How do I increase my 9 month old son's appetite and weight?

[zenmoonflower]

My son was born 3.79kg, pretty big for a newborn. I think in the 75th percentile? But now, at 9 months, he's only 8.8 something kg (taken at last measurement a week ago). How do I increase his appetite and his weight? :embarrassed:

 

[meiteoh]

My son was born 3.79kg, pretty big for a newborn. I think in the 75th percentile? But now, at 9 months, he's only 8.8 something kg (taken at last measurement a week ago). How do I increase his appetite and his weight? :embarrassed:

Before I make any suggestions or comments, could you let us know how much milk and solids is he taking in and how active is he?

 

[zenmoonflower]

Before I make any suggestions or comments, could you let us know how much milk and solids is he taking in and how active is he?

In the morning, after he wakes up, he usually eats one steamed egg yolk (mixed with water to make it like custard), then some baby rice cereal mixed with fruit puree and breast/formula milk. Subsequently, he will drink some milk on top of that, but never a lot - maybe somewhere between 60 to 100 ml? The most he's ever drunk at one go is maybe 140ml to 150ml, but it takes time. When we take him out, he can often finish up one jar of Healthy Times baby food and start on a second.

After he wakes up from his morning nap, we usually give him some brown rice porridge pureed with chicken/carrot/potato. He doesn't seem to like beef so much. Milk is often the finisher, or we mix a little into whatever he's eating. I will also give him some fruit puree after that. I've also started toasting wholemeal bread, cutting it into strips and letting him feed himself. He likes that a lot, but it's hard to quantify how much he actually eats, because some he ends up dropping on the floor, or playing with it.

At night, during his 'sleep feeds', he doesn't drink very much - maybe 80ml?

Active-wise: overall, probably not very. Twice a week, I take him to play groups at nearby condos. Those are held in the function rooms, so he has more space to 'walk' (with someone supporting him), or sit and play with different toys. At home, we probably don't 'walk' him all that much because there's just me and a domestic helper now (my husband frequently flies away for one to two months to take care of his overseas business), we have so much to do, and walking him like that is pretty strenuous on our backs after a while. So, usually, one of us just sits with him and lets him play and experiment with the toys I got him - big ones, small ones - to give him mental stimulation and exercise his fine motor skills. Sometimes, I take him down to the pool, get in the water with him and let him kick and kick in there. He really loves playing in the water. I swirl him in the water, let him go after some floating bath toys, and move with him in the water. He doesn't like being on his tummy, so usually it's just us supporting him while he sits and plays with toys. He can't crawl yet.

 

[meiteoh]

Quantity-wise, there is no fix amount as some babies prefer more and some prefer less but more frequently meals. But the general idea is that around this age, they should be on at least one to two servings per meal (30 to 60ml or 1 baby food jar) and at least on two main meals plus one snack.

At that age, Eva was on three main meals and one snack on top of a feed every four hours - I was still breastfeeding and latching on directly. I didn't really worry about her weight - she was light for her age then and had only recently hit 10kg in Feb this year - because she has always been under average since birth. My paed is of the opinion that healthy and hitting milestones is better than fat.

Have you tried introducing yogurt? The normal pathway for dairy is to start off with yogurt, then cheese and finally cow's milk. Maybe you can consider yogurt and avocado as they are high in not just minerals, and vitamins but the right proteins and fats.

 

[ast0212]

Hi, your son sounds like he's healthy

Does your son appear bright and alert? Is he peeing and pooing well? Is he reaching his developmental milestones? If he is eating, playing and doing everything well, I wouldn't worry. Also, if you and your partner have a small build, your son is likely to be the same

I understand how worrying it can be monitoring baby weight gains. For a few months my son was at the 3rd percentile for weight but nurses reassured me that he is doing fine. It took me a while to realise that my skinny baby is very healthy and just small. My son is 11 months in 3 days time and he's around 8kg...yet he eats really well, has never been sick, is very active and can understand a lot of words and phrases.

 

[mamapenguin]

I personally think your baby is perfectly alright. He has a healthy appetite and you feed him well. As long as he hits his development milestone you shouldn't worry too much. He is not too light for his age anyway. Having said that, I understand how you feel. I have quite the opposite problem with my daughter and I try to tell myself to let her grow out of it. She is too heavy for her age. Even her pd shakes her head and said my girl is massive. My little porker wants to latch on whole night long. How not to be heavy like that? Sorry, I digress. Your son sounds like he is on the right track. If you still concern, go talk to his pd for assurance.

 

[diymummy]

Think your son is doing fine. If you're small in built, your child will most likely be as well. At 9 mths my son was only 7.5kg. Now at 26 months, he's only 10.7kg. Most of the other kids at his age are much bigger than him but in terms of his development, he has been hitting his developmental milestones and is picking up things like any normal 2 year old.

I think what's most important is to ensure that he has a balanced diet despite the fact that he is eating a little or a lot. Also, at 9 mths, your child might have begun teething. Usually when kids are teething, they tend to lose their appetite due to discomfort in their gums. Just hang in there, and make meal time fun for your child.

 

[apollo]

8.8kg seems to be a healthy weight!! Not too heavy, not too light. my son was 11.4kg when he was 9mth old and pd was shaking his head, he belongs to those 90+ percentile. if ur son's weight is 75 percentile, the more i think u shdnt wry cos some babies' weight is only 10 percentile but they are also very healthy and reach their milestones. =)

 

[zenmoonflower]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all the encouraging replies

My hubby got me worried, because when his younger sis' son was 9 months old, he was already over 11kg. So that means her son was overweight, then?

apollo, my son was in the 75th percentile (weight-for-age) at birth, but now he's dropped to just slightly over the 50th percentile.

He's adorable. He's a bundle of energy, very happy (except when he's tired/bored/hungry...the usual). He used to be very shy of strangers a couple months ago but now he smiles at everyone who smiles at him!

 

[ast0212]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all the encouraging replies

My hubby got me worried, because his younger sis said that when her son was 9 months old, he was already over 11kg. So that means her son was overweight, then?

apollo, my son was in the 75th percentile (weight-for-age) at birth, but now he's dropped to just slightly over the 50th percentile.

He's adorable. He's a bundle of energy, very happy (except when he's tired/bored/hungry...the usual). He used to be very shy of strangers a couple months ago but now he smiles at everyone who smiles at him!

Every baby grow at different rates. Sounds like you have a beautiful healthy baby. That's all that matters

 

[ebi]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all the encouraging replies

My hubby got me worried, because his younger sis said that when her son was 9 months old, he was already over 11kg. So that means her son was overweight, then?

apollo, my son was in the 75th percentile (weight-for-age) at birth, but now he's dropped to just slightly over the 50th percentile.

He's adorable. He's a bundle of energy, very happy (except when he's tired/bored/hungry...the usual). He used to be very shy of strangers a couple months ago but now he smiles at everyone who smiles at him!

I think is normal that baby weight could be up and down as they grow, my gal was at 90 percentil when she was 1mth old then drop to below 50 percentil when she was abt 8-9mths olds as she refuse milk, then now she is 14mths love milk again at abt 70 percentil, thus no need to be too worry for it, and every baby is different