Lately, Porgie doesn't want to take her bottle. She'll drink about 2 ounces and then push the bottle away. In any given day, she will only drink 10 to 15 ounces of formula - and that is with lots of pushing on my part.
I have tried giving her formula in a cup, but she drinks it too slowly. After the milk has sat out for about an hour, I get all paranoid about germs and bacteria. I end up tossing the majority of the milk. It very wasteful.
I understand that formula should be a large part of her diet, but I feel like giving up. Could it be possible that she is weaning herself off the bottle? Should I be trying to offer more milk in a sippy milk? I have even considered switching her to regular soy milk, hoping that she might like the taste better.
She has also been exceedingly fussy about eating her pureed fruits and veggies. She seems to only want to feed herself cheerios, waffles, and noodles. It is very frustrating. If she is already being a pain in the ass about food, what are the toddler years going to be like? HELL ON EARTH.
I mentioned her fussy eating habit to the peditrician. She assured me that Porgie will not starve herself - she'll eat when she is hungry. Of course, I still worry.
Since starting solids, I have noticed that Porgie has thinned out. I was actually kind of happy, because she was very close to being considered overweight. At her 6 month checkup, her weight was in the 95th percentile. At her 9 month checkup, her weight had dropped to the 75th percentile. If she continues at this rate, she is going to waste away to nothing.
35 comments:
This is one area I can sympathise with big time! Its very normal tho - doesn’t make you feel better I know! I don’t know what is recommended in states but in UK upto the age of 1 they are meant to have 20oz of milk per day. We've not got to the stage of not wanting milk yet but sure it’s coming. Try getting milk in to her in other ways, like cheese sauces, bread sauces and add milk to everything. At 9months they start to want their own independence Billy started at 6months but most start to want to feed them self as they get bigger, just try to be creative, well you seen my blog. There are a few links on my blog to baby eating issues, if you have time. Good luck try not to stress, only seems to make it worse for me when I do!
I have no advice to give, I'm sorry! I never had that problem but I hope you get something figured out soon!
Is she actually pushing the nipple out or just chewing on it?
Will has just started doing this and I think its got to do with his upper teeth coming in.
Gosh, it sounds like to me she is drinking a fair amount of milk, given that she's also eating a bunch of solids. I mean, my baby eats almost no solids really, just maybe 2 oz a day, and is taking about 20 oz of milk a day.
We used to waste a TON of formula, too, for similar reasons (wanting her to eat more). I hated it. So I let it go. Just trust her to eat what she needs and don't try to force the issue. She will be okay. Try the sippy if it helps her take more throughout the day, but the wasting is just going to frustrate you, so try to figure out a way not to do that, for your own sake.
If she is so into finger foods, maybe just push that more? Like Billy's mummy Em did.
And it makes sense that she's thinning out. That's cool. She's busy!
Your baby sounds perfectly happy and healthy to me. She's having a weird eating phase. She'll grow out of it. And some babies DO wean earlier. I know you are doing the best you can at getting good nutrition in her, and good for you!
We went through this exact same thing a few weeks ago....would hardly eat anything and then one day...BAM...she is starving and wants to eat ALL THE TIME!!
It will pass....
My my 4 month baby is the same way. He will not drink any milk whatsoever. I have to give him his milk when he is asleep or I have to walk around with him.
It's very frustrating. I to feel like I'm going to snap. Try to feed the baby milk while she's sleeping. Good luck. I'm suffering too.
my baby is the same. since she was 9 weeks old she decided that she didn't want to drink at all. it's been a battle, some days better than others. i feed her asleep practically all of the time now. we changed to dr brown's bottles because i could hear her gulping a lot of wind and i think it was because of this that she started refusing the bottle. it seems to have helped. it's just a case of timing now - making sure she has had at least 45 minutes of sleep by feeding time so that i can wake her to feed her! she still won't take any more than 4/5 oz at a time, but she's eating. if i try to feed her awake, she will just throw such a tantrum! this way, she slowly comes around and by then, half the bottle is gone. no one knows why and no one has any advice for me. at first i thought i was going to lose it, but - obviously the more stressed you are, the worse it will become.
anonymous - please don't get any more stressed over it. there is probably nothing you can do about it. just continue to sleep feed and then hopefully when we wean our babies, it will all start to come together. fingers crossed!
i've got into a sort of routine of sleep, eat, play, sleep. 2 hours asleep, 2 hours awake. sometimes she will wake after an hour of sleeping and if that happens, it's a case of - she'll only be awake for 45 minutes, then back to bed then feed her an hour later. it's really a constant juggle. and no one can babysit for me to leave her! but it's just time, and it will all pan out i'm sure.
hang in there!
i should add - she is 16 weeks now.
my baby is 25 weeks old will not drink any milk at all its got worse over the past couple of days. he wont drink any water either so his nappies are not getting very wet im abit concerned he will get dehydrated am i just worrying to much?
