Author Topic: 8mth not eating after teething  (Read 1378 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
8mth not eating after teething
« on: June 22, 2009, 17:46:13 pm »
Since my lo's 2 top teeth started emerging she started losing her appetite. She has also completely gone off solids. They are through now and I can't get her to drink any more than 50mls at a time during the day. At night I can get 150mls down her before bed and possibly 2 lots of 100mls during the night (along with small top-ups - another problem!). She's only totalling about 6-700mls in a 24hr period and has lost 700gms in last month. Is this normal? I have lots of accidental parenting I need to sort out with her, eg waking 10 times a night and easiest way to put her back to sleep is to feed her and rock her, and I'm not quite sure where to start but I'll post that queery elsewhere. Firstly I need to know if this feeding behaviour is normal due to teething or a stage they go through or what ???

Offline Mashi

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 408
  • Posts: 16805
  • Location:
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2009, 17:56:21 pm »
6-700 mLs is roughly 20 - 23 ounces, which is exactly what she needs in a day, so that part is fine I would say!  From 6 months to a year the guideline they use here in the UK is 20 - 24 ounces in one day.  But, you're right that taking it in 50ml feeds at a time is not ideal for either of you!

My DS does VERY much off of food when he is teething, and with his last ones, it took a while of him getting used to the idea of these teeth in his mouth to get back onto food. Like it was a weird sensation in his mouth and a bit strange for him.

Do you have a routine each day for feeds?  One thing that I would try to do if I was facing this is to cut one of the feeds out (as in, one instance of 50mL of milk) every two days. Slowly get her used to the fact that she has to take more or will be hungry.  Follow her morning, lunch and dinner milk feed with a solid meal an hour later. 

I would expect that the first few days she won't take much more, but she also won't starve herself.  Then try to amalgamate her feeds together.  Often I think that when babies know they have another feed coming soon they just don't bother drinking much because they know it only needs to last them a short while before they get more, which could explain why she only takes 50 mLs -- she knows that in an hour or so she can have another 50.  If you start making her wait a bit longer, she will start taking more.

It's sort of the principle with dropping a bottle - when on 4 bottles a day (example) and LO starts taking less and less at each feed, by cutting one bottle out and only offering 3, they take more at each feed and thus increase their total overall milk.   So, you could use this same principle but a bit more gradual if she is used to the more feeds, iykwim?

Offline * Paula *

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 426
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 14882
  • Location: United Kingdom
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2009, 19:42:17 pm »
Hugs,

Mashi has given you some fantastic advice.

Just wanted to ask a few other questions. 

Your lo could possibly still be teething.  There may not be another tooth ready to cut through, but there could be teeth moving up in the gums and this can cause them a lot of discomfort.  Have you tried rubbing some teething gel on your lo's gums to see if this helps to ease any discomfort?

Also what size teat are you using?  Do you think your lo could be ready for the next stage up teat, so that they do not have to suck as hard?

Can you post what your routine looks like with:

E - how much including solids and timings
A - how long
S - how long including any AP

If you can also include the night feeds and timings etc we can help you tweak your routine.
Thomas Michael - 12 July 2005
Abigail Louise - 23 October 2007

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2009, 08:19:05 am »
haha my night feeds are a disaster! Have posted my night worries in the sleeping section. Let me write everything down today and I'll post it in the morning. I did manage to get her to have 100mls this morning by giving it to her an hour later so it eneded up being nearly half way through her A time and then gave her another 60 before nap time. Anyways will put it all in a post tomorrow morning.
As far as teets are concerned, this little town I live near has naff all! The nearest place which will prob have a variety is an 8 hour drive away. I did see a pack of 2 once and it had the cross cut which is high flow? So what I've done is increased the size of the hole in the ones I have to double the drip speed of what it was (size 1 was origonal size). How many drips per second should she be on do you recon?
Have tried teething gel occasionally but it gives such a short term relief, but I'll try again before next feed and see if it helps.
I haven't even attempted solids for past 4 days now as I was getting worried that it might become an issue for her. She was getting really annoyed when I kept trying. The only way I could get a bit in was to make her laugh so she could taste it and then see if she wanted more. Quite often she would just wretch (except for fruit) and I wouldn't try again. Its all stuff she used to eat quite happily before too which is frustraiting. I'll try again today and see what happens.
Many thanks for the advice so far and chat tomorrow :)

Offline Mashi

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 408
  • Posts: 16805
  • Location:
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2009, 10:25:57 am »
By 8 months I do think that most babies are on the fastest flow teats - I don't know if sizing works the same where you are but the bottles that I have used (Avent and Dr Brown's) offer 3 different sizes - a newborn/young baby, a medium and a fast flow.  I think that most LOs I know were onto the size 3 by 6 or 7 months.

You could try sterilising a needle and poking it through to make the hole faster.  By level 3 we don't have drips in the bottles I use. When the milk is warm, it pours out in a stream not a drip. When it's cold it still drips out slowly but warmer is quite fast. 

HTH?

