Hi All,
My baby is 8 months old. A month ago she had suffered from respiratory infection. From then she has lost weight. At this age, her wt is around 7.5 kgs. I feed her cerelac twice a day to increase her wt bt that too doesn' t help.
She doesn' t sleep properly. In whole day she sleeps merely for 8-9 hrs.
I started solids.
She likes to eat everything & even eats it.. but she is not gaining wt..
Please help... Mel replied. Hi Rach. Could you please tell me your baby' s birth weight ?

Most infants and toddlers lose their appetite and consequently a little weight when they fall sick. When my son falls sick, is teething, or has travelled to a new place, he goes off soldis completely for a period of 1 week to even a month. When he was 9 months old, we travelled out of the country for 23 days, and he didn' t eat a grain of solid food for that entire duration.

When she is sick or recovering, don' t force her to eat anything that she doesn' t want. Offer her milk and some simple easily digestible solids and let her have only as much as she wants. That way, when she recovers, she will happily eat food.

Don' t worry about her weight. 7.5 kgs is fine. Even if she has lost weight, she will gain it back slowly but surely.

Unfortunately, the sleep issue is NOT normal. She needs to sleep for at least 14 hours in a 24 hour period. She should be asleep for atleast 11 - 12 hours at night and should take 2 one-hour naps, or 1 two-hour nap in the day.

There are two reasons why she may not be sleeping at night... either she may be a light sleeper (like my son). I had to play light instumental music and switch on the AC to blower so that the humming noise (white noise) would blunt out any other noises that disrupt his sleep (snoring, vehicles, other noises). I had to do this until he completed a year, then slowly he got used to sleeping without any white noise.

Or... she is waking up due to hunger. If she is hungry, then she will not be able to sleep peacefully. Keep a track of what time she wakes up in the morning, and get up 15 mins before and keep a bottle ready for her. My son used to wake up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. he wouldn' t cry or anything. Just wake up. Then I started keeping a bottle ready for him, and would give it to him when he starts moving even a little bit. This way, he stopped waking up so early.

Before you put her down for the night, make sure you give her something heavy... rice, dal, veggies + chicken soup. All mixed together and pureed. Let her eat it at around 7:00 p.m. and then at about 7:30 offer her a bottle and put her down for the night.

You can try giving your daughter food like Pulao which has a lot of veggies, you can add chicken stock or soup to the water while it is boiling, and cook it in oil or ghee. Nachni is also good for weight. Try giving it for breakfast.