Feeding Case Studies

Daniel, 10 months - Fussy feeding

Case Study: Natalie, aged 12 weeks - Constipation: This case study concerns a baby of just twelve weeks, Natalie, who was suffering with constipation after being switched from breast milk to over-rich formula rather quickly.

Case Study: Catherine, 3 months old - Breast-fed, good milk supply but low weight gain

Catherine's mother had a good milk supply, and was being advised to start weaning her baby early, but she didn't feel this was right and no one seemed to be able to get to the root of the issue.

Case Study - Edward, 8 months: Fussy feeding during second stage weaning

Case Study - Zac, 7 months: Fussy Feeding

When Zac was around 12/14 weeks, he started to fuss a lot around breastfeeds. When his mother spoke to the health visitors about this problem, they said that he was obviously getting what he needed in the few minutes he was on the breast and not to worry. However, his mother saw that his weight gain had slowed down to an ounce a week, or not at all.

Once he was weaned it became apparent that not only was his milk feeding was very poor, but he was never very happy to take his solids and he never opened his mouth for any food either.

When Zac was admitted to hospital with severe dehydration, his mother was advised to give him 18 ounces of fluids a day, when at home. She was desparate as she knew this was almost impossible.

Case Study - Hugh, age 6 months : Refusing Vegetable Purees

By the time Hugh was five months old he was a very healthy weight and was drinking up to 11oz of formula at each feed. When Hugh was weaned he was somewhat reluctant to take solids but his parentes slowly persisted - not introducing pear until he was happily eating baby rice for a week. The fruit was a roaring success. Then it came to vegetables…Well, it was a disaster as far as Hugh was concerned. His mother tried carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash but he refused everything apart from fruit purees of any combination.

Giorgia, age 7 months: Refusing milk feeds and fussy with solids

Giorgia was initially breastfed until she was three months old and was gaining weight every week. A week after her mother stopped breastfeeding she began to refuse her milk, and ever since then feeding became a battle.

At around six months she started to get fussy with both solids and milk. She was constantly dribbling, with her hands in her mouth and she loved chewing on teething rings. The health visitor and friends reassured me that she was probably teething, and this was the cause of her becoming even fussier about her food. However, she wasn't unwell, showed no signs of teething and was happy in herself, unless it was time to eat. As soon as her mother put in her highchair and put her bib on, she started to cry.

Her mother became very stressed and dreaded meal times so much that sometimes she had to ask someone else to feed her. Her mother resorted to any number of distractions in order to to get her to open her mouth to be fed.

Dylan, age six months: Milk refusal caused by introducing certain foods too early

Dylan was breast fed on demand for the first eight weeks of his life. It was nearly three weeks before he regained his birth weight and, when he was nearly six weeks old, his weekly weight gain was very low, averaging no more than 110g (4oz) a week. He was very unsettled and crying for much of the time that he was not on the breast. His mother was becoming more and more depressed and exhausted by the endless feeding and trying to cope with not only a very fretful baby but two other children as well, and it was at this stage that she was advised by her health visitor to top up after each feed with formula milk. By nine weeks, Dylan was getting virtually all his feeds from the bottle.