It Seems like My Baby Is Hardly Drinking.

My littlest one is in the lower percentiles as well. She is 2 1/2 almost and is only now 22 or 23 pounds. As long as your child is developing and seems healthy and happy....dont stress. With the wet diapers and growth still going everything seems fine. Some pediatricians like to get worked up since your child is not in the top of the weight and height ranges...if that were true for all of their little patients, we would all be the same size. Remember everyone is their own shape and size. Relax and enjoy the young years...they dont last as long as we would like. =)

Hi S.,
I would not worry too much about her intake aslong as she still has good output......just try to encourage her to drink lots of juices- she will be fine.
blessings

You might have already done this but try giving her snacks instead of meals. Examle: our son drinks three sippy cups a day. If he were doing what your daughter does we would just offer him the sippy several times a day and put it back in the fridge. Same with snacks and juice cups...which is mostly water with a splash of juice. Good luck.

I'll tell you about my "bad" mom way of getting my 4yr old to drink milk is to put a dab of coffee in it. He thinks he is drinking coffee with me. And my 2 year old will not drink milk, so I give her those yogurt drinks (whole milk ones). She likes the flavors. So, there you go.

My daughter is almost 11 months and is fairly small too. (AT her 9 mo. appt. she was 15 1/2 lb.) I just had to wean her a few days ago and am trying to get her to drink enough. I tried formula and she wouldn't take it, so the doctor gave me the go ahead to mix formula/cow's milk for awhile then start cow's milk alone later. I have tried to make sure she drinks enough because I know she doesn't get the recommended amount. I try the milk first, then if she hasn't had enough to drink by then I try juice mixed with water. If I feel she's still not getting enough I try giving her some snacks and wait till she seems quite thirsty and this usually causes her to drink everything in her sippy cup. (If you want her to get calcium you might also try those yogurt bites.) It sounds like with as many wet diapers as she has a day she is surely getting enough.

After a year old, my daughter's pediatrician says she needs three servings of dairy daily. I would consider a dairy serving as

a good nursing session (6 to 8 ounces of breast milk)
8 ounces of whole milk
6 ounces of whole milk yogurt drink (Yo Baby)
4-6 ounces of full fat yogurt
a serving of cheese
1 Pediasure drink

My daughter is also on the small side. She was about 17 pounds at 1 year, and is 21 pounds at 21 months. I am still nursing her, plus she gets about 1.5 pediasure a day, milk with her cereal and I try to give her some grated cheese or yogurt every day. Good luck!

I was going to ask about the diapers but you answered that one for me. All 3 of my children went on "drinking strike" once I switched them to milk. They did go crazy for calcium fortified orange juice however. I know it is not the best thing to give your child juice, but I figured that it wasn't going to hurt then for a while to go wild on the juice. From that point on, they drank the milk. My youngest still won't drink a lot of milk and she just turned 3. I usually have to add just a touch of vanilla syrup to her milk to get her to want to drink "some" of it.

One of my younger grandsons has been the same way. He was very small when he was born and would hardly drink anything, whether it was breastmilk or formula. He was to the point where you could see his breastbone and it worried me to see him that way. As he got older (he is now almost two), he began to drink more. There were many visits to the docotr to make sure he was okay; there was a worry for awhile that his head was too big for his boddy; think about the Stewie character). He now eats food selectively but he eats. The doctors never said there was anything wrong with him; its just the way he was. If you have taken your child to the doctor and they find nothing wrong then I wouldn't worry about your baby unless they start loosing weight or become listless.

At one year, a baby should not be drinking any more than 16-24 oz of whole milk anyway. She may just prefer not to drink milk which is ok! As long as she is eating well (2-3 servings of fruit, 2-3 servings of veggies, 1-2 servings of meat, 2-3 servings of dairy) per day, then she will do just fine. Remember a serving size is 1 tablespoon per year of age. Offer her fluids throughout the day including water in a sippy cup. Hold juices to less than 6 oz/day. If she looks like she is losing weight or is falling off the growth chart, you can always supplement with Pediasure which has some great flavors and great tastes!

At this age, it is common for growth to slow down as well as pickier appetite and food choices. Keep track of her every few months on a growth chart (you can download these on the CDC website) just to make sure she is growing appropriately and not below the weight minimum on the chart.

Other than that, just watch her grow!

