Fussy Eater

[kacie1219]

I'm having trouble getting my 3 month old dd on a good 3 hr easy (her adjusted age is 9 wks - she was 4 weeks early).  The problem is that Tracy always talks about adding more to their bottles but she frequently refuses to eat very much at a time and I'm struggling to get her to take 3 to 3.5 oz EBM at a feed and she's probably 11 lb. now.  Even if she goes 3 hrs she'll take a little and then stop & REFUSE to take more.  Then sometimes 2 hrs. later she's screaming like she's hungry and then takes a full feed or again just until she's satisfied. She does have reflux and is on zantac for that, but it doesn't seem to bother her when she does take more so i don't think that's the problem. Here's an example of one of our days  Starting last night I did the DF at 11:00 and paci at 3:30 then eat at 5:00 am.  I stay at home & both are kids have been on a later schedule by their own making.

3:00 am  Eat  3.25 oz.
7:00 am  Eat  2 oz.
9:00 am  Eat 1.5 oz
Activity
10:00 am Sleep 

10:30 am Awake
11:00 am Eat  4 oz.
11:30 am Sleep  (doesn't usually sleep 3 hrs)

2:30 pm Eat 2.5
Activity
3:30 pm Eat 3
Activity
4:00 pm Sleep

6:45 Eat 1 oz.
Activity
7:45 Eat 2.5 oz.
Activity  - usually try for a catnap
8:30 Eat 1.5
9:00 pm  Bedtime

10:15  df  2 oz.















   

[Lolly]

What dose of zantac is she on at the moment and how long has she been on it? Has her dose had any increases?  I would think that taking such small amounts at feeds could be a sign that the reflux isn't under control. This was the main symptom for my DD - she dropped her milk intake from around 30oz a day to well below 20 when she was about 9 weeks. She would take maybe 2oz then start screaming, arching, crying etc and point blank refuse to take another drop of milk. She would go 3 hours on tiny amounts of milk and you could see she was hungry but she wouldn't take any more.

Have you tried a faster teat as well? If you are only using a bottle you could try that, but if you are offering the breast too it may be better to keep a slower flow.

Laura

[kacie1219]

She's on 1 ml twice a day and has been for about 6 weeks.  I talked to the dr. about increasing it and he said she didn't weigh enough to give her more than 1/4 ml extra each dose.  She doesn't seem like she's in pain during or after the feedings like she did prior to being on Zantac, but more like she's just not interested anymore.  Sometimes I can push her to take a full feed but it's almost like she just wants to eat until she's satisfied, but not full.

[Lolly]

Have you tried thickening her feeds with a non-food thickener like carobel or simply thick? It is useful when there is a lot of spitting up but silent refluxers can do better on thickened feeds as well. My DD is more of a silent refluxer - like DS before her and zantac and thickened feeds ( they were/ are on a reflux formula) helped them not be in pain and take better feeds. It may be worth discussing with her Dr.

Laura

[kacie1219]

I have not tried thickening her feeds.  She is a silent refluxer but she really doesn't seem to be in pain anymore so I don't think the reflux is an issue.  I'm starting to wonder if her nightfeed is messing up her morning routine since that's when we have the most problems. 

[Lolly]

How are things today?

Laura

[kacie1219]

I dropped the DF last night because it was killing us to stay up that late when DH needs to wake up for work and I need to wake up with DD#1 and it's never seemed to make a difference.  She was waking at 3:30 am after the DF (regardless of the time we did the DF) and she didn't wake up until 4:00 am to eat after we fed her at 9:30 pm so I'm going to say that she seemed to do better without the DF. She ate better this morning, but I'm starting to wonder if she needs a 3 1/2 hr EASY because she's never that hungry at her feeds, but is then hungry shortly after.  Here's what today has looked like so far...

4:00 am Eat  3.5 oz.
7:00 am Eat  1.5 oz.

Woke her up for the day at
9:15 am Eat  3 oz.
10:25 Sleep
12:15 pm woke her up so she wouldn't miss a feed but only took 2 oz.
1:00 starts acting a little hungry
1:25 start putting her to sleep but she's acting more like she's hungry until it's obvious and she's devouring my arm
1:50  Eats 3 oz.
2:10  Sleeping right now...

So now do I wake her for her normal 3 pm feed or just let her sleep.  After taking 5 oz. within 1 1/2 hrs she'll refuse to eat until 6 pm or end up snacking, which is what typically happens to me.   

[Lolly]

You could try a 3.5 hour EASY, it may be she is ready feed wise. Smaller more frequent feeds suit most refluxers but mine both went to 4 hour feeds before the 4 month mark - they would just refuse to eat sooner. The only problem as such is that you won't get a true EASY because they won't be able to do the A time for the longer EASY. What you will find is that it becomes something like EASAES until the A time catches up. This does work, just watch that you don't feed to sleep when E is right before S.

If she ate at 1.50 I would see if you can get her to 3.5 hours after that, she should be hungry by then. If she does keep having small feeds just watch that she has wet nappies and isn't showing any signs of dehydration.  I would still consider looking into the reflux, her feeding patterns are very similar to my DD when she was bad. The poor feeding was her main symptom, she napped well, slept well at night was/is the haapiest smiliest baby but the feeds just weren't right. How does your DD behave when she is feeding?

What flow teat are you on  - have you tried a faster flow?

Laura

[kacie1219]

Well I don't know what is going on... she only went 2 hr 45 min and then only took 2 oz.  I am starting to wonder if it's her reflux.  From what I understand she should be getting a min. of 2 oz. per pound of body weight per my scale she is 11 1/2 lb. which would mean she needs at least 23 oz., but the majority of days she's not getting that she normally takes 20-21 oz. Since she's been on meds she's acted fine when she's eating.  The only thing I can say is that EVERY time she starts eating she acts like she's starving and I think "Oh, this time we'll get a good feed in" and then a lot of the time she only takes 2 - 2 1/2 oz.  She eats so fast and gets so gassy that I'm scared to try a faster flow.