails, it's all in my head. And my LO's ped gave it a thought, and didn't believe the lip tie interfered but believed the tongue one did, but she isn't specialized so couldn't help me except with a referral for the ENT who refuses to help (nor is he trained to do so).

I personally believe lip tied could be the caused of my son's caries as I think the way he suckle was difficult and so it pools in the mouth. That's just me and do think it is real.

 

[deafgal]

Last year we had summer power outage, it was hot in a 90's weather....lost power almost a week (some kind of tornado damage. Have to look it up on what type of tornado is was. Edited:derecho)so we were baking inside our house. The only cooling device was a portable battery operated fans, open windows, and homemade fans....and a trip to places that have air conditioning. My baby was just about 2 months old at the time . I keep nursing her on demands and she did fine.

 

[Tor]

Your doctor sound awful :S Cant believe they wanted you to syringe pureed food into his mouth I don't think the water is as big of a deal at 10 months but I would let him sip at it throughout the day rather than a whole bottle in one go. If you leave a beaker of water out will he just help himself to it as he wants?