It is possible your baby was/is suffering from Acid Reflux (GER or GERD). I am having same experience with my son and he was diagnosed with GERD.
I am having the exact same problem. My 9 month old son has been pushing away his bottle since 6 months, but unfortunately he just can't/won't figure out how to tip a sippy cup to drink from that. I am lucky if I get him to drink 18 oz in a day, but usually it is more like 12 oz. I have to time it right to get him to drink and I have to sing to him to get him to eat his baby food.
It has been a long 3 months when it comes to eating. Let me know if you have figured anything out!
My 9 month old is going through the same thing...and has since around 6 months. I tried hanging in there with the nursing, but he would only nurse during sleep, or sometimes if I walked around. Even then, it was a struggle. He was on, off, on, off...etc. We finally switched to a bottle and things went well for a couple weeks. Its like the novelty of the bottle has worn off and he is back not drinking again. He pushes the bottle away and cries. He might only get around ten ounces a day. I can completely sympathize with you. I have decided today that I would no longer offer the bottle as often. I will wait to hear his "hunger cry" that he made when he was an infant....I miss that sound! I think maybee I have been too pushy and trying to force it on him is making it worse.
I know when they start solids they drop to only having like 20 oz per day. My ten month old is refusing formula now but will drink cold water. I think it is because he has a bad cough and sore throat.
My 9 month old son just started doing the same thing (pushing his bottle away). it's so frustrating, we have to hold him down to get him to drink anything, but I do notice that he will drink out of my cup but it gets a little messy. He doesn't take a sippy cup he just chews on them so we have tried to get a straw and putting one finger on top to keep the milk in the straw and then taking our finger off when it's in his mouth.We are doing the sleep feeding too, This all started when he got sick a week ago. I don't know what to do cause he doesn't have that many wet diapers, although we have changed a little bit more since we have been doing the straw method along with the sleep feeding, until a couple days ago we would only get 1 wet diaper a day. He usually drinks 6-8 ounces a feeding now it's 4-5 if we're lucky, at night it was 5-6 now it's 3.
My baby is going on 5 months and he's doing the same thing. It started two weeks ago when we introduced cereal and spoon feeding, he no longer wants the bottle. He used to take 24-32 oz. a milk a day, now its about 15oz and only when he's sleeping. I don't know what to do, he has a hungry cry all the time, BUT WONT TAKE THE BOTTLE.
Wow I use to feel all alone. I have a 5mth baby diagnosed with reflux and a third degree heart block, (cardio says no pacemaker needed) and she will cry cry when i give her the bottle she is on meds for reflux only time I can get her to drink is when she is asleep. i feel so guilty about it like i am tricking her but anything to get her to eat. really fussy about solids, so concentrating more on getting the milk in her. she weighs 12 lbs not much feeding has been a battle for 5 mths now. she was even hospitalized for dehydration now she takes around 20-23 oz a day use to be 9-10.
I can also relate to the mom who said she has to walk around and time when baby is sleepy to feed. Is there a medical explanation. everyone around me has had what they call "normal Babies" who drink their bottle no problem,I get so stressed and depressed about it. so much pressure on me with the doctors monitoring her weight gain. I do my best and try my hardest to feed her. No one can babysit her she refuses to even drink bottle from my hibby i feel so sad for him. our first child after trying for 8 years.life can sure be unfair sometimes.
Hi My son is six months old. He was great for taking his formula bottles in the last few days he is justing refusing to drink the formula milk.He loves water and will drink that out of the bottle but when he dicovers there is milk in the bottle his pushes it way.I have tried putting the milk into a beaker he was real excited but as soon as he tasted the milk he spat it out. Is there anyone who can help with some advice as i don't no what to give him now. He is big for his age and loves his food but i'm worried without the bottle he will be missing out on important vitamins. Thanks.
