How common is this? We have to 'walk to eat'

[Rose.]

Hi,

My son, 3 months, will often take 2 oz out of bottle well and then turn his head away and extend his body away from the bottle and make fussy sounds. However, if we pick hold him and walk him around he will eat another 2 oz or so. As soon as we sit down he's back to pulling his head away from the bottle.

Tonight I had to 'walk' an entire 4oz bottle into him before bed; it was the only way he would eat!

I consider this feeding behaviour to be very odd; I've never seen another baby do this. However, he does have reflux. Are there any moms out there that also have to walk their baby around in order to feed them? Does your baby have reflux too? Or is this behaviour related to being really tired? Why does walking him around help? Any ideas how to 'teach' him to eat in glider (my arm is killing me!)??

Thanks!

[mickey44]

Is this a fairly new thing or has it been going on since he was born? 

My lo did the fussing thing and turning her head away when she need a bigger teat.  We did notice that the walking around helped a little until we could get the bigger teats and I thought maybe that was because it was kind of distracting her so that she wasn't totally concentrating on the bottle and getting mad when there wasn't enough milk coming out. 

[Rose.]

Thanks for your reply.

We've only just discovered this. Until recently I would feed him as much as he would take (usually 2oz) and then would get him to fall asleep on me. Once asleep I could often feed him in his sleep.

Interesting comment about the teat size. He's still using the newborn teats and the next size up specifies 3 months+. I'll try switching tomorrow.

[Edesanja]

My DD was milk protein intolerant. I had to walk around while bfing to get her to drink (she knew that milk hurt her tummy and so needed to be distracted in order to do it). She had reflux too (1/3 those with reflux are milk protein intolerant). I also had to walk with her when we tried to give her a bottle with expressed milk in. Then she stopped taking a bottle at all when she realised it hurt just the same and ended up with a bottle aversion. Once I stopped eating dairy, she would bf and drink hypoallergenic formula from a bottle (once we got her over her bottle aversion) without needing to be walked/ rocked/ jiggled/ sung to....
I know it's a little different because my DD was bf but just something to think about...

[*Liz*]

I think this is pain/ reflux behaviour as well Rose - it is distraction that is working to get him to eat.

Where are you up too in the formula switch now?

[Lolly]

In my experience it's reflux pain too. My two both fed like this before we got the reflux under some control. I did a lot of walking around with DS, not so much with DD, but with both it wasn't until the meds and formula started working that they were able to feed "normally".

Laura

[Rose.]

I have been trying for the last month or so to switch him to formula. We have tried several different formulas. We thought we cracked it with soy formula but he got constipated. We are currently trying Enfamil's Gentlease. We start at 25% formula, 75% breast milk. He does well on this but when we go higher he gets really fussy and his bowel slows right down or stops and he gets constipated. When this happens we give him pure breastmilk for a few days and try a new formula. Fortunately my milk supply has stabilized and I still have a pretty good stash of frozen breastmilk.

I think we may have to try nutrimigen and/or soy again but go really slow and give him lactulose. He wasn't as fussy on the soy, just constipated so maybe he does have MPI. Does anyone know when MPI goes away?

[*Liz*]

I think we may have to try nutrimigen and/or soy again but go really slow and give him lactulose. He wasn't as fussy on the soy, just constipated so maybe he does have MPI. Does anyone know when MPI goes away?

MPI usually goes away by 12 months, although some obviously have it for much longer.

Do you eat dairy? Is your LO fussy on your BM? Constipation can occur with MPI but loose mucousy stools are more common.

I must say it really is very normal for a LO to get constipated when you change their formula or introduce formula. And the poop of a BF babe is a LOT looser than a FF baby. If this is what has happened with several formulas now - milk, soy and hypoallergenic I would do exactly as you said which is to give meds for the constipation as you go through the introduction and then slowly cut back once they start to settle.

It can take a few weeks for a LO to settle completely onto a new formula even with no other issues at play. I had DS on aptimal for ages, and switched him to SMA progress (both standard UK formulas). When I did it he got terribly constipated for about 2 weeks but after that he was MUCH more settled than he had been on the apitmal (and much LESS constipated). And for some reason he just preferred the taste of the SMA and his intake went up a lot almost straight away.