Feeding Case Studies

Case Study - Zac, 7 months: Fussy Feeding

When Zac was around 12/14 weeks, he started to fuss a lot around breastfeeds. When his mother spoke to the health visitors about this problem, they said that he was obviously getting what he needed in the few minutes he was on the breast and not to worry. However, his mother saw that his weight gain had slowed down to an ounce a week, or not at all.

Once he was weaned it became apparent that not only was his milk feeding was very poor, but he was never very happy to take his solids and he never opened his mouth for any food either.

When Zac was admitted to hospital with severe dehydration, his mother was advised to give him 18 ounces of fluids a day, when at home. She was desparate as she knew this was almost impossible.

Case Study - Hugh, age 6 months : Refusing Vegetable Purees

By the time Hugh was five months old he was a very healthy weight and was drinking up to 11oz of formula at each feed. When Hugh was weaned he was somewhat reluctant to take solids but his parentes slowly persisted - not introducing pear until he was happily eating baby rice for a week. The fruit was a roaring success. Then it came to vegetables…Well, it was a disaster as far as Hugh was concerned. His mother tried carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash but he refused everything apart from fruit purees of any combination.

Giorgia, age 7 months: Refusing milk feeds and fussy with solids

Giorgia was initially breastfed until she was three months old and was gaining weight every week. A week after her mother stopped breastfeeding she began to refuse her milk, and ever since then feeding became a battle.

At around six months she started to get fussy with both solids and milk. She was constantly dribbling, with her hands in her mouth and she loved chewing on teething rings. The health visitor and friends reassured me that she was probably teething, and this was the cause of her becoming even fussier about her food. However, she wasn't unwell, showed no signs of teething and was happy in herself, unless it was time to eat. As soon as her mother put in her highchair and put her bib on, she started to cry.

Her mother became very stressed and dreaded meal times so much that sometimes she had to ask someone else to feed her. Her mother resorted to any number of distractions in order to to get her to open her mouth to be fed.

Dylan, age six months: Milk refusal caused be introducing certain foods too early

Dylan was breast fed on demand for the first eight weeks of his life. It was nearly three weeks before he regained his birth weight and, when he was nearly six weeks old, his weekly weight gain was very low, averaging no more than 110g (4oz) a week. He was very unsettled and crying for much of the time that he was not on the breast. His mother was becoming more and more depressed and exhausted by the endless feeding and trying to cope with not only a very fretful baby but two other children as well, and it was at this stage that she was advised by her health visitor to top up after each feed with formula milk. By nine weeks, Dylan was getting virtually all his feeds from the bottle.

Natalie, aged 12 weeks: Constipation caused by premature transition from breast milk to over-rich infant formula.

Natalie adapted well to being part breast fed and part bottle fed when her mother went back to work until she reached nine weeks. She then went through a growth spurt and started to demand feeds sooner than she used to, often taking a full 270ml (9oz) feed and screaming for more. At this stage her mother began to find it more and more difficult to express enough milk to meet Natalie’s increased demands. Her mother then suffered a sudden bout of very serious gastroenteritis which resulted in her being admitted to hospital for several days. She became very weak and her milk supply reduced dramatically because of her illness. Natalie’s increased demands for milk had to be met by giving her more formula milk during the day.

By the time her mother left hospital, Natalie was down to having only two breast feeds a day, and taking 210-270ml (7-9oz) of formula at all her other feeds. She was no longer as happy and contented, and would get very upset when straining to do a poo. By the time she reached eleven weeks: she was doing a poo only every 2-3 days, was irritable for much of her waking time, and had also started to wake up much earlier in the morning. By the time Natalie reached 12 weeks, her mother had abandoned the remaining two breast feeds and Natalie was being totally formula fed. But she still remained irritable and was becoming very constipated.

In desperation, and convinced by family and friends that hunger was the cause, Lindsey transferred Natalie on to a casein-dominated milk which is marketed as suitable for “hungrier” babies. While she did start to go slightly longer between feeds, she continued to be irritable most of the time and became hysterical when straining to pass a poo. More often than not, this would consist of several hard pellets.