refusing the bottle

[limetulips]

hi I am a nanny who is caring a 4 month old. He was taking a bottle for 1 month. Now he refuses to take the bottle. We started him on refulx meds about 3 weeks ago he HATES it and learned how to use his tongue to block his throat.(scrunches his tongue up in the back of his mouth works great nothing gets in his throat now he is doing that for me with the bottle.  Mom still bf's an he eats for her at night. this is the 5th day he has refused to eat for me. I have tried different bottles, breast milk, formula, I started trying every hour just like I did when i was teaching him to take the bottle the first time. He is on a fabulous EASY schedule it is great but this eating thing is a problem for us.  I have told his parents that they are going to have to just try bottle feeding ONLY or he will never eat for me again. it breaks their hearts and I am not sure they will follow through. What else can I do?  I have stopped giving him his reflux meds because he hasn't been swallowing them any way and that doesn't seem to be the problem right now any way....
his mood is good when I am not trying to feed him. I can't get him to eat when he is sleepy either that worked when I was weening him....

not sure what to do

[LŠuren]

Welcome to the boards 

Do you think this is mainly to do with reflux or nipple confusion?

Is it expressed breast milk you are using in the bottle?  Have you used the Haberman bottle?

[limetulips]

I am not sure what I think any more. I used to think it was reflux. I do think he was better on reflux meds until this week. when Monday he just refused the bottle has not had one in a week now.

yes it is expressed milk in the bottles.   We tried many different bottles the one he finally used for 1 month was the Playtex Nurser System.  At this point he won't let anything in his mouth the has milk in it. he will chew on a binky (never has actually sucked on one but chews on it). His mom is a vegetarian and I think the milk smells a bit. (not sour, but strong)   


1 hour later****(I now think he really does have reflux he woke up screaming again like a month ago and he is drooling thick saliva which when he was on meds he did not do.....)**** 
 

[LŠuren]

Would you like me to move this post to the reflux board, you will get some excellent advice there?

[limetulips]

sure i guess

but is he not eating because of his reflux?  I am just at a loss at what his needs are right now.... he is in a great mood but no daytime eating....

where can I find the reflux board??? I can't seem to find it

[LŠuren]

Instead of moving this yet, I have sent a message to the reflux moderators to have a look at this as well. My DS never had reflux, so I am not sure if this is why your having the problem or not.

Hope this is OK?

lauren

[Tonya]

HI!  Sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time!!

Firstly, please continue to give his reflux meds.  If he is "blocking" them with his tongue, you could try using a very small medicine dropper, and squirting it towards the back inside portion of his cheek.  You can also blow into his face as you give him the medicine, which shoudl cause him to swallow. 

The medicines generally do take some time before you have noticeable results.  What med is he on?  3 weeks you should be seeing some results, but stopping it too quickly is likely to cause more problems.  If this medicine isn't working, there are plenty of other meds out there that he may have more success with.

Reflux can cause aversion to feeding.  If he is associating the bottle with the pain caused from reflux, he could definately refuse it.  (i personally had alot of success with the Playtex nurser's as well, fwiw).

There is something else that causes aversion to feedings called Dysphagia.  I don't have personal experience with this, other than knowing a woman whose son has this, but there is a link at the top of the Colic board that may be helpful - I have posted the link below.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=18509.0

Ok, after having re-read your postings, it just hit me.....is he teethign???  4 months would be the right age, not eating is common, drooling, pain....

Have you given any pain meds?  Maybe you could try some tylenol or motrin half an hour or so before the next feeding, and see if that helps!!

[limetulips]

there was great success with his reflux meds. I only stopped this am.
lo has the great ability to scrunch  up his tongue in the back of his mouth so that NOTHING gets through...
     I did give him his reflux meds about 1 hr ago I mixed it with a small amount of breast milk and put it in a bigger dropper (with some tylenol) played with him got him smiling and playing on my lap and stuck the dropper in his mouth while he didn't have a clue it was coming.... I "shot"it past his tongue so he had to swallow. 

His mom had teeth at 4 month so yes I think the blanket chewing is a huge sign he is teething. (his parents are slow to jump on board with what i think is going on ) which is where I am having a hard time.

next week he goes in for his 4 month check up I will read about this Dysphagia plant the seed in mom and dad's head and ask the Dr. when we go next week. (Dr. suggested rice in his bottle to help the reflux so I will plant that idea for the weekend too. I think they are ready now to try anything (dad was home working yesterday so he was around to see how lo was doing I think that helped a lot)

He is one zantac which tastes gross the phamacy said they can flavor it so I would like to do that if m/d okay it (i think they will now)

thank you soo much.
I think lo has a few things against him right now reflux, teething, inconsistant weekends... so I will keep up my routine and encourage them to do the same.
  thanks again

[LŠuren]

You sound like you have your work cut out.
Good luck and let us know how it goes. 

[limetulips]

I thik everyone is on board to follow my instructions, with meds, feeding and teething so this weekend will be the test.... I hope monday will be a great day for lo and I. 
thank for just being here.
jenn

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Just wanted to pop in too even though I haven't anything to add... I agree with Tonya about the reflux issues and bottle aversion but it really sounds like you are on the right track! My lo never liked the bottle when teething either. It gets so confusing when refluxers teeth! I still have trouble sorting it out as it seems the teething aggravates the reflux too...

Good luck and keep us posted! 

Sharon

[LŠuren]

limetulips
How did you get on?

[yaya]

Do Los lose thier apetite when teething??

[LŠuren]

yaya it is harder for them to keep the suction on the teat to suck.

[yaya]

ahh thanx!