What a relief! I thought I was all alone out here going through this struggle. My 7 month old also refuses to feed when awake and I ahve to dream feed him every time. He will at times get distracted and feed but as soon as he realises his drinking milk he just lets go. It's so frustrating. Everyone I talk to say that he has gotten into the habit of dream feeding and that I shouldn't him him when sleeping and eventually he will get hungry enough to feed awake. This is day two of me trying and he still is not crying of hunger and i make his bottle every 4 hours in the hope that he will feed. There has been some improvement with him finishing 3/4's awake and then starts grizzling and turns head away. Sigh! Things are getting pretty frustrating but I am going to persevere and see if he will want the bottle voluntarily. Problem is he will lose weight in the process.
I will let you girls know how I went and whether I managed to break the habit. If it isn't habit my next move will be changing bottle and teat brands and finally changing formula if things don't improve.
I'm having pretty much the same problem with my 20 week old son. Feeding times are a nightmare if he's completely awake. He hits the bottle out of my hand or turns his head away so that I can't give it to him and even spits his milk out. Feeding only really works when he's half asleep or when I'm dream feeding him. He is having quite a good amount of milk every day, but that's through persistence and perseverance on my part. It's really stressing me out, so much so that I feel like I want to cut short my maternity leave and go back to work.
So much of this sounds so familiar to me. My heart goes out to all of you. My daughter is now 24 weeks old and started refusing the bottle from 4 weeks with reflux and then at 12 weeks she was hospitalised with the rotavirus. This ended up leading to her not taking her bottle at all.
In desperation I resorted to sleep feeds. However, it meant I was untill about two weeks ago having to feed her two to three times on a night. If not, she would wake hungry at intervals through the night and it would take upto 2 hours for her to settle. I tryed for a two week period to leave her be on a night, as much as it pained me in the hope she would take more through the day this didn't work, also it threw any sense of routine out of the window as we were both usually exhausted by daybreak. I have searched the internet far & wide, consulted with 3 doctors, numerous Healthcare workers at our local Surestart Centre and a Nursery Nurse and no one suggestion has worked. I am currently waiting on an appointment with a Paediatricain from our local hospital, (who are taking too fricking long!!!!!!!). Sleepfeeds heave been our only resolve.
For the mum's out there who can only get in the region of four ounce down there babys each sleepfeed I would advice them to wind after 2/3 ounce and persist with trying to continue the feed. I give my daughter her dummy after winding, (sometimes during in if she fusses), and it can take between 5 to ten attempts of switching the dummy for the bottle but she does eventually take the bottle again. Obviously be patient and take care that they don't rouse too much. Perhaps even put them down again for a small period of time. I tryed this at several intervals over the months only after I was satisfied she had a run of good days, (upto 18 ounce for several days). So when it didn't work I at least knew she wouldn't be dehydrated. It took about my fourth attempt, and a four day run of trying before I got where I could do this at almost all feeds. But it worked! It meant feeds are now upto 6 ounce from 3 or 4 and it meant I could drop her am sleep feed. If it means your little one is consistently taking less go with what you know works, you know best.
Yesterday by pure chance my daughter took her bottle for a couple of ounces whilst in her carseat in the back of the car. Admiitedly a lot went down her and she messed with it a lot (chasing teat round her mouth, swilling around not swallowing), BUT!!!!!!!!! I figure she still took in the region of two ounce. (I am always trying new ways & places to get her to take her bottle).
So for now I am going with this. She took another 3 ounces last night in dribs n drabs, with much mess and over many feeds but she took it. I am going from here and trying very hard to be optimistic. She is aware now I feel that she can take her bottle although very weary after the point of bringing her wind up. I am persisting with this for one more day because it pains me so and I am very much aware of the dangers of dehydration,which of course I am keeping a constant eye on her for.
I have been concscience for around 7 weeks now that she would able to take her bottle and is not plagued by any of the conditions that previously prevented her doing so. I wouldn't do this If I felt I was causing her actual physical harm. It has just taken for her to realise she can take it, I just need her now to be confident in taking it.
