Feeding An 8 month old

[anonymous]

Hi everyone
As i am new to CF i am still learning every day.I have posted a message before on this forum and have received some great info. Just wondering what to feed my 8 month old or if i am feeding enough. He is on 5 300ml bottles per day with 3 solid meals which is cereal for breakfast with a bottle. Custard for lunch with a bottle and veggies for dinner with a bottle. Should i be giving snacks in between? My dietician told me not to give him bread or dairy yet. Don`t know if this is because of his short gut but i thought the more fat you give them the better can i give him egg yet? or cheese?. He loves his food and is putting on weight famously just get a bit confused with the enzymes and all. I was told that 2gms of fat is half an enzyme but i feel he needs more. Does it hurt them if they get more than required. He still poos twice a night as well is that because he is not getting enough enzymes? Alsco can he have cows milk in his cereal or does it have to be formulae. Sorry bout all the questions guys. Some snack food ideas would be great because he is getting more than his fair share of milk which i think is most import. I have two teenagers without CF and having a new bubby after so long and different feeding regimes is so confusing. I tend not to give him new things because i dont know if he can have them.
thanks

Donna mum to Benjamin 8 mths with CF and Daniel 14 No CF and Monique 13 No CF

 

[Diana]

Hi Donna,

Because he has a short gut I am not sure what advice I can give you but I would recommend to always check with your dietician first before taking on board anyones opinions...with that in mind here is mine!

Sounds like he is geting plenty of calories so thats a great start. You are quite limited if you cannot give him dairy products so maybe ask the dietician when you can start those. This will allow you to add butter to his vegies, cream to his cereal, and cheese can be introduced.

I think the trick is not to give too many meals but instead increase the calories and fat in the ones you do. If you increase the amount of snacks he has not only will it leave less room for his much needed milk but also when he hits the toddler age you will probably find he is more inclined to have lots of snacks and not as many meals....makes it harder.

If dairy is still out of the question you might want to try adding avacado to his vegies to add some fat content to the meal.

I an tell you my 6 month old daughter Elisha has plenty of dairy! She LOVES yoghurt and would live on the stuff if I allowed her. The best part about that is that I buy her greek style yoghurt now which has about 3 times more fat than nomal yoghurt so it makes my life easier.

The 4 grams of fat per enzyme rule is only an estimation and varies from child to child so check with your doctor first but increasing the enzymes will no doubt benefit your child. It is important to sort out the enzyme amount first because otherwise you can add as much fat as you like but it won't be absorbed. I had to increase Elisha's enzymes as that rule was not enough for her. She is better when I give her 1 enzyme per 3 grams of fat.

Hope this info helps. Good luck.

 

[julie]

With the short gut, I would recommend you stick to what the doctors/dieticians have suggested. Is he showing signs of hunger inbetween meals though? He should be fed when hungry so if you can work in MORE of the diet they have recommended, that's great. Unless he has shown allergies (aside from his CF), you can feed him what you fed your other children at this age, just MORE of it.

How is the "quality" of his BM's? Do they seem greasy? The doctors can take a sample of his BM's and analyze it for the fat content (and I believe some other things). They can make adjustments to his enzymes if needed.

 

[anonymous]

Hi, Donna. The reason most doctors advise against dairy is to give your baby's immune system more time to develop, so that when it does encounter dairy, it is less likely to develop an allergy to it. I have a friend with a little boy who is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts, and it is a very difficult and stressful life for her making sure that he doesn't encounter these foods. Because food allergies run in my family, and because I've seen my friend go through this struggle, I have toed-the-line in regard to the feeding guidelines.

I also have an 8 month old with CF, and I'm always trying to get extra calories into her. Our nutritionist recommended adding oil to her bottles and her baby food, and I think that has resulted in some good weight gain for her. I'm still breastfeeding, but I put rice cereal and olive oil in a bottle of expressed milk for her at night, and sometimes again during the day if she isn't eating as much as I would like.

Most babies won't encounter issues, but I would hold off on dairy and eggs until the AAP advises, just in case. You can substitue oil for butter in just about everything he eats. I add it to everything that goes into Ellie's mouth (except when she is nursing, obviously!).

Best wishes!

-- Jenica
Mom to Abby (2, w/o CF) and Ellie (8 months, w/CF)

 

[Ratatosk]

When Max turned 6 months old, his CF doctor told us to feed him whatever we were eating, because babyfood is low in fat and salt. I'd mash up pasta dishes and casserole, but he did have a bit of a texture issue -- hated ground meat. I still fed him baby food, but would add butter and salt to the veggies and meat. He loved stage 2 chicken and turkey, sweet potatoes and corn, mac & cheese... I also gave him LOTS of yogurt and if I couldn't find the whole milk stuff, I'd add cream. We also began adding cream to his formula closer to his first birthday.

 

[anonymous]

My boy loved to eat eggs at that age. We made cheese omlettes to boost the calories a bit. We pretty much fed him whatever he'd eat any time he'd eat it. Still do.

 

[anonymous]

hi
thanks for all your advice. I actually add butter and cream to bens meals so that is already dairy i presume. Must ask my dietician what she is on about. She did really stress though no yogurt or wheat. Thanks again.
Donna

 

[anonymous]

Diana
I also have been holding off on the dairy as Ben was in hospital bout a month ago with a bad gastro and im glad i did because i dont think his immune system is as good as it should be at the moment. So thanks for that it makes more sense now, but as i said in the quote before he has been having cream and butter since he has been 6 months old now so dairy would probably be ok u think?
Donna

 

[thefrogprincess]

I always thought that unless allergies were an issue you wanted to give your kids dairy so they wouldn't be lactose intolerant. My friend never gave her son meat and now he's 7 and can't go near it without have horrible stomach aches. I thought dairy was the same kind of thing.

 

[anonymous]

I know for allergy reasons you shouldn't give a baby nuts or peanuts -- except my child was a peanut butter fiend at 10 months. Also, no honey because of botulism. Some peds recommend no solids until closer to a year... Our doctor told us to feed DS regular food starting at 6 months. His daycare just ground up everything fine. He still at formula until he was about 16 months old. Liza

 

[anonymous]

I think the AAP advises one year before dairy, but that is probably a very cautious guideline that they present. Most of my friends with kids have given their children dairy before one year old, and only one has had issues. I think if allergies run in your family it's probably best to hold off longer, but probably not such a big deal for most babies.

-- Jenica
Mom to Abby (2, w/o CF) and Ellie (8 months, w/CF)