Post by kellyds on Oct 15, 2006 18:37:40 GMT -5
I'm wondering how our experience compares to some of yours, and what we might be able to expect as Joshua gets older.
I pumped and spoon fed my milk to him for six weeks before he was able to nurse efficiently enough to start gaining a little weight. He still nurses now (just in the morning and at bedtime). We never had to tube-feed or anything like that.
Besides nursing, he eats whatever I put before him. He feeds himself with his fingers. I have never given him a food that he won't eat, and I give him whatever the rest of the family is having: tacos, hamburgers, cauliflower, you name it.
But . . . he never, ever indicates that he is hungry. And, he never STOPS eating, as long as there is food in front of him. It is weird to have to take him away from his tray when he's still eating. He doesn't object when I do that. It's like he has no ability to discern hunger, and he eats just for the entertainment value.
I have left the house with him early, done errands all morning, and not gotten around to lunch for the rest of us until 1:00 p.m. We are all ravenous, and Joshua is still happy as a clam. When I give him food, he eats it, but he doesn't act like he's REALLY HUNGRY like the rest of us.
My doctor said she doesn't know if this is typical or not, but that kids with DS tend to put on weight when they are older, so to be careful. I can't find a thing on the Internet about how many calories a child this age needs, but I must be guessing right because he's gaining okay so far. I just feed him the approximate amounts that my other kids ate at his age.
He also doesn't "ask" to nurse. (He never has. I used to have to set my alarm to get up and nurse him when he was a newborn and needed the middle-of-the-night meal.) When I start unbuttoning my shirt, he dutifully nurses, but it isn't like he's frantic for it, you know?
Just wondering if any of yours have been like this and what you've done as they've gotten older. I envision him either forgetting to eat at all or wolfing down fifteen candy bars at a time!
I pumped and spoon fed my milk to him for six weeks before he was able to nurse efficiently enough to start gaining a little weight. He still nurses now (just in the morning and at bedtime). We never had to tube-feed or anything like that.
Besides nursing, he eats whatever I put before him. He feeds himself with his fingers. I have never given him a food that he won't eat, and I give him whatever the rest of the family is having: tacos, hamburgers, cauliflower, you name it.
But . . . he never, ever indicates that he is hungry. And, he never STOPS eating, as long as there is food in front of him. It is weird to have to take him away from his tray when he's still eating. He doesn't object when I do that. It's like he has no ability to discern hunger, and he eats just for the entertainment value.
I have left the house with him early, done errands all morning, and not gotten around to lunch for the rest of us until 1:00 p.m. We are all ravenous, and Joshua is still happy as a clam. When I give him food, he eats it, but he doesn't act like he's REALLY HUNGRY like the rest of us.
My doctor said she doesn't know if this is typical or not, but that kids with DS tend to put on weight when they are older, so to be careful. I can't find a thing on the Internet about how many calories a child this age needs, but I must be guessing right because he's gaining okay so far. I just feed him the approximate amounts that my other kids ate at his age.
He also doesn't "ask" to nurse. (He never has. I used to have to set my alarm to get up and nurse him when he was a newborn and needed the middle-of-the-night meal.) When I start unbuttoning my shirt, he dutifully nurses, but it isn't like he's frantic for it, you know?
Just wondering if any of yours have been like this and what you've done as they've gotten older. I envision him either forgetting to eat at all or wolfing down fifteen candy bars at a time!
