Baby will only eat if drowsy/asleep

[NetMouse]

We're under Cardiff and Vale. Actually they're generally not bad once they get going... (health visitors and breast feeding councellors not included!) With allergies and dermatology, we have been though it all before with DD1!

[kerryt]

Netmouse Im so glad to hear its getting a bit easier with your LO:-) Hope I dont jinx it either for you ;-)

I cant believe you have had so many stressful issues to tackle with your LO's:( And I thought i had it bad with him not feeding well and short naps!
I had eczema as a teenager so I was worried about DS getting it, I hope his turn isnt still to come.

I really pray this is the last you see of these terribly frustrating feeds, I cant imagine having to go through this with a toddler around too, I take my hat off to you ladies.

Leanne: Im so sorry to hear your situation has taken a turn for the worst:( Im sure once you start solids things will settle down. Let us know how it goes at the paediatrician and if things get any better x

[L76]

Hi Kerry - just realised your location is LU7 - is that a Luton code?

Sonia - DH is from Wales - Newport area - but his parents now live in the Forest of Dean. Off their this weekend for a  bit of a break!

I think all NHS Trusts are as bad as each other tbh!!!!

[kerryt]

I agree, DS and I are also on a private medical scheme but only because I work in a private hospital so its one of the staff benefits.

Im in Leighton Buzzard near Luton, all my friends stay around your area actually (Wimbledon), Ive lived there before but have moved several times after that. Im South African, you have probably noticed we are all over the place in your district;-) My partner got a job in Milton Keynes so we've moved all the way up here and its sooooooo far away from everyone:(

OK Im finished feeling sorry for myself, keep the updates coming ladies!

[Rose.]

Hi,

Just thought I'd update. My son is now 21 weeks old. I used to have to walk him around to feed him. My arm would be killing. Getting 4 oz into him when he was 16 weeks old felt like success. Having done research on prevacid from the MARCI site (found from the BW board on reflux) we doubled my son's prevacid dose to 2 x 7.5 mg. The ped allowed us to do this but also told us that walking to feed was probably a learned behaviour. So to test this, I tried to NOT walk around to feed my son for a couple of days. He had some bad feeds but the feed following a bad feed usually went really well and by the second day his only bad feed was the one right before bed. For these feeds I fed him whatever he would take and then I would let him fall asleep for 20 min and then slip back into his room and feed him. He would usually take the whole bottle. One time I thought he had fallen asleep but he hadn't and he still took the whole bottle even though 20 min earlier he wouldn't. In the last few weeks he hasn't had any real problems eating. We are now giving SEVEN ounce bottles and he is FINISHING them! I am shocked! Our bottles don't even hold eight ounces but I'm delighted to have this problem! I don't know what to give credit to for the change in his eating to.

A week and a half ago we also stopped swaddling him and using the pacifier, cold turkey. We used pu/pd and in about 3 days saw some improvement. He was chronically needing his paci at the 40 min mark but I'm pleased to say that he is now putting himself threw those 40 min marks more often than not. Putting him down is usually easy, as long as I read his cues right. I can just do our short wind down and put him in the crib and walk out the door, leaving him to put himself to sleep.

I am pretty sure he has more than doubled his birth weight. Even though he is a week shy of 5 months, he is wearing 6-9 month sleepers. I am now contemplating starting him on solids. He is very active and does this kind of backwards crawl/shuffle.

I am so grateful to the Baby Whisperer and this website.

[NetMouse]

It sounds like you've really got it sorted at the moment, Rose - well done!

Have a nice break in Wales, Leanne! And feel free to winge, Kerry! It must be hard being so far from home, and then moving away from the community again...

My problem now is that LO has started waking up at 5:15 and not going back to sleep. It's been 3 days now. Yikes, I REALLY need to get this sorted before the clocks go back - but how?

Anyway, I'm off to bed now to do a bit of advance sleeping!
Sonia

[kerryt]

YAY  Rose!! Im so happy for you, hope it remains that way. Sounds as though you got it sorted though.

Sonia has your LO improved with the 5am waking yet? Have you tried W2S, that worked for me.