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2009, 12:23:26 pm »
thats a great help thanks - i'll make the holes even bigger then and see if that helps :)

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2009, 08:13:02 am »
Ok here’s the routine from yesterday:
Wake - 06.00
Up – 06.30
E – 07-07.30  100mls taking small bits at a time
A – 07.30 – 08.00
E – 08.00 – 08.15  60mls
S – 08.25 – 09.30
A – 09.30 – 10.45
E – 10.45 – 10.55  40mls using Teejel beforehand-didn’t do anything
A - 10.55 – 12.10
E – 12.10  20mls to sleep
S – 12.15 – 2.15 (woke and rocked back to sleep at 1.15 – 1.20)
E – 2.30 -2.40  60mls (increased size of hole in teets)
A – 2.40 – 3.45
E – 3.45 – 4.00 140mls
A – 4.00 – 4.40
S – 4.40 – 5.00 catnap while on walk
A – 5.00 – 5.50
E – 5.50 – 6.00 30mls
A – Bath, Massage
E – 6.20 – 6.35 170mls
S – 7.15
(Total milk for the daytime 620mls)

Nightime:
10.45 woke and drank 60mls rocked till sleep at 11.10
12.00 woke and very awake. Drank 70mls-not really interested. Rocked till 12.30. Still awake but quiet. I just lay on bed next to cot. Cried out at 01.00. Took 30mls and then rocked to sleep by 01.10.
05.15 woke and moaned tossed and turned and put herself back to sleep by 05.30 I didn’t intervene.
06.00 woke for good!
Very unusual night as most of the time she would suck on the bottle, spit it out when she’s had enough, turn over and sleep. Last night she pushed it away and was very much still awake. This could be due to the increased hole size of the teet as she’s not having to suck so hard so doesn’t have that same soothing effect?? This means is a prop rather than hunger?? She also didn’t wake as many times last night. Two nights ago she had woken 6 times before midnight starting at 9.30! Her first wakeup has usually been around 10pm and then every hour/45 mins after that and sometimes with an hour or 2 awake slot for the hell of it. Amy has this info in 'props' as well.

This morning because she hadn't had anything since 01.00 I tried to feed at 07.30 after getting up at 06.30 and all she took was 40mls and then a further 80mls 30 mins later. I'll keep everything recoreded today as well and see if there is a change from the bigger hole in the teet. She's just got up now and I wont bother feeding her till much later but it does mean that trying to feed after waking gets further away???

Offline Mashi

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 408
  • Posts: 16805
  • Location:
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2009, 09:21:36 am »
I think you're right that it could be that she wants the sucking at night - does she have a dummy at all?

I think that they way *I* personally would proceed is to let her only take 100mls at 7am, and then at 8ish instead of offering her more milk, try for a bit of breakfast: some baby cereal or a bit of fruit or something that she used to like before she went off of solids.

Then at 1030ish when she wakes, offer her another bottle. It may take a couple of days before she takes a good amount at this time but she will probably take in the missing amount form the 8am milk feed plus what she normally takes now.  Then some lunch at 1130 or so.  Even if she isn't taking the solids just a lighthearted offering of them with little stress or pressure should help to encourage her by getting in the routine of it.

Then another bottle at 3pm, and a meal at 4 or 5pm of solids, again the same.

Then offer her a milk feed before bed. 

I'm not sure on how to tackle the night feeds as we didn't have to wean off of them, DS stopped waking for food when he was very young. But, your DD is quite used to it, and it will take a few days to get her daily milk intake up to a high enough level where she doesn't need it, so perhaps I would keep one of them in there for a few days. Maybe the 10pm one as it is encouraging a longer sleep time at night.  Can you try offering her a dummy or pacifier to suck on when she wakes?

I do think that offering her fewer instances of milk during the day should encourage her to take more and thus spread them out to 4 milk feeds of a bit larger.  Is she TOTALLY off of solids or do you think that she would take a few bites 3x per day?

Just trying to think of everything I can as I know your internet is slow and less reliable, I think you mentioned that in another post.

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #8 on: June 24, 2009, 11:15:26 am »
Thanks Mashi. Yes I have terrible internet - I can go and make a cup of tea inbetween pages loading! Anyways, she sadly is totally off solids. I tried to offer her some yesterday but she was having none of it. I will certainly give your suggestion a try. If she ends up eating more later in the schedule that'll be easier to move once she's back on track.
Many thanks! :)

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2009, 12:45:15 pm »
Hi Mashi
Just to let you know she's a lot better now. Still not completely there but wont be long now. She also started taking some solids 2 days ago so I'll just take that slowly. She seems to only want in morning and evening so far.
I aslo forgot to say she doesn't have a paci. Always spat it out and she only uses one occasionally now to chew on for teething.
I'm pretty sure her night feeds are just a prop because she's having plenty before going to bed now. Her nights are still an absolute mare but once we have the day routine sorted we can work on the nights.
Thanks for all your help! :)

Offline Mashi

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 408
  • Posts: 16805
  • Location:
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2009, 13:02:07 pm »
I'm SO glad to hear it.  Keep working on the day and you are right, some parts of the night should hopefully sort out on their own.

Also, remember when you are starting solids it's only 1x per day, then move up to 2x, etc so I wonder if because she went off of them for so long that it's going to be like starting over again? breakfast only for a week, then add lunch a couple of weeks later, etc?

Offline mandamamba

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 64
  • Relaxing on the Zambezi
  • Location: Zambia
Re: 8mth not eating after teething
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2009, 15:15:12 pm »
Good point I hadn't thought of that! Thanks!