Really worried for my baby

Dear Moms,

My 6 month old son is just recovering from acute diarrhea.Every one is asking me to stop bottlefeeding strictly.Inspite of maintaining proper hygiene he is suffering from viral infections.Nowadays he is taking mashed banana,curd rice,sabudane ki kheer & all other starchy product + milk,ie,Lacotgen 1 from bottle & ORS & Narial pani but he takes only 2-3 teaspoon of everything & starts crying. I keep on making funny faces, talking to him, singing& again he takes 2 spoons. His diet is mainly milk but dr is insisting me to give him everything including boiled potato,daal,rice,upma so that his bottle feeding is reduced but I am a working lady & I have taken an off of 3 days due to his health issue & i cant manage to have more leaves & maid is not able to make him eat all these stuff.
I know that bottle feeding is not solely responsible for diarrhea since he is taking bottles since he was 2 month old & there was no infection at all.It may be due to envriornmental changes also.Pls guide me what should i do.Should i discontinue bottle feeding but i cnt see him crying due to hunger.His total milk intake is 30 oz avg that cant be fed with a spoon & he is alreday loosing weight becoz of diarrhea at this stage if i dnt give him milk he is definately going to b very weak.If i countinue with bottles what are the ways to prevent diarrhea?I m in India.Pls guide me I’m really being very confused & depressed.Ours is a nuclear family & i have to manage my work,household works & my baby.Hubby is too busy to support me.Every peadiatrician starts giving me lecture on the drwabacks associated with bottle feeding & my hubby starts looking at me as I am responsible for everything.
Looking forward to Ur advices.I know, in this board there are many working women
& its really challenging to manage home, work & baby but I m finding it impossible.
Need sum motivation & inspiration.

Thanks in advance,
Monica

hello Monica,

We are here to support u. For ur question regarding bottle feeding ,i think Vanathi will give u some suggestions.

Don't get confused,everything will be ok soon. i am also bottlefeeding.My son had diaherria in 5 weeks.He was hospitalized,and they gave him Pedialyte,he was ok within 2 days.So be strong for ur baby.

Hi Monica,
I really feel for you. I am a pedi and I know just how much we tend to lecture mothers who bottle-feed. I have done it myself.Its done with good intentions but sometimes a doctor doesnt understand the practical difficulties of a mother, esp a working one. And of course to most indian men (esp those living in india) childcare is a mothers job. So it makes it even harder because we already feel bad that we somehow caused our baby's illness and your DH blaming you is no help is it?
Some questions first: Are you breastfeeding at all or is your baby completely on formula? Who prepares the bottles? What water are you using? Who cleans the bottles and how? How are you storing the prepared formula (if you make it in advance)? Who prepares the other solids and how are they stored? Drinking water? And finally is your baby crawling and able to put things other than his toys into his mouth? Is somebody supervising your baby while playing?
I am not trying to blame you in any way. Diarrhoea in India usually means infection. Those germs have to come from some source. If we find the source we can prevent it from happening again.Thats why all these questions.
In the meantime continue bottlefeeding with Lactogen. Give him as much as he wants. Sterilize the bottles and prepare a day's supply (4-5 bottles) yourself and leave it in the fridge. Give strict instructions to your maid to give a fresh bottle each time even if the baby drinks only a little bit of the formula. Dont give cow's milk. If your son will take it try rice/curds and naarial pani with very strict hygeine (boil the feeding cup/spoon and wash hands with soap before preparing food/feeding the baby) for the next week. Let him recover completely. Once his appetite is better you can restart solids slowly, no rush.
In the meantime try to pinpoint where the infection could have come from and then we can see how to tackle it. Dont feel guilty - you are trying to do your best for your son and no mother can do more than that. Do let me know if I can help in any way.

Vanathi

((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))) to you, Monica. Hang in there.

Hi Monica,

One thing I wanted to add was did you try to remove the mashed banana from his diet? Generally people say banana shouldn't be given when the child has diarrohea. Apple puree is better (if he's not yet used to biting and eating yet).

I understand your feeling. Every time we visit India my son has diarrohea and everyone advises me to reduce milk. But for a small baby that's just not possible. So I just continued and it didn't affect him in any way. It's not at all your fault... so don't feel guilty. Only mothers know the emotional and physical pains of raising a child:) He'll be better soon...

Latha

hi monica

how is ur lil one..has he recovered frm his diahorrea..these are all challenged tht a mum meets when raising a child..so be strong n blod..everything wud b alright....

lov
sowmi