I need help/advise with getting DS to drink his formula

[Danielsmommy]

Ok So here is the story.  I breastfed Ds until he was 7 months old then we switched to formula. (he's 10 months now) Starting out, he would only drink the formula if he was asleep.  I finially got him to drink while awake but here is the problem....... he wil only let me sit with him for a few minutes before I have to get up and walk around with him while feeding him.  He has to be positioned so he's facing away from me and I have to bounce a little.  If he stops drinking for a few minutes I sing in his ear and he'll usually have a bit more.  I don't mind doing this because I do what I have to do to get him to drink.  But I go back to work in a month and the babysitter (his grandparents) I don't think will want to walk around with him all the time.  Plus he even gives his dad a hard time while eating (at least with me he will usually drink most of it but when DH tries I usually have to take over) so I'm not sure how well they will do with them.  They don't like to make him cry so I am worrying that they will just stop trying if he cries.  This morning he even gave me a hard time, only drinking 5 1/2 ounces when he usually drinks 8 but he has a cold so I'm hoping thats it. 

So what I need help with are maybe some ideas on how I can get him to eat without so much fuss.  I really want to fix this not only beacuse of me going back to work but so my mom will stop criticizing me about how I am parenting my child (not the grandparents who are babysitting)  I really can't listen to her anymore lol

So any ideas would be much appreciated, oh and we've tried giving it to him in a sippy cup but he'll only drink water from it. Also his bedtime feed is ok b/c he is tired and falls asleep lol
Thanks so much

[Lolly]

Ok - so lets see your routine at the moment with all sleep and feed times and amounts so we can get a picture of his day. Have you tried the fastest flow teat or a variflow teat?

How much is he taking in 24 hours at the moment and how is he with solids?


Laura

[Danielsmommy]

Hi Laura

We have tried him with a fast flow nipple but he didn't like it at all so we use a variable nipple (tri-flow).  On a good day he drinks about 21-22 ounces and has another 3-4 in his cereal throughout the day.

Here is his schedule with amounts - I shuld also note that he JUST started sleepign through the night this week so hopefully it will continue

6:15 - wake

7:00 - bottle 7-8 ounces

8:00am 6 tsp of cereal with about 1 1/2 ounces of milk in it. half of a lil' ones yogurt and he "nibbles" on toast or a bagel or some cerrios but mainly just plays still

9:30 nap usually for 1 1/2 to 2 hours

12:15ish  I give him an 8 ounce bottle and he will drink anywhere from 5-8 ounces of it
              Shortly after he is done his bottle he gets about 2 ounces each of veggie/meat mix and fruit but hasn't    been eating it all lately and then a little of whaever I'm having

2-2:30 goes down for another 1 1/2 hour nap

5:15 supper - 6-7 tsp of cereal with 2 -2 1/2 ounces of milk, 1 ounce of veggie's and then a bit of our supper but not much

6:30 bath

7:00 story and bottle 8-9 ounces

7:30 in bed asleep

So it is his a.m and lunch time bottles that we are having issues with. 

Thanks for taking a look

Rebecca

[Lolly]

What about trying a slightly different routine to move the lunchtime bottle a bit. From about 8 months my refluxing DD was on 3 bottles so we did

6-7 am Bottle on waking
8 ish Solids
Nap
12 ish lunch solids (sometimes a bit earlier if she was hungry)
2 -2.30 Bottle
Nap
5 ish Tea
7 ish Bed routine and bottle.

It did vary a bit day to day and we just made sure we didn't feed to sleep in the afternoon. His milk intake is fine on your good days. The minimum they need is 20oz and this can include the milk in food so any extra is a bonus!

What do you think?

Laura

[Danielsmommy]

Hey Laura,
I am willing to give it a try.  I probably won't start until sunday though.  My sister is going to have him from about 1 today until tomorrow as... my first night away from him lol

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks

[Lolly]

Ok - give it a few days for him to adjust to a new routine then let us know how you are doing!

Enjoy your night away!

Laura

[Danielsmommy]

Sorry I've been absent for a few days.  Our computer broke adn then DS got sick.  I tored moving his bottle for one day, but it didn't do a whole lot.  I was going to try again the next day but DS got sick and was vomiting for 3 days.  He is getting over that now (had him to the doctor who said it was a bad cold and he was vomiting while trying to get up phlem and then his belly didn't feel good from that and would vomit on a full belly).  So we aren't quite back to him eating lots yet (bottle or solids).  I had a little bit of a break down tonight.  He only had 4 ounces before going to bed and would cry anytime I put the bottle near him.  So I know tonight will be a bad night and I will have to feed him at some point.  I'm hoping to be able to try to move things around soon but I got asked to go into work for the week so it might have to wait until next week.  Feeling very discouraged tonight

[Lolly]

{{HUGS}} lfe has a habit of throwing things at us!

I would stick to the 3 bottle routine, it's more appropriate for his age and it will only be what, about 8/9 weeks until he turns 1 and you will be dropping to morning and evening bottles anyway as good becomes more important.