I will keep you informed X
My baby boy is 27 weeks old and is doing exactly the same thing! Yesterday he drank just 12oz in 24 hours (He was drinking about 20 oz when he was about 4 months old but has been dropping off his intake ever since) and today so far he has had about 8oz. He only drinks about 2 or 3 oz at each feed and then bashes the bottle away and gets angry! I have tried infant Gaviscon from the Dr but this still made no difference I have started him on tastes of solid food but he just pulls a face at anything he tastes from a spoon and then refuses to open his mouth for any more! He was born tiny and at just over 6 months weighs about just under 12lbs so I don't think he will ever catch up on his growth (He is below the 0.4 centile so is way below the so called "normal" range for his age and has been all along) I have tried different formula milks but he just is still not interested and I too get the best results if I feed him asleep! Most of the other mothers I have met have the opposite problem with their baby guzzling far too much formula!!
Comforting to see I am not alone. My daughter just turned 1. She was doing great with her feedings (nursing and solids) until approx 2months ago when she started refusing her solids. I make her baby food myself and her diet has been mainly pureed fruits, stews and soups. She also self-feeds crunchy chips, etc. She has never taken the bottle or sippy cup and I have been stuck nursing full time. Well, thankfully she started taking sippy cup and bottle in small amounts - few sips a couple of weeks ago but has been refusing all solids except her crunchy snacks. My milk is drying up, her wet diapers have gone from 4-5/day to 3/day. She was in the 90th percentile at 3 months, 75th percentile at 6 months, 25th percentile at 9 months and is now down to 10th percentile at 1 year. I let her eat whatever she will take, realizing that her diet is not balanced. She pushes away bottles, cups, and screams if she sees me coming at her with a spoon. Any advice out there?
My son is just over 7 months and has dropped the amount of forumula he will take. He used to take 6-8 oz easy per feeding, and aftering introducing cereals, and veggies and fruits, he started to only want 2 to 3 oz of milk and sometimes he refuses the bottle entirely. I try to get him to take at least 18-24 oz a day but it is a struggle to do so and on somedays I'm lucky if I can even get close to 18. I am mixing a lot of those oz of formula in with cereal every feeding. It's very frusturating and he isn't gaining weight as he should. Af first I thought it was just him teething but this has been going on for almost 6 weeks now and I don't know what to do.
I am having the same issue with my 8 month old daughter. She was breastfed for 6 months exclusively then I began introducing formula alongside pumped milk in bottles and she loved both. She adapted really well and seemed very happy when the complete switch to formula was made. However the more solid food she has tried, the less milk she wants. She will eat anything put infront of her but is refusing milk completely if she is awake. I am also dream feeding her and she is pretty good at taking a 9oz feed asleepm at night but day time feeds are made up from mixing milk into sauces and feeding her tons of yogurt. It is comforting to see that many of you are feeding them asleep - I don't know what else to do as I kjnow she is not getting enough milk but I don't know what else to do.
Well since I commented on here on July 3rd 2009 things have improved alot with my son. He was referred to a Dietician as he just wasn't taking enough nutrition to be able to grow and catch up (He was an IUGR baby so was very low birth weight and at 6 months old still weighed 12lbs. He is now almost 9 months old and weighs over 13lbs so still has a LONG way to go to make normal distribution on those charts!) He had his milk changed to a high calorie formula so he only needs to drink 14 oz of this new formula to satisfy all of his requirements so if he drinks more then this is a bonus! As I am now more relaxed about his feeding he responds to this and in turn drinks more and is back up to 20 oz a day! Babies pick up on their mother's anxiety which was adding to the problem so now he enjoys his bottles and even enjoys taking solids as I am so much happier that I no longer give out negative signals which in turn would make him anxious and then would affect his feeding routine. Teething also causes lots of bottle feeding problems. I bought MAM bottles from Boots which have flattenend teats which helped him immensely with his sore gums which was also a major factor in him pushing his bottle away as the normal teats affected his gums. Good luck to others worried about their tots! Just try to relax and if you feel your baby needs additonal support then speak to your Health visitor or GP but if your baby is of normal weight and they gain weight and continue to grow and are happy then you have nothing to worry about! Enjoy being a mum!
