EAT > Bottle Feeding
8 month old refusing bottle
kenakit:
This issue has been plaguing me for almost two months, I am just an emotional and frustrated mess about it. My 8mo daughter resists her bottle now, it is an epic struggle every day to get 20oz in her. She drinks 1oz from her morning bottle and then refuses the rest of it. I try to feed the rest of the formula to her in oatmeal at breakfast but she's been refusing that lately, too. At every other feeding she'll take 3oz and then sharply turn her head away, like her mouth is in pain. I try to get her to take the rest and she just cries & resists me, pushing the bottle away. The other morning I resorted to giving her the rest of her bottle with an oral syringe, but she absolutely hated it and it only half-worked. She will take her 6oz dreamfeed bottle no problem, and sometimes will take a 6oz one flawlessly before bed. But the rest of the day is just HORRIBLE. She had been eating solids well until this Wednesday where she started disliking those, too, clamping her mouth shut when I bring the spoon up to her and wincing when I put the spoon in her mouth. She has been super fussy lately and on Monday cut her first tooth. I have tried Ibuprofen and infant oragel but it doesn't seem to make a difference when it comes to taking the bottle
Could this all be a really, really bad case of teething? She doesn't have a fever and is healthy, 20lbs and definitely not dehydrated. We even visited the doctor about this three weeks ago and they chalked it up to teething. My mother told me my brother & I were both very bad teethers, but I didn't know teething could be this awful. I'm trying to get her back on a 4hr EASY after months of just "winging it", but I'm worried about continuing a schedule with her if she is taking so little from her bottle. I just feel like everything is a mess, the other mothers I know from church who do EASY never had bad teethers so they really didn't have any advice for me.
Maybe somebody here has input on this? I would so, so, so, so appreciate it!
Kendra
*Kara*:
Hugs Kendra! We have the exact same issues here. Bad teething for sure. Meds make little difference to DD's eating some days. I know how scary and frustrating it can be... all I can really say is that she won't starve ;) Try not to stress about it yourself, she will sense it and only makes things worse for both of you. There are days that I feel like I have a newborn all over again because I give her 8 or so bottles since she won't take much at any one time! It annoys her that I offer it that often but there really isn't another choice some days.
And, there are days that I will even feed to sleep if need be. I find that sitting in her room right before a nap, in the dark, will calm her enough to get her to take a few more ozs.
Know that you are not alone! Incidentally, mine took 1 oz of her bottle this morning and has refused the rest. Gonna try again soon ;)
kenakit:
Kara, thank you so much for your input! Seriously, just knowing that there are other moms in the same boat eases my heart.
I will definitely try feeding her in a darkened room right before nap more often, that seems to have worked well in the past for us, too. I've been going nuts trying to keep her on a typical EASY routine, but I think right now where we are I'll need to offer her a bottle when she gets up and before she goes to bed, she doesn't seem to have issues putting herself to sleep even if I feed her to sleep a couple times a day.
Again, thank you! Totally appreciate you sharing your experience :)
Kendra
billysmummy:
HI,
We are having the same problem with our 8.5mo. Doing great with solids. Was on 4 bottles a day - generally taking 200-220ml in morning (rest on cereal), then around 120-180 for other three. Self reduced milk from lunch feed (11-11.30ish) and then little interest in milk at 3. So, a week or so ago I dropped the milk at the lunch feed, thinking she would then take more at 3pm. Didn't really change anything??
She eats her solids very well, in fact, gets cranky if we don't get them in quick enough. Am wondering if I am giving her too much. I guess its around 100g on average. Sometimes a little more. Eating a huge variety of veg, fruit and protein so no worries there.
She has been up 2 of the last 3 nights, quite unsettled. Assumed teething. Used Ibuprofen. Still unsettled an hour later. In the end I have offered a small bottle and both times she took it all (90ml first time - then settled for the night, 150ml second time, settled for an hour then back up again).
Generally, she is a very easy, contented baby. Day sleeps are good. Nights are 7 to 7 or thereabouts. Has been a bit off colour of late. Blamed teething to start and also has a cold requiring antibiotics which wouldn't help.
So, I am wondering if
1. that's too much solids (1 x weetbix, and 2x 100-150g veg etc), thus affecting milk intake?
2. should I re-introduce the lunchtime milk?
3. is it just due to teething?
After reading the above posts, maybe it is just teething. My DS is only 2.5 but I can't remember when we swapped his feeds around, let alone what happened with his initial teething!!
Any feedback appreciated. Meanwhile, off to bed in case I am up again all night!!
*Kara*:
How is it going Kendra?
My DD