You won't know how well it suits him until you have tries it for a good few days to let him adjust. Chances are if he was ill the day after you changed he was probably not feeling great that day too. If you have a look at these sample routines http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164031.0 you will see that most of them are on 3 bottles/ BFs some down to 2 already.

Laura

[Danielsmommy]

Thanks Laura !

[Danielsmommy]

So I tried moving his feedings and that didn't seem to work.  Then I decided to try a whole new bottle which worked miracles for about a week.  He was drinking 8 oz every feeding and doing it super fast.  It was taking 10 -12 minutes instead of our usual 30-50.  Now the problem is, he's not drinking as much again.  He is only taking 5-6 1/2 oz for his am and lunch bottles.  Bed time he takes b/w 7 and 8 so I'm not really worried about that one.  He also takes about 20-25 mins to drink that amount now, which I guess i still better than 30-50.  He has been chewing on the nipple of the bottle a lot more and when he spits the bottle out, he chews on his finger.  Is this a sign he might be starting to teeth?  There seems to be no other signs.

I am a huge worry wart and worry that he isn't getting enough so how much formula should he be getting at this age. Also I only have 2 weeks left before going back to work and last time I left DS with his grandfather (who will be doing all the am feeds through the week) he only drank 2 oz in the morning.  You can't tell me that poor little guy wasn't hungry.  He just was giving him a hard time so my FIL stopped trying.  When I got him at lunch time I got him to drink 9 oz in about 10 min and I'm sure if I had more he would have drank it.  Poor guy was starving. So I will be in constant worry while at work that he isn't eating.

Does any one think switching him to cows (whole) milk will help him drink more?  I was going to wait to talk to his dr at his 1 year check up in april about it but I'm going crazy here lol

Thanks everyone!

[Lolly]

Sounds like teeth are bothering him - has he got any yet? You can try teething gel and/ or pain meds just before a feed and see if that helps.

I wouldn't swap to cow's milk yet, all the medical advice is to wait until 1 because it isn't nutritionally complete enough as a food for a baby. Once he gets to 1 food is more important and milk isn't a food any more like it is for the first 12 months. He *needs* about 20oz of milk a day and this includes the dairy in food, so a lot of mums just increase the dairy in food and offer more things like yoghurts and cheesey foods if they aren't taking enough formula. He is taking at least 17oz a day, so depending on what you are putting in his food he is at the bottom end of milk intake but it should be enough with solids.

I know it's harder said than done but don't worry, he won't starve himself. He may take a bit of adjusting to new a new carer but he will settle down when he gets used to it and eat pretty normally. How are your nights, if he is sleeping through, alert in the day, meeting milestones, gaining weight, having plenty of wet and dirty nappies then he is getting what he needs.

What is your routine like now?

Laura

[Danielsmommy]

Thanks for all your help and quick replies Laura!

He doesn't have any teeth yet!  He's our little toothless wonder lol I will try to give him some teething gel just before his am feed tomorrow (I only have stuff that shouldn't be used at night so I don't want to use it on the night feed) I've peeked and I can't see any whote spots.  They have shown up before and then dissapeared. This has been going on since he was about 5 months old.

Our days still looking pretty much the same as it did before.  I still do his lunch bottle around noon and then his solids after that.  I haven't tried switching those with the new bottles yet. As we did have such good success when we first switched.  Besides his bottles he gets about 4-5 oz of milk in his cereal throughout the day, has yogurt every morning with breakfast and has cheese some days too.  All the nurtition reasons are why I was leaning against not switching to cows milk but shoudl I be "introducing" it as an added thing by now? ie give him milk to drink with a meak instead of h2o?

His nights are still hit or miss.  He slept through saturday night but was up twice last night.  He has also started waking at 5-5:30 now   I refuse to get up that early and make him cuddle with me until 6 lol  He seems pretty happy and energized still.  He does get a little sleep around 7 am if he refused to relax and cuddle and was up early.  He is meeting all of his milestones and has plenty of wet nappies.  But I will monitor this closely once he goes to my in laws.  As for gaining weight, he still seems to be growing ok.  He used to be just under the 50th percentile and now weighs about 20lbs which I think means he's dropped to around the 2oth or something.  But my sister told me that happens more as they are more active??

Thanks again

[Lolly]

I wouldn't give cows milk as a drink yet, but if you are putting formula in his cereal you can swap that for cow's milk. UK recs are that we can use cow's milk in cereal and cooking from 6 months (which is what I did for both kids) but formula/ BM only for drinks/ feeds until 1.

Have you posted on the sleep boards for help with the EWs - if not I'm know someone there will have some suggestions!

Laura

[Danielsmommy]

Thanks Laura, I might start putting cows milk in his cereal.  And will try posting tonight or tomorrow ont he NW board.  I think it is just because he is sleeping better than he used to and is rested earlier.  BUt he gets too cranky to push his bedtime to later lol.  I'll will ask though
thanks