Feeding to sleep now! HELP!

[gabrielsmommy]

My son is almost 5 months old and is just not interested in eating until it is time for a nap.  He is very active and just wants to play when he is awake.  Our attempts at staying on an EASY routine is BLOWN!  I have given up trying and need HELP!  To give you a little history, my son was diagnosed with MPSI about a month ago and reflux about 7 weeks ago.  We did get him on medication and on a formula he tolerates now.  He was 16lbs 7oz a week ago which is double his birth weight already.  He is in daycare for 4hrs two days a week so any attempts at EASY is blown for sure on those days because he comes home tired and hungry so he eats and goes down for a nap within 1hr of being home.  I am just so frustrated because I have read that it is not good to feed to sleep.  He always feeds to sleep at bedtime so why is it so bad during the day?  This is how my evening yesterday, night, and morning has gone so far.

6:45-7:30pm  bath, bottle, bed
4:00am  bottle and was up until 5:15 playing in crib!
7:00am  up for the day; attempted to feed, but refused
8:15-8:45am  attempted to feed and only took 3oz
9:15  down for nap after taking 1/2oz.  I tried not to feed him, but he just cried like he was hungry, but then only took 1/2oz.
10am  awake again

How do I get back on track?  He even acts like he doesn't want to eat every 4hrs anymore.  When he does eat, he never takes more than 4 oz during the day.  He takes 6oz at bedtime and night feeding.  Total is about 26-28oz a day.

[Yorkiemom]

My son is nearly 8 weeks old and I've found that he's also starting to fall asleep after evey bottle feed. He's not taking much at all in the day anymore, but cluster feeds a full feed at 5 & 7pm, then a dream feed at 10pm and then he'll wake once or twice in thr night for a feed as well. Come morning time when it's time to get up he just wants to be changed and have a cuddle and then go back to sleep. I try and give him a bottle but he doesn't take much at all.

Can this be fixed this early?

[Lolly]

How is the reflux being treated? What meds is he on and at what dose?

If he is only taking 1oz before a nap, that's not hunger that's a prop I'd say. You can break that by just not giving it and settling using ssh/pat or if you already doing that and as your LO is over 4 months pu/pd (but only if you feel the reflux is under control). You will have a couple of difficult days but it won't take long to break the prop.

The reason for not feeding to sleep is because of the issues you are having. If they are fed to sleep they don't learn to get self settle and so they need it everytime they wake in order to get back to sleep. Feeding to sleep at bedtime doesn't seem to become a prop I think because the whole routine is generally different to naps in the day but it's always better to make sure they are not fully asleep going down if you can.

Laura

[gabrielsmommy]

Laura,

He is on Prilosec 4mg twice a day for reflux.  He doesn't seem to be having issues with his reflux.  He just doesn't seem hungry.  He went through a growth spurt last week and was eating about 30-32oz for about 4 days and gained about 9 oz in 5 days.  After that he just slowed way down on eating.  He took a total of 24oz today and half of that was taken as he was falling asleep for his naps.  I can see how feeding him when he is going down for naps can become a prop and I sure don't want that, but what if that is the only time he will take a bottle during the day?  He already has a pacifier for a prop, but it is not an issue at night at all.  He goes to sleep with it and then it falls out of his mouth.  I just don't know why he isn't wanting to eat while awake.  Do you think he is ready to be spaced to every 5 hrs or more?  Should I just try and feed him everytime he wakes up and keep trying until it is close to nap time and stop?  Also, I have never fed him as he is falling asleep for naps until now because I am concerned about his intake. 

[gabrielsmommy]

Ok this is what is going on now.  My son went 5am-12:30pm before he would take a bottle yesterday at daycare.  He has been pulling at his ear since he got off antibiotics a week ago for a double ear infection so I took him to the doctor yesterday to get checked.  His ears and throat were "picture perfect" per the doctor and he is trying to cut his first tooth on the bottom.  The doctor was concerned about my son not wanting to eat more often.  I told him that when my son has been spitting up lately it smells very acidic and is sometimes yellow like bile.  He was concerned that my son's reflux is causing him trouble again so he increased his Prilosec to 5mg twice a day and added Carafate 4 times a day for 2 weeks to coat his stomach.  He thinks maybe my son's stomach is upset from the acid.  I am not sure what to think about all of this.  My son seems happy, but just doesn't want to eat.  This is how our night last night and day has gone so far.

7:15-7:45pm  bath, bottle and bed  (took 7oz)
2am  bottle  (took 6oz)
6:30  awake, gave medication, rocked back to sleep in attempts to give medication time to work
7:10  up for the day; attempted to feed, but refused
7:10-8:30 tried to feed, but he would only take 2 oz
8:45  naptime; finished off rest of 6oz bottle when I removed the paci and gave him the bottle

I know I should have just tried to get him to nap without bottle, but I am truely concerned that he is not HUNGRY!  I am creating a prop now out of desperation to get him to eat.  Should I just stop worrying and let him eat when he wants even if he consumes less than 20oz in a day?

[Lolly]

It could well be the reflux, my two refluxers were never very keen to eat when they were at their worst.They would take an oz or 2 and then refuse any more and go 4+ hours on that amount. It was only when the reflux was better controlled that they ate better.

I've never heard of carafate or know it being used in babies so not sure what to suggest about that. His dose of prilosec is quite small I believe so that dose may not be doing enough to help.

I think for the time being you just need to feed him when he will take it to be honest and see how he does.

Laura

[gabrielsmommy]

Laura,

I was hoping the doctor would increase the Prilosec more than what he did.  He is 16lbs 10.2oz so he is just barely getting over 1mg per kg.  I know he can get up to 3mg per kg.  Carafate is like Mylanta.  It just helps coat the stomach to help with any irritation from the reflux.  Have you heard of giving medication for delayed gastric empyting?  The doctor thinks this could be an issue too and maybe that is why he isn't wanting to eat.  He suggested a medication called Bathanical.  It works like Reglan, but they don't give children Reglan anymore because of the side effects.

Robyn