babysitting a 6 mo. old today

[megs4413]

I'm watching my friend's 6 mo. old DS and I have a 14 mos. old at home right now....it seems like i forgot everything!!! Here are the questions I have!

He has severe reflux (as did my DD) and her ped has her giving him rice cereal in his bottle. she is giving him 8 oz of formula along with like a half cup of rice cereal in each bottle and then at the same feeding she wants me to start with 1/2 cup of rice cereal mixed with formula spoon fed to him....this sounds like a LOT of food for 6 mo. old...especially with relux...doesn't overfilling him add to his problems? I thought the rice cereal thing was outdated advice? am i outdated? I tried spoon feeding him the rice cereal and he had HORRIBLE tongue thrust.....when DD's tongue was still thrusting like that we just waited to give solid food figuring she wasn't quite ready. I'm not talking a little tongue thrust I'm talkign you put the spoon in the mouth and his tongue pushes it all the way out with a lot of force and all the food with it.....since DD never had tongue thrust like this i'm wondering if i'm doing something wrong.

One more thing: He has tears intermittently streaming out of his right eye....what is that? He's not crying they just stream out from the one I periodically....what could that be? I don't remember that happening to DD.....

I feel so lost! I forgot everything I knew about having a little one! What's gonna happen when our #2 comes along...is it like starting over again from scratch????

DD has had a few jealousy issues, especially when I fed him his baba! She wanted it so bad! She's been sweet to him, though...and it's so cute to see her with him...i can't wait to bring her a baby brother or sister home!

TIA for any advice you have!

[cbm]

I better saying in advance that it is my opinion.
Yes, small meals are better than huge ones with children who have reflux. I wouldn't worry about feeding him the extra meal since he is rejecting it. If asked you can justify it by saying he has a strong tongue thrust and you didn't want to force it down his throat. If he has such a severe problem, she shouldn't force him either, but I have no idea how to say that to another mother. Usually things like that are touchy subjects.

Could he have a plugged tear duct? It would cause discharge. Washing with tepid water and massaging (is it spelled right? it looks weird)it several times a day should help. I would take him to the doctor, but again we aren't the parents.

Jealousy is normal. If she isn't beating him up or anything I wouldn't worry about it. Just tell her that he has his baba and she has hers. Maybe you can give her a cracker if it isn't eating time.

Claudia
DS 12/18/04

[megs4413]

she's not allowed babas during the day...just before nap and at bedtime...so that's where the baba problems are coming from....

the tearing stopped in his eye...i will mention it to his dad when he comes to pick him up.

I have had problems with this family for a long time now...i know i have good advice and I think there are some things that they are just flat WRONG about, but they never seem to listen to what I have to say and go with whatever their ped suggests which is fine I guess, but clearly what their ped is doing isn't working for their baby cause he's spit up at least 6 times now and he hasn't eaten since 9:30. I think it's crazy! if it were my kid and it was once...i would do anything i could and take any advice i was given just to see if i could help my baby. i know they love him as much as i love my daughter but it's just a different style of parenting.

I dont' think she knows what tongue thrust is...he still has the same kind of tongue thrust that a newborn would have...i'm concerned that they haven't mentioned it to the doc simply because they dont' know it's a problem. DD never had tongue thrust like this....I will definitely mention something to the dad when he comes. I know she wishes she could be home with him and it's because they had a horrible day care situation that I ended up with him today at all but I just wish they would listen to me!

[cbm]

I understand your frustration, but there isn't much you can do in this situation. Remember that it is hard to hear people telling you what you should or shouldn't do especially when it comes to your own children, even if the advice was solicited in the first place. It doesn't hurt to tell the parents what you have noticed, but make sure it is in passing and it doesn't have too much explanation or suggestion on what to do which can be misconstrued as criticism.
It may not be the way you deal with things, but in their own way they are trying.
Don't let this ruin your day. Have fun with the kids :-).

Claudia
DS 12/18/04

[saschalicks]

It has to be hard when it isn't your child.

I was told that rice cereal in the bottle wasn't a good idea, but hey different doctors tell us all different things. The tongue thrust thing is huge. I would definitely bring it up to the dad. I know that our ped told us to start cereal at his 4 month check up. DH & I agreed to hold off b/c DS#1 never really took to it that early. So, here we are at 6.5 mo and feeding him twice daily only having started a couple of weeks ago and he's taking to it like a champ. I think that some kids just need longer, however, his tongue thrust really sounds abnormal. I should say I am no doctor so what do I know.

The eye thing is DEFINITELY a blocked tear duct and *needs* to be brought to the doctor's attention. We had a very bad case of that with DS#2 and they had to give us a prescription eye drop to help alleviate the problem. We had to massage the tear duct 5 times a day too. The first question the doctor asked when this all started was "does the tear come out of his outside corrner?" I said yes and he said then it was a blocked tear duct. Apparently, that's the number 1 sign.

HTH