Underweight

Velvet - posted on 02/03/2010

Has anyone tried the powdered Ovaltine added to soy, goat, formula or rice milk? It comes in chocolate, vanilla and possibly strawberry flavors and costs about $4 for a 32 ounce container (find it in the drink mix, coffee, tea aisle) One child I knew couldn't stand the pediasure and liked it added to theirs to give extra calories. Just a thought.

Christy - posted on 01/27/2010

wall mart is good for their baby food fruits too. Good prices! 2/$1 here :)

I wish I could find a place that sold single pedia sures. I'd love to try chocoalate for McKayla. She can't have Milk as it makes her sick :( Soy milk doesn't have Chocolate either :(

Angie - posted on 01/26/2010

i cannot believe there is not a walmart. that just blows my mind. the only real reason i even shop at walmart is because i get olivia's formula on wic and i usually just fill all the checks at 1 time, thats usually about 18 six packs of pediasure. and i use 5 of them a night for olivia's overnight feeds. other than that and diapers i hate that place lol.

Alexa - posted on 01/26/2010

There are no Walmarts in the NYC vicinity for me. But, I can check Target and Kmart? I will also try some big supermarkets (the one near me is so small).

Stephanie - posted on 01/26/2010

the carnation instant b-fast you should be able to find at most any grocery store. wal-mart supercenters carry it. look in the breakfask isle. its a yellow box and it comes in milk chocolate and vinilla. if you look and still can't find them let me know i'll work something out for you.

Alexa - posted on 01/26/2010

Wow, thanks so for the advice. I'm going to definitely get the mum mums and the puffs. Where can I find that carnation instant breakfast stuff? I've looked in my local supermarket to no avail.

Stephanie - posted on 01/26/2010

mummums are great, the melt easy and fast, so do puffs. Plus they would be good for learning to chew or to encourage chewing. the puffs come in all kids of flavors too. And you can always add the carnation instant b-fast to the pedisure, that will give extra calories and nutrients.

Angie - posted on 01/25/2010

that was and still is our biggest issue with olivia. she had to have a feeding tuibe that went in thru her nose and into her stomache. i hated that thing because you had to worry about it not being in place in the tummy or olivia would pull the thing out at least 4-5 times a wk, and that was from a month old til she was about six months. now we have a button that they put in with surgery, its like a port that sticks out of the stomach and there are no tubes that hang out 24/7 like with the ng tube. it sounds scarrier than what it really is. we almost lost our daughter the first month cuz she was literally starving herself, now she is 2 going on 3 in feb and she was in a size 4/5 in the lil girls dept not the toddler and those are actually starting to get small. she almost if not 4ft tall and weighs about 33-35 lbs. so totally get what you are going thru with that

Christy - posted on 01/25/2010

I've never heard of that before. I'd be scared of all the sugar!!! I know my daughter is hyper enough.

Mum mum are a cracker you can start feeding them at 6 months. Wall Mart carrys them :)

Alexa - posted on 01/25/2010

Mum mums? What is that? Where do I find it? My OT suggested we start with Twizzlers with my son, and he has done wonderfully. When I'm actually home, I have him practice chewing by putting a Twizzler in his mouth by his teeth. He actually loves it!

Christy - posted on 01/25/2010

mum mums melt in the mouth, it's not a great gainer, but it's a huge helper on the chewing and different textures.

Alexa - posted on 01/25/2010

Gabriel does have some feeding difficulty. The biggest problem (he has had since birth) is that he used to bring the food right back up and out (not throw up, but the food comes up). That was the major reason for the lack of weight gain in the beginning. He still does it now, but not as often (perhaps only 2-3 times a week now). In addition, he doesn't really eat solids because he chokes on the food, which makes him gag, and bring it back up. He is still eating stage 2/3 food. And some stage 3 foods he cannot eat at all. So, it's difficult to give him cookies or any hard foods (he has the ability to chew but he won't). I'm not sure if it tires him or it's too much work, but he won't eat it. I will certainly look into your suggestions. Right now, he drinks only Pediasure (with fiber), the powdered supplement, and I try to feed him about 6 times a day on the weekends (as I work full time outside of home at the moment).

Christy - posted on 01/25/2010

Are you using regular or fiber? We're using the fiber. It seems to be working for us. McKayla was never a chubby baby though (6lbs 10 3/4oz at birth). It's always been hard for her to gain.

Stephanie - posted on 01/25/2010

Annie has always struggled with gaining weight. You haven't said if Gabriel has any feeding difficulties such as swallowing, chewing, etc... but we use Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink mixes. We buy the boxes of individual packets, it easier I think because it's one packet per 8 oz of milk, and you can use whole milk for the extra calories. And adding butter to most things is also a good way to add calories. We were told to avoid snacks such as Puffs because you have to eat a lot for very few calories, instead try animal crackers, vinilla wafers, even dry cereal and offer snacks or something to eat often, instead of three meals a day plus a few snacks try small meals several times a day with a variety of things.

Alexa - posted on 01/25/2010

Wow! We started Pediasure when Gabriel turned 1 year old and we are still having weight issues. =[

Christy - posted on 01/25/2010

McKayla had this issuse a while ago, we started her on Pedia sure and she now weighs 25lbs. Before hand she was at the 18-19lb mark and couldn't get it to move. She's now just shy of 22 months old as well :)