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Infant Is Not Breast Feeding And Reduced Weight. Advised To Give Water After Feeding But Have Gastric Problem

Posted on Wed, 23 Oct 2013

Question: My daughter is 23 days old (born on 12 Sep 2013), and her weight was 2.6 kg at birth. She is not drinking mother milk as she is sleeping. So we consulted a pediatrician and he has suggested some medicine as her wight was reduced to 2.2 kg when we visited a pediatrician (after 10 days of her birth). Also he suggested to give water after feeding. But now we are seeing that my daughter is having gastric problem and that is not regularly but every alternate days. Could you please suggest?

Answered by Dr. Raju A.T (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Avoid water and medications

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for your query.

I am medical doctor, an associate in Department of Pediatrics, working with an experienced Pediatric nutritionist. I answer on his behalf.

I strongly recommend you not to feed water or any medication to the infant. this can cause serious gastric trouble and sometimes infections too.

Sometimes there could be feeding difficulties in babies with structural defects in the gastro intestinal system. Do get examined for the same. If there are no such defects then there is no need to worry, the baby will resume good feeding habit over time and soon. You can try waking the baby and feed when asleep other than that do not perform any interventions on an infant. The weight may fluctuate within first 3 months and for sure will pick up after that drastically.

regards,

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar