Hi
I am new to the site- you can read Sarah's story in intros. She is 5 1/2 months small for gestational age, DGE, GERD on reglan, erythromycin, pepcid and prevacid. She hates to eat. She starts refusing after taking 2 oz. I am worried about starting solids. Will solids worsen her delayed emptying? Will she take even less milk from the bottle? Is ther a way to increase the calories in the solids? She gets 24kcal/oz in her milk- breast milk plus nutramigen to fortify to 24 kczl/oz. She has also stopped gaining weight. Can you increase the calories in the milk even more?
Karie- mom to Sarah- 5 1/2 months SGA, DGE, GERD

We used something called Supersoluble Duocal to boost calories. I believe you can add it to anything. It's a tasteless powder. It's pretty pricey and I had to order it from a website (http://www.shsna.com/pages/super_soluble_duocal.htm). We got a sample can from Daniel's feeding clinic, and I had this idea you needed an rx for it, but you don't.

thanks for the response-
Did you add it to the milk and solids? When did you start using it? Did Daniel drink less when you started solids?
i am worried she will start eating even less if I start solids but I guess you have to start sometime.
Karie- mom to Sarah- SGA, DGE, GERD 5 1/2 months

We added it to purees. (I hated giving him healthy things like carrots because it had so few calories, so this stuff eased my mind a bit.) I think it can also go into milk/formula.

Daniel completely refused the bottle around 11 months, then I figured out how to force feed him purees around 13 months, and he used an NG tube in between, so I have no experience with introducing solids/milk intake. However, I do know that milk/formula consumption is supposed to decrease once they're on solids.

Hi Karie and welcome to the boards! Regarding starting solids, each child is different, so it's really hard to say how Sarah will react until you try it. Sarah's likely too young to try on a protein powder, but ther are a number of calorie fortifiers out there that you may wish to try.

Did you add it to the milk and solids? When did you start using it?
We added both protein powder and Caloreen to milk and to purees, and sometimes even to soups. Since Evan went undiagnosed for so long, we didn't start receiving feeding therapy, meds. or a dietitian until (I think) after his second birthday, so we started adding those things later. You could always ask your doctor if it's safe to give those things to a 5 1/2 month old.

Geez, I didn't even consider her age. D was 18 months when we used the duocal. Not sure if it can be used for babies.