[NetMouse]

Hi,
We've had some better mornings - I've been able to feed her then shh/pat her back to sleep a couple of times. The problem is, when she doesn't nap well, she's so knackered by the evening that I end up putting her to bed early - which leads to normal early waking.
Incidentally, I had a breakthrough today after reading this thread http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=166973.0
The stupid (and slightly funny) thing is, I hadn't realised that she could do independent sleep again!! I just put her down and went out of the room, as recommended, and she put herself to sleep 3 times today - didn't even need to go in again. Amazing! Hope it lasts...
Hmm, if the EWs continue, I may think about W2S. That is just a bit too brave for me at the moment..
Sonia

[kerryt]

Hey Sonia

Im so glad, I hope she keeps it up!

For W2S, I set my alarm an hour before he usually woke up, when it went off I changed his nappy and he slept right through that 5am waking. I did this 3 nights in a row and he didnt wake up properly again at that time since. Sometimes he wakes up now at 5am to eat though.

Thanks for the link, Im definitely going to go check it out now! My son cries every time he goes down to sleep, if I leave him in the room he just pays in the cot until he starts crying. And then he doesnt stop crying until I come in and do PUPD:(

[kerryt]

Hi ladies:-)

How is everything going for everyone?

Dane is cutting his first teeth FINALLY so fingers crossed he starts drinking his milk again after that.

[L76]

Hi Kerry

Good to hear from you. Hope all well other than teething of course!

Still very up and down here. Dreadful naps. Lots of crying stilll and feeding ok but still a bit of a struggle. We are back to see the pediatrician tomorrow then a specialist GI next week. Started trying a bit of solids but he's not overly interested and not quite sure what to do with it yet.

Bedtime feeds still HUGE! Tonight 8oz at bedtime. Another 3oz within and hour as he wakes with wind. And for some reason the last two night he's woken around 9:30-10 and taken another 2-3oz! Last night he sttn too with that so here's me hoping after a rubbish two weeks of two or more wakings and night singing for an hour or so!!!! Lovely

[NetMouse]

Hi there,

Good luck with the teething, Kerry! We've still got no obvious signs of it...

Wow, congrats on the night, Leanne! Fingers x it continues. (Well he ought to go for a while with that much milkies sloshing about in him).

We are muddling along. We had a couple of weeks when feeding was much easier, and I thought she was maybe coming through it, now that she's getting more aware. But then it all went pear-shaped and she had a couple of very difficult weeks again. It is very strange. She is also doing short nights - slightly more than 10 hours, but I am giving her extra cat-naps in the car and putting her to bed later and will have another think when we get past the time change.

[kerryt]

Its like a roller coaster ride with these LO's I tell you! Just when you think every things going well, it turns for the worst and visa versa.

Leanne: I assume the infacol isnt doing its job:-/ The only other thing that helped DS through the windy stage was Dr Brown bottles. By 3 months though he got over any wind issues he had. At least he is taking enough to sttn, I still have to get up once or twice a night to feed DS and more often than not another 2 or 3 times because of teething/cold/just because (who knows)! My son also enjoys waking up and singing lol.
I also believe DS does have a mild case of reflux, he still spits up a lot and you cant carry him around or move him around a lot after hes eaten because he throws some of it back up, sometimes even an hour after hes eaten. I dont know if this is normal with most babies, since he is now 7 months.
BTW just to let you know, Dane is starting to sleep longer naps all on his own now, he usually does give me at least one 1 1/2 nap a day now. So hopefully with your DS it is just developmental and he should soon grow out of it.
Let us know what the paediatrician says!

Sonia: Im sorry to hear about your recent difficult  weeks, has anything changed since your last post? How many oz's/mls are you managing with her now at a feed?

[L76]

Hey Kerry

We are back to dreadful feeds again this last week. I am not worrying about it though to be honest as it would be quite good in a strange kind of way if he didn't put on weight this week as we are seeing a gastroenterologist this week! Today he took 6oz all day! The about 6oz at bedtime.

We are still getting him being sick. Sometimes just excess milk, other times the curdled stuff from previous feeds which smells really acidic.

I think he is now on the maximum dose of meds he can have so no idea where we go from here. I know I am pinning my hopes on friday's appointment but likely nothing much can be done. We are plagued by short naps, lots of crying and whinging, never quite content, poor feeds, at least two nw's....something has to give!!!

We are using dr brown's bottles. Not sure if they make a difference!

[Hunters Mum]

Hi Ladies, just scolling through the post.
My 5.5 month old DD is also singing recently in her crib for hours on end. I think it may be developmental as I have seen this on some of the other boards. Lets just hope it is a phase and will pass soon!