From: A., pediatric nurse and expecting first child in July

My daughter was always tiny and she absolutely refused to drink milk from a sippy when I made the switch. It was several weeks before she gave in and in that time I worried that she wasn't getting enough, but she eventually came around. I wouldn't worry about her size. My daughter was 16.5 lbs. at 10 months old also. She is now 3 and is still small for her age, but is perfectly healthy. I would just try a few different kinds of cups (maybe one with a straw) to see if she drinks any more for you. I actually had to let my daughter drink milk from a regular cup and just help her pour it into her mouth. This was the only way I could get any milk into her for at least a couple of weeks. It was really messy, but did the trick, so you could try that too. Good luck and don't worry....good things come in small packages! That's what my Mom always told me since I was tiny too!

Have you tried chocolate milk? That's what I give my son, who is not a big fan of milk he'll only drink chocolate, I also give string cheese, yogurt drinks, and a calcium supplement. Grilled cheese sandwiches, there is also bread fortified with calcium, and orange juice(although I would watch for diaper rash) When I weaned my son and put him on cow's milk I had to add cereal and some splenda to his milk and he loved it. I assume you are talking about drinking milk. As far as juice I limit that but he always has a sippy cup with water available.

My guy just turned one and has three 6 ounce bottles during the day and one 4 ounce bottle at night. He is also getting juice twice a day in a sippy cup. I water down the juice a lot. He gets more flavored water than juice :)

Try different liquids and different containers. It might be she might need the bottle a little longer or a different bottle.

What a lot doctors these days will tell a mom (and LLL supports this advice) is to *supplement with expressed milk.* This doctor needs a copy of a LLL book, to educate him about the benefits of breastfeeding. La Leche League is recognized by the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics as the foremost authority on anything breastfeeding related.

Judging by her 6+ wet dipes a day, she's hydrated enough.
As for milk, yogurt, etc....It could very well be that her little body is not ready for cow milk. Is there a history at all of dairy sensitivity in your family? There's no dairy stuff in my family (or dh's), but neither of my kids wanted much to do with cow dairy until closer to 15mos.
As alternatives, we did goat's milk, rice milk, and -- after 12mos of age - almond milk.

Since you're in good ol' Texas, keep her water handy at all times. Especially this summer.
As she gets older, one idea is to get a fun 'new' sippy or bottle (not nipple, think sigg or kanteen) -- one that has fun animals or designs on it. It's possible that she's a bit young to care, but it's a thought.

HTH
K., mama to
Catherine, 5y
Samuel, 2y
EDD 9/09

check out this link about vitamin d supplements

http://www.shaklee.net/healthydesire/product/20057

because nursing gave her calcium but not very much vitamin d just take a look at that link and read the info if you have any other questions let me know

Since you breastfed, there is no reason to give her cows milk. Cows milk should only be consumed by cows. Milk has been shown to leach calcium (before you protest, do the research) as well as puts a high sugar / fat load on the body. That could set her up for weight problems later in life.

That said, bio-active yogurt is fantastic for her! Just make sure that it's not one of the sugary ones and that there are active cultures in the yogurt. In fact, all human females should consume yogurt regularly. It supports immune function as well as bowel function.

Each human should drink 1/2 their body weight of WATER (in ounces) per day. That's not much volume for a small child.

Also, I saw several fruit juice recommendations. I strongly object on several levels: 1) too much sugar (and yes, high fructose corn syrup IS BAD FOR YOU), 2) the acid level can be hard on baby, and 3) depending on the juice, she could be getting 4x RDA or 1/2 RDA. Real fruit is much better.

With both of my kids as they got closer to one, the didn't drink as much milk because they were already eating more solid foods. Are you giving her enough solid food? I gave my kids as babies bananas (scrape the banana and only give the white part and not the seedy part of the banana) boiled carrots then mashed them, mashed apples, etc. and they always had a healthy weight. Hopefully this will help. Good luck.

My son has always been small, 5th and 10th % for weight. I can count the number of time he drank more than 5 oz. at a feeding on 1 hand. We kept up the breastmilk until his 1 yr birthday and then switched to a sippy cup with whole milk. He adjusted just fine.

I would suggest a vitamin supplement and if you are super worried you can get the nutiritional drinks to give her. We did that for my son when we got a little concerned about his weight. He drank those in place of milk. They are flavored, but have the vitamin smell to them. He liked them just fine. I'm glad he's off though. They are way more expensive than milk. You could supplement 1 of them a day for the milk and see how it goes.

Check with your peditrician to make sure it's okay that young.

Good luck. Don't worry too much see will come around.