March is National Nutrition Month. Ensuring infants and young children are getting enough nutrition is essential to their growth and development. Partners in Child Development’s Early Intervention Services offers a wide range of support and services, including with feeding, for parents, caregivers, and families of infants up to age three.
Learn more about our services. Medical referrals are not needed. Anyone can contact us directly to talk about a child.
Infants and Nutrition
For infants, nutritional intake is limited to breast milk and/or formula. If an infant is not gaining weight, there is commonly a short list of reasons that Partners in Child Development’s Early Intervention Services can assist with.
Early Intervention (EI) nurse and lactation consultant Andrea Bernier has been a registered nurse for over 20 years and a lactation consultant for eight years. She works with families in all the Greater Lowell communities including Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro, and Westford, to help parents, caregivers, and families with nutritional concerns for infants, usually due to the baby not gaining weight.
Our Early Intervention Services are provided typically at the child’s home or childcare, where Andea or other nurses from Early Intervention Services will meet with the family and the child to listen, learn, and observe. If the mother is breastfeeding and it is time for a feeding, she will offer to observe. Her experience has shown that often in just one to three visits, feedings are going better and the baby is gaining weight.
The solutions to helping an infant feed are often not complex. It may be:
- Adjusting the mother’s positioning
- Adjusting the baby’s positioning on the breast
- Improving latching by using a nipple shield
- Evaluating the bottles being used. Sometimes switching to a narrower nipple helps the baby feed.
- Trying different formulas
Andrea highlighted a recent success story for an infant and mother where the baby was not gaining weight. The mother breast fed using a nipple shield that allowed Andrea to monitor the efficiency of the baby’s sucking. By suggesting a few adjustments including shifting the mom’s position, adjusting the baby’s head and changing the nipple of the bottle, the baby has gained four pounds in the last several weeks!
Formulas: Sometimes Trial and Error to Find the Right One
For families using formula to supplement breast feeding or as their baby’s primary nutrition source, finding the right formula can be a challenge and may be the root cause for not gaining weight. Babies may absorb nutrients from formula differently. Allergies are also a common factor as to why a formula may not be working as a good nutritional source for your baby.
“Unfortunately, it’s often trial and error to find the right formula so your baby is getting proper nutrition. My EI colleagues and I help families identify alternative formulas and work with pediatricians or doctor’s offices to discuss formula options and to secure free samples for you to try,” explains EI nurse Andrea Bernier.
Andrea has been working with a family whose twins were not gaining weight, the mother tried five different formulas before a goat milk formula was determined to be the right option. The twins are now thriving!
Having an infant who is not gaining weight is stressful for parents and caregivers. The good news is that Early Intervention Services offers the support of specialists who are experienced and knowledgeable to help you provide the nutrition that your infant needs.
If you have concerns about an infant who is not gaining weight, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. No medical referrals are necessary and the evaluation is free. Our services are provided at no direct out of pocket cost to a family.
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Moving to Solid Foods: An Important Nutritional Milestone
The next important nutritional milestone is making the shift to solid foods. Timeframes may differ by doctor, but usually around six months, parents and caregivers can start introducing purees, then mashed foods before shifting to solids by age one.
This is an important milestone, but it may introduce stress at mealtimes. What should we introduce today? When do we try it?
Andrea and our Early Intervention Specialists work daily with parents and caregivers to help make this shift and answer such common questions.
As Andrea summarizes, “By the first birthday, a child’s nutritional intake has shifted from milk to food. Milk is served with meals but is no longer the sole source of a child’s nutritional intake. This is a shift and important to the child’s development.”
Making the shift to solid foods may trigger mealtime challenges. Commonly, parents and caregivers assume the shift to purees and mashed food should remain bland. As Andrea summarizes her years of experience working with young children, “I find there are two types of eaters: those who like spice and those who do not like wet/mushy foods.”
These two camps may help you if your young child is refusing certain types or textures of food or is only willing to eat limited food options. Perhaps try food that is spicy or add texture to wet foods and see if you notice a change.
Partners in Child Development’s Early Intervention Services can help you. If making the transition to solid foods is disrupting your lives, causing stress, or progress is not being made, there is no need to wait. Please reach out to us for a free evaluation.
If a child is refusing to eat, please reach out. We have loads of experience in helping families whether it is due to textures and sensory reactions. For some children, crunchy and crispy is desired. We can recommend adding granola to yogurt to reduce the ‘wetness’ or suggest you try adding spices that you normally cook with to add flavor to foods.
By the age of one, your child should be eating what you are making for dinner. We can assist you with strategies to avoid the child getting too much of their nutritional intake from milk and/or requiring you to make separate meals to appease their palette. For some, introducing meats can be a bit concerning – will they chew it fully? Are the sizes appropriate? Andrea helps many parents with the initial introduction of meats by being present when meat is introduced to offer support and peace of mind to the family.
Early Intervention Services Embedded in Family Routines and Cultures
We take great care and pride in working with each family, meeting them where they are to offer the support and services to bring you peace of mind that your infant and young child is receiving the proper nutrition they need to grow and thrive.
With March being National Nutritional month, we encourage you to reach out to Early Intervention Services with any infant feeding concerns or feeding concerns for children under three years old. We are passionate and dedicated to what we do to.
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Partners in Child Development’s Early Intervention Services
Nurturing the growth and development of children, infants up to age three.
