We had our first appt today with a nutritionist to see how I can increase Noahs calories since he usually refuses the bottle. She said that the most I could increase his calories was to 27 cal per oz. She told me I could add sugar to his solids as well as butter. This is what doesnt make sense..... she gave me a hand out that said to add 1/4 teaspoon butter per 4 oz of solids. I did the math, and 1/4 tsp is only 8 calories. So what is the point in adding 8 calories to a 4 oz serving of food? How is that going to help? Noah only eats about 6 oz max of solids a day anyway, so he's only going to be getting about 10 extra calories a day.....whoopy! Does that sound right? Is anyone else adding extra calories using butter or oil, and if so, how much are you adding?

We had our first appt today with a nutritionist to see how I can increase Noahs calories since he usually refuses the bottle. She said that the most I could increase his calories was to 27 cal per oz. She told me I could add sugar to his solids as well as butter. This is what doesnt make sense..... she gave me a hand out that said to add 1/4 teaspoon butter per 4 oz of solids. I did the math, and 1/4 tsp is only 8 calories. So what is the point in adding 8 calories to a 4 oz serving of food? How is that going to help? Noah only eats about 6 oz max of solids a day anyway, so he's only going to be getting about 10 extra calories a day.....whoopy! Does that sound right? Is anyone else adding extra calories using butter or oil, and if so, how much are you adding?

We did the supplentation big time with Iain for a number of months when he was FTT and are getting back into it again in an effort to bring his weight up higher and increase his caloric needs. The idea is that this will make him eat more as his caloric needs increase.

How many ounces of formula does he drink in a day? When we first started the supplementation, Iain was only eating a teaspoon to a tablespoon of solids a day (he started solids at 14 months of age). We were very successful with it as we were VERY vigilent with it and looked for opportunities to make every time he opened his mouth count.

The following is what we went by:

Cooking oil 83 cal per 2 teaspoon or roughly 125 cal per tbsp.

Olive oil 126 cal per tbsp... we preferred this as Iain liked the taste better and it was not as icky in the bottles. Oils can "blow out" nipples, so be aware of this and keep them clean!

Pea butter (not peanut butter... this is an alternative) 93 cal per tbsp. Use as a smear on toast, or whatever he puts his mouth around, including teething toys or smear the nipple with a tiny bit each time you offer the bottle

Cheese whiz 84 cal per 2 tbsp.

Peanut butter 90 cal per tbsp

Butter, salted 100 cal per tbsp or roughly 33 per teaspoon

Sugar, white refined 45 cal per tbsp

We were even restricted with no dairy or soy products when we first did the supplementation and I will not kid you, it was hard but not impossible. Now we are finding it so easy as his diet is open. We also were told to literally give him a spoon and let him go at a dish of cool whip, icing sugar, ice cream, etc. He unfortunately does not share Mommy's sweet tooth.:confused: As he discovers food I hope that he will come to like these foods.:-D

With every bottle, try to put in the cooking oil and a teaspoon of sugar. That gains you nearly 55 or more calories per bottle. Plus, if you can smear a tad of pea butter or peanut butter on the nipple you just bought yourself another 2 to 10 if you keep smearing in between glugs or when he puts it down. It is all about the small numbers adding up, not making huge strides in one go.

With solids, put in the butter if you have a puree or food that will tolerate it. If you have fruit puree, then add the sugar and a touch of olive oil and you gain again. Literally, you can add hundreds of calories in a day if he is intaking fluid normally and taking even a few teaspoons or tablespoons of food in a day.

Just keep up with the smears. We put them onto his teething toys, his nipples and we kept a bowl of it handy to do this with. We would measure out a tablespoon at a time and look for opportunity to use it without making him uncomfortable by our neurosis of smearing everything.:razz:

Start slow and increase as he gets used to the taste.

Oh, and if you are using a veggie puree that is not sweet naturally, do not add the sugar. Use some cooking oil or olive oil instead.

Here I am again with a calorie counter. I used the food guide here, but this site is pretty good, too.

http://www.caloriechart.org/

We tried avacado here and Iain would NOT eat it, but many have had success with it as it is loaded with nutrition and calories.

Leigh,
Wow, thanks so much for all of the info. You gave me tons of more information than the nutrutionist did.

Noah will eat about 5 oz of solids a day. I end up sleep feeding most of his bottles, so he gets about 23 oz of breast milk/formula a day. How much oil did you add per bottle? Noah takes a 4 oz bottle. When you added the oil or butter to his solids, did you only add 1/4 tsp per 4 oz? Or did you add larger amounts of butter to smaller portion sizes of solids? She also mentioned giving him egg yolks. I'd like to try that, but I'm not sure how to make it so its not so dry without making it taste gross. I didnt think adding water or milk to egg yolk would be very appetizing.

Lisa,

Since Noah is only about 8 months, I wouldn't suggest trying the peanut butter route yet in case he were to have an allergic reaction. We supplemented with butter (just a glob added to things), protein powder, and a calorie fortifier. Adding formula to the egg yolk will definitely make it taste better than with nothing. If he has already tried cheese, you could also grate a bit in.

I think we were supposed to work up to 2tbsp of butter for Evan's solids when he was on them. We just added the olive oil (1tsp) straightto AJ's bottles of rice milk. It should be safe to go to 30cals/oz, but she's probably leaving you some leway for measuring errors.

Leigh,
Wow, thanks so much for all of the info. You gave me tons of more information than the nutrutionist did.


No kidding! I walked out of the office on mine I was so disgusted by her lack of knowledge! I wish Id had this info!