I begin with - Al fateha

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Feeding woes...

my mum's helper feeding Little Habib using a self made sling.

Its really a challenge to feed Little Habib these days. In fact, the difficulty in feeding him milk started as early as when he was just a mere 6 months. I remember clearly that i stopped BF around 6 mths + and after that, giving him milk just went downhill.

He used to be able to drink 4 oz of formula milk, and he got chubby.. but now getting him to drink 10ml is lucky enough and now he is not so chubby..

He just refuse to drink it from a bottle, but strangely enough, he can gulp down plain water from a bottle as if he was enjoying it but when it comes to milk, he will just push it off strongly. I have to resort to putting milk powder into his brown rice.

Y doesn't my baby likes milk ? * sad* i really like seeing other babies who loves milk. I saw a really cute baby tee-shirt with the slogan ' will work for milk' ... but but but..I cant buy it for Little Habib because its Sooo not him... * boriiingggg *

Ive change from S26 to Similac to now Dumex Mamil Gold. Its really not the milk powder then. And Ive changed from Advent to Nuk to Pigeon bottles. Ok, he prefers Pigeon for his warm plain water.

And now, even though he likes brown rice, he just refuse to sit at his eating chair. Halfway through the feed, my mum's Indonesian helper would have to use a sarong, make it like a sling and carry little Habib in it before he will eat. How am i going to sling him around me if he is at my house during feeding time ?

Im just confuse. Poor Mummy and her helper has to put up with Little Habib's antiques but they still put up with it lovingly. ( may Allah bless them in their age ) ...

Upon a friend's advise...tonight, Insyallah, I will bring Little Habib to Kidzlink. I need to consult a pediatrician , at least put my mind at ease. In fact, I told hubby that we have to endeavour to help Little Habib overcome this. We might even have to bring him to Habib Abbas to get his doa. And if all else fails, then at least, I know that Ive tried my best to face this challenge.

ohhh bloggy blog.... I know this is not at all serious when compared to some other baby problems but as a mummy, I would like my baby to get enough for him to grow into a bright child....

well....again, Hopefully its just a phase........................


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear abt that...maybe you should consult the doctor - ask those who know. Hope everything goes well.

Ummi's Blog said...

yupz.. kita manusia ni tak lari dari cubaan kan.. thats how Allah heightens our iman. : )
I just have to remail calm, and go through the flow of things..

thanks pal.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.. Nabil is going through a phase too. The-I-love-puree-and-no-cereal-please phase. Hurhur..

So have to cheat him a bit during makan. First a small spoonful of puree, then cereal. He'll open his mouth because he anticipates puree but skali masuk cereal dah.. When that happens, he will press his mouth shut and goes "Mmmmm-mmmm" to express his annoyance.

Truly, must sabar in this ah. For me, the highly impatient one, it takes a lot of control not to smack a baby who doesn't know anything yet (been scolded by my mum for being so impatient with the baby. Heh). So must entertain the budak until he finishes 75% of his cereal.

~Ummu Nabil

Ummi's Blog said...

haha..samelah, i also trick baby habib. I put the plain water near his mouth, when he opens it up, i will push in the spoonful of brown rice.. hehe.. and he's so angry that he's been trict. My mum thought me this trick.

poor babies.. but we r only doing so for their own good kan.

Anonymous said...

Well seems that all mothers have to face each phase of a child's life with challenge/s.

My son, Mukhtaar, just recently showing his behavioural changes at his dining chair. He refuses to sit on it especially when its milk time. Due to his leanness and low weight despite his activeness, both my husband and myself consulted the KK paed whom referred Mukhtaar to a dietician. Alhamdulillah, there's a menu and some guides for me to share with you:

1.Encourage family meals
2.Encourage self-feeding
3.Includes variety and texture
4.Supplement with Nutroplex high in lysine and iron

Despite the guides, there's still challenges at the table. I have to trial and error on what exactly my son wants.

Guide 1 is successful. Initially, Mukhtaar was doing well having to feed with spoon during meals. But a couple of weeks ago, he started to keep his food in his mouth,thus decreasing the amount intake. I realized that he wants me to feed as how both my husband and I eat - using hands when we are eating with hands. Alhamdulillah, the food does go in.Family meals indeed is the way and infact Islam too encourages that.

Guide 2, not yet successful. But we tried to encourage him to hold food in his hands to feel and if he wants, he will put in his mouth. During one of the days that we eat out, Mukhtaar held a french fries and managed to bite it. With praises, he repeated the act, but only for a while (kids attention span is short). There's other opportunities to encourage him. PATIENCE, mummy.

Guide 3 is still on experiementation. So far so good. Initially Mukhtaar didn't want to eat bread (which is in the menu breakfast). Somehow we have to be creative in providing varieties and texture. I toasted the bread and well, bravo he EATS, though little and not the amount stated. A god start, I said to myself.

Guide 4. Supplement may be the way to increase his appetite. Yet to see the effect.

FEEDING MILK
Having to implement that for about 2 weeks, just few days ago, Mukhtaar refuses to drink milk. Is it because of the milk, or the method of feeding?! None of them! Frustrating. I was feeling so down trying to get the milk down his throat and making him sit on his chair. These eyes are swollen due to the 'bad' treatment I did to my son just because he didn't want to drink milk. Just today, I recovered and understand that since there are adults to dislike the taste of milk, so are some babies like Mukhtaar. As a result, I took the initiative to begin all over again, feeding him 2 times a day before the next phase, i.e. to increase the frequency to finally 4 and maybe making the milk of different texture, putting in Nestum of add some flavour, like Milo(what my mum did). I hope that Allah gives me the strength, great patience and understanding to go through this 'Feeding woes'.

MEALTIME
Despite some success to make Mukhtaar eats, there's other woes during these times. His attention at the chair his short, so like what was written on one of the comments, we have to entertain our child, distracting him with whatever that we can. When I asked around, there are others who say just make the child run about and feed him as he plays coz he is at the stage of wanting to play, play, play. I disagree despite knowing that he wants to play - 1.The effort of disciplining him at the table will be gone. 2.I have to run around to where he is to feed - messy and no discipline 3. If I were to go ahead with the advice, my son will be complacent and doesn't know when is playtime and when to eat. 4.The child will not appreciate what is togetherness in eating together and tend to be selfish, at a later stage.

Well, well, well. A tall story written indeed. I hope with the experience that I have and still going through, we can be more persevere and firm in overcoming this feeding woes. Each child is unique in many ways, even in feeding patterns. So we have to remind ourselves that our child is indeed and like what my husband always says "You have build the bond with your son, so don't destroy it, just because of the difficulties in feeding?!"

Ummi's Blog said...

thks Ummu Muchtaar.. hmm Im not alone huh..
anyway, i aslo dont agree on letting your child run around during feeding time.
Its has to be disiplin, disiplin n disiplin.

easy for me to say but insyallah, i will try. : )

shukr said...

sorry, I should have read on first!

I'm wondering if he has a cows milk intolerance then? perhaps drinking milk actually gives him a tummy ache afterwards? masha'Allah, our children can be great guides when we listen to what they like/ dislike.
i would not recommend soya milk, as there are hormonal problems linked to this milk, ( though my eldest two did have this.(( ) and look at a healthy vegan diet for your son in the meantime?? if you google healthy vegan baby or some such thing you should find food ideas to try out insha'Allah.

we went vegan for a long time with three children's allergies. it is quite healthy masha'Allah! but I missed cream so much!

maybe google cows milk intolerance and see whether it fits to your pattern?

wa salaam