Nanny Joe

Q: My baby is 3 months old and i need to get back to my work soon.He relies onlky on breastfeeding and refuses to be weaned off with any bottles/teats/pacis.Any tips as i dont know how it will be like without my breast milk.

A:

1) Now that you know you will be back to work soon;gradually alternate feeding your child between breastfeeding and feeding via a bottle.You can pump out your milk and put it into the bottle.Get your hubby involve in feeding so that your baby gets familiar with other people especially during feeding time.This will help in reducing the ‘clinging effect’ during feeding.

2) If you choose to continue breastfeeding;you can pump your milk out and store it in a breastmilk bag in the freezer.Usually frozen breast milk can be stored up to 2 days(experts say you can freeze it at the back of freezer at -4 degrees up to 6 months.I personally feel 2 days to ensure freshness as sometimes no sure gurantee for 6 months.This also encourages continuity in lactating as more often you express,the lactating period is normally prolonged).

To defreeze the milk, warm it up in a tub of warm water.

Q: My 3 year old is currently overweight and has potential to be obese.I would like to prevent that from happening.Is there anything i can do as a mother to reduce and care for his weight?

A:

A weight control plan needs to be implemented and it is usually via 2 method which is increasing physical activity and dietary management.

Try to plan it in a progressive manner and gradually introduce to your child for him to adapt to the changes easily.Remember,his body needs to be able to adapt as well!

Q: Obesity in children is on the rise.What are the causes?

A:

1.Genetic factors due to family history of overweight/obesity problem

2.Dietary habit;-consumption of high amounts of processed food,unhealthy fried food and junk

3.Unhealthy habits cultivated eg eating snacks while watching tv,

4.Lack of exercise

5.Socioeconomic status;-the poorer incomes

Q: Can i feed cheese to my 10 month old baby?

A:

Cheeses are typically offered to the non-allergic baby between 8 and 10 months of age.  If your baby has a known or suspected dairy allergy (either a milk protein or lactose intolerance) then you should wait to introduce cheese and other dairy when your infant is older. 

As always, please consult your baby’s pediatrician about introducing cheese to your baby as generalities may not apply!

You can introduce cheese to your baby by offering the lighter tasting cheeses (Colby, Jack, American) as well as offering cottage cheese!  

AVOID SOFT CHEESE eg. Brie, Feta, Camembert, Roquefort, and Bleu Cheese 
 

Q: My 3 week old baby cries due to bloated tummy.My peads says its due to gas.How can i help to avoid this problem as its causing pain to my baby.

 A:
Gas in a newborn can be caused by several factors:

1.Air taken in during feed

2.If formula fed,baby could be facing cow or lactose intolerant.

3.Nutrient breakdown

Gas can be avoided by:

a)If formula fed=Proper positioning during feeding.Keep bottle upright.

    If breastfed = Make sure baby lips are flanged around your nipple.

b)Frequent burping in between feeds/ounces

c) Check with your peads if your child is cows milk allergic or lactose intolerance IF gassiness comes with diarrhea,or vomitting.

d) Try a tummy wrap for newborn

e) Gripe water mixture

f) Baby heat ointment /oil which you can massage on tummy

Q: What are the risks of childhood obesity?

A:

The complications of obesity are astounding:

1.Type 2 diabetes, previously found almost entirely in adulthood and thought to be unusual in children, now accounts for up to 44% of newly diagnosed cases of diabetes in childhood, paralleling the increase in the prevalence of obesity.

2.High blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, especially elevated “bad” LDL and triglycerides, are much more common in obese children.

3.The occurrence of sleep apnea (obstruction of the airway in sleep resulting in a serious drop in blood oxygen levels) is much greater in obese children. This condition can be associated with:

Nighttime bedwetting, difficulty rising in the morning, poor school performance, and many other disorders. And the fatigue that this sleep disorder brings about can make it more difficult for the child to be physically active, making the obesity even worse.

4.Several bone and joint disorders in childhood are related to obesity, the most serious being a slippage of the growth plate in the hip bone called “slipped capital femoral epiphysis.”

6.There are numerous studies underway now that suggest many other disorders may be related to obesity, including liver and kidney diseases, and even a possible increased risk of cancer!

6.The most serious damage done in obesity is to the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence! Our society places an extreme prejudice against the obese person, especially the obese child. Our self-image is developed during our formative early years of childhood; if that image is one of obesity, it is extremely difficult to lose that image in later years, increasing the likelihood that an obese child will become an obese adult.

Q: My daughter is 3 months old. She is having trouble with her formula. Her formula has been changed several times, will that hurt to change her nutritionally? She spits it up a lot. I worry if she spits up a lot she wont grow normally. Her weigh is  8 pounds 7 oz at birth and 12lbs and 12 oz now.

A:

Medically, it shouldn’t hurt to frequently change your infant’s formula, as long as you stick with one that is iron fortified. Some infants do have minor problems with diarrhea or constipation or have feeding problems as they adjust to being on a new formula though.

If your infant is simply spitting up and has gastroesophageal reflux, but is gaining weight well and has no other symptoms, you may not need to change his formula so often though, or at all. Experts estimate that more than half of young infants spit up at least one or more times a day.

And it often looks like much more than it actually is when they do.

At this age, infants normally gain about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds a month, which he has done. That is a good sign that his spitting up isn’t causing a problem for him.

In addition to difficulty gaining weight or possibly losing weight, signs that reflux is causing a problem include that an infant:

Q: My daughter is 5 weeks old, and for the past week and a half she starts screaming while taking her bottle. She usually takes 4 to 5 ounces, but since she has started screaming she only takes 1 to 2. She sometimes chokes really bad while eating and spits up a whole lot. She acts really hungry, but then screams like she is in pain and finally its like she just gives up on eating. I have called her pediatrician and even taken her in to see him, but he just keeps saying she probably has a stomach bug and it will run it’s course. This has been going on for 8 days now. She is not eating even half of what she was before. I am asking you because her pediatrician hasn’t tried very hard to find the source of the problem. Should I take her to another doctor? What do you think the problem is?

A:

Unless someone else at home is sick with a stomach virus, that isn’t a likely cause of this problem…

Does she do this at each feeding, or only occasionally? If it is not with every or most feedings, then you may just be misinterpreting her hunger signs and are trying to feed her either too early, so that she isn’t hungry, or too late, so that she is overly fussy because she is very hungry. Keeping a diary of her feedings for a few days might make it easier to get a good picture of how much she is eating each day and how often.

Some simple problems that might cause this problem is that the formula is either coming out too fast or too slow from the bottle’s nipple. When you turn a full bottle of formula over, how quickly does the formula come out? You should get about a drop a second at first. If it is slower or you see a much faster stream, then you might try a different nipple.

You might also consider that her formula could be too cold or too hot. Are you warming her bottles of formula? If so, how are you doing it?

If she is fussy, doesn’t want to eat, and spits up a lot, then she could have reflux.

A formula intolerance might also cause a baby to be fussy during feedings, although these children also usually have other symptoms, like diarrhea or a lot of gas. If this is the problem and she is on a cow’s milk based formula, like Enfamil Lipil, Similac Advance, or Nestle Good Start Supreme, then a change to a soy or elemental formula might be helpful. Be sure to talk to your Pediatrician before changing your baby’s formula though.

At this point, you likely need a recheck with your Pediatrician, especially to make sure that she is gaining weight well. He or she will likely be a little more aggressive now in looking for a cause of her problem now that it has been lingering for over a week. If you are not comfortable seeing the same doctor again, then a recheck with another Pediatrician might be a good idea.