I'm new here and desperately looking for answer to the similar challenge many of you are/were facing. I'm a mother to a 4 1/2 month baby who is still on breast milk. I pump it into bottle and my baby sitter will feed him while I'm at work. Everything was fine until approx. 1 1/2 month ago. My baby refuses to drink while he's awake. He will push or chew on the teat. I suspect he was fed while sleeping and thus associating drinking with sleeping. It's very frustrating though he's gaining weight. My baby sitter finds it difficult and coax me to try on formula which I refuse. For those who have answer to the similar challenge, appreciate if you could share your experience. Have anyone tried correcting the drinking habit successfully? i.e. feed him while he's awake. I though of trying it but also very worry it might result in weight loss. Please share. Thank you
I just took my 3 month old to the doctor for this issue. I actually stopped breastfeeding because of her colic and thinking everything I ate was affecting her stomach. She has been on formula for 2 months now. For about 10 days she has refused to drink much formula. I cannot imagine going through this for months, as I am already worked up a lot over this. Her doctor had me change the formula from Similac Advanced to Alimentum. This was because of her extreme crying all day and before bed at night. She also has her on Prevacid at the highest dose which I hope will work. This is for her acid reflux. She was on half a tablet and now on a whole one. I am going to take her to a GI specialist if this doesn't work. You could talk to your child's doctor about any of these solutions. It is very hard to worry about your baby's eating all day.
I'm having similar issues with my 11 month old and I could really use some helpful coaching. I'm a terrible worry wart, first time mommy, easily spooked when it comes to my boy, all that fun stuff.
My baby boy Vincent just turned 11 months as of today and it almost seemed to happen overnight that he refuses his formula, almost instantly. It's almost as if he hates the taste.
Here's a list of things that might help figure it out
- still teething, three bottom and three top
- we just took him in to get two flu shots because mummy and daddy are sick (doing our damndest to keep his whole environment sanitary)
- he loves his juice and will take that, but only when he feels like it
- he eats and loves his baby food, little chunks and all
- we used to have a great pattern of formula before bed to get him to sleep, now he won't take it and fell asleep without it.
At this point should we be switching to milk or is it too early? Should I be worried about the flu bug or the immunization? Will he be ok and back to his sweet smiley self?
Thanks for reading
Sincerely, Worry Wart
I can only relate to Amanda:)
My little girl is 12 weeks old today and about 2 weeks ago she began an annoying habit of pushing bottle away after only eating half and not wanting the rest. Of course she can feel my frustration and when we lay her on our lap she knows it is to feed her and begins a tantrum. I have started to space her feedings to 4 hours but she is only drinking on avg. 3-4 oz if we're lucky. She squirms and fusses like she has gas and it takes 10 mins. to calm her down. She has been on the same formula for 2 months and has been fine until now. I don't know if I should change her bottles (she's on the drop-in Playtez bottles) or what but don't know what else to try. any recommendations??
It was extremely interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more on that blog soon.
So nice to know I'm not alone! We have had trouble with eating since my son was 6 months old (now 10 months). I breastfed until he was 8 months and had to stop because he just wasn't eating enough and didn't gain any weight for 3 months. We started him on Soy formula because of a dairy allergy and he drank it so well for a week and then slowly his ounces just started dropping until he finally wasn't taking any at all. My pedi suggested pediasure and thought with all the different flavors available that he would enjoy that. We tried him on that for a week and then same thing just eventually was down to nothing! It's not a flavor thing because no matter what's in the bottle he just refuses to eat!
I'm worred it's something deaper and internal and really want to get some sort of testing done on his tummy.
We are now on Allimentum and it's been 4 days. The pedi wants him to take 28 oz and NO solids at all since he is getting too full and not taking any milk. He's avg about 24 a day.
So frustrating that he pushed the bottle away... I just wish so much that he would just eat and love it.
Glad to see I'm not alone though.
Prayers go out to all of you struggling with the same thing!
Hi,
I'm having the same problem w/ my 9 month old. Only, he has a medical condition and diet (formula) is extremely important for him and so extremely frusturating for me.
Giving them milk in the sleep helps. I wake up random times at night IF I can to feed him that "2" ounce!..but it adds up at night.. he'll get 4-6 oz through the night IF I wake up a couple of times to feed him. (he otherwise sleeps through the night).
Also, since he's using formula, I give him the "24 calorie diet"..2 scoops of formula for 4 ounce plus an extra 1/2 (half) a scoop.
So if he drinks 4 oz,..it's like drinking at least 5 oz.. and I think that helps.
Something you guys can ask your kid's pediatrician. It may help make it less stressful if each time he/she gets an extra ounce of milk.
Lots of luck!
Hope it helps.
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