It still continues

Well, Cameron's drinking volume has somewhat increased yesterday. In total he drank 800ml, which was a relief.

I brought him to see the pediatrician at International SOS clinic yesterday. We weighed Cameron. His stats:

Weight: 8kg
Height: 63cm (when I measured at home, he was 65cm!)
Head circumference: 44cm.

He is of healthy weight, but he is short (Alarm bells! Is he short and fat?)

It seems that the pediatrician is not alarmed that Cameron's drinking volume has halved over the last 5 days. She said that Cameron's drinking volume is too high. At his age, he should only be drinking 600ml. But she is not accounting the fact that Cameron is on NO solids! For babies 6 months and above are usually established on 3 solid meals already, but Cameron is not!

Anyway in conclusion, she declared Cameron healthy. If he continues this strike for another week, go back to see her. Meanwhile she would like me to start him on solids. I have to try to find his accepted food, and his accepted way of eating. It sounds rather ridiculous to me...

Today, he has taken the usual 7oz at the morning feed, but took only 4oz at the 11am feed. Shall see how much he takes at the 3pm feed.

Milk Saga Continues

Either my baby has really very sensitive taste buds or he really doesn't like to drink or eat very much. I wrote yesterday that I mixed the Similac formula with the Nan HA formula. At the 11am feed, he took it, but not as well. Made him 7oz which he took 6oz. Still not too bad.

At the 3pm feed, I made him 100% Similac 6oz, he took only 5oz.

At bedtime, I decided to mix it up again. Made him 7oz. He took only 4oz :(

At 11pm feed, I made him 4oz, he took 3.5oz.

Overall his drinking volume has not reached normal level yet. Yesterday's grand total was 750ml (25oz). Not great.

Today, I have decided to give him 100% Similac. Let's see if it will improve.

I have also made an appointment with the pediatrician at International SOS to check him out. To make sure he doesn't have any ear infection, ulcers or thrush in the mouth. I want to get to the bottom of this.

Despite his milk strike, he is still a happy baby.

Figured it out!

We finally figured it out why Cameron was not drinking his milk. He doesn't like this formula. We have been giving him Nestle NAN HA since he started formula at 5 months. It was recommended by my pediatrician and he took it well. So naively, I figured that he will take it ALL the time. But this little fella has developed taste buds, so he decided NOT to like it. So all 3 days of his milk strike, he was drinking just enough to take the hunger edge off, and nothing more.

Yesterday, after a dismal amount of milk he drank in the morning, I started to panic. I also weighed him and he put on a little weight. Not much. When he woke up from his afternoon nap, he was very upset. Crying with tears. I wondered if it was pain (from teething?), if he was feeling unwell (maybe a cold coming?) or if it was hunger. I decided to try hunger. I made him a bottle of milk, but with Similac 2 this time. He drank it with gusto. Took 4oz at once. He burped and rested a bit and finished the remainder 2 oz within 30 min. I was soooooo happy and relieved! At last, he is drinking!

At bedtime, I made him 7oz of milk. He took 4oz before bath and rest of the 3oz after bath. No problems. At the 11pm feed, he took 4oz. Finished it all.

So now we face the problem of getting Similac here in Mongolia. Its not available. Friso is available, so we will try that. If he likes it, then we have no problems. Fingers crossed. If he only likes Similac, than we have a HUGE problem as we only have 2 cans.

We also brought over about 15 cans of Nan HA2 to Mongolia. Now we have to think about how to get rid of them.

Lester suggested mixing some Nan HA into his formula, just to see if he will take it. If he does, then we can finish off the 15 cans slowly. This morning, I made him a bottle with two-thirds Similac and one-third Nan HA. He took it, but not with much enthusiasm as with Similac only. I could be imagining it. I will try again at the 11am feed.

Milk Drinking Strike - Day 3

Day 1 (Sunday 27 Sep)
Drank only 540ml in total. Gave him 1tbs of cereal, he took it reluctantly.

Day 2 (Monday 28 Sep)
Drank only 550ml in total. Tried giving him 1 tbs of cereal & pears, but he rejected.

Day 3 (TODAY)
So far, he drank even less than last 2 days. 2 feeds - 270ml. No solids given. Decided to stop the solids for 1 week. I would concentrate on getting milk into him instead.

I am really worried. I wrote an email to my pediatrician in Singapore and she mentioned to try giving him regular formula (instead of HA), chill his regular milk (tried and no improvement), check his mouth of ulcers or thrush (nothing!).

I am desperately looking for teething gel here in Mongolia, but so far, nothing found.

Tried to make appointment with pediatrician at International SOS, but she is not going in til Thursday afternoon.

Weighed him today. He weighs only 8kg (compared to 7.27kg on 12 August). So he has only put on 730g in 48 days! That's really bad.

What to do? What to do?

Frustrating Sunday!

The day started with Cameron NOT drinking his milk. Instead of his usual 7oz, he takes only 3 oz. I was concerned. I proceeded with his usual bath and sleep routine and he slept for 1 hour. After he woke up, he drank another 2 oz of milk.

At 11am feed, he wouldn't take much. I let him eat 1tbs of rice cereal mixed with milk and he took it reluctantly. Right up to his afternoon nap at 12noon he took 5oz of milk. After a 2 hour nap, he drank another 2 oz of milk.

At the 3pm feed, he refused his milk. We tried for 2 hours and all he took was 40ml.

During bedtime, he took only 3oz of milk. Refused anything else. At the 11pm feed, he took only 40ml.

I keep wondering why? Is it the formula? We had to change from Nestle Nan HA1 to HA2. I read the ingredients and HA 2 does not have lactose and corn syrup, so it might be less sweet. But we offered Nan Probiotics to him at the bedtime feed and 11pm feed, he still did not take much. I doubt that is the problem.

Is it because of teething? But I can't feel anything from his gums. He has redden cheeks, he keeps biting everything in sight, he keeps drooling. All signs of teething. But no teeth.

All in all, he took only 540ml of milk, compared to his usual 800ml.

This morning, he woke up at 6.40am crying. I assumed he was hungry, at last! But no, he did not guzzle the milk. I made him a bottle of half HA2 and half Probiotics formula. Took lots of persuading to make him drink, but at least he finished his 7oz of milk before his morning nap. Lets see how this day will go...

When should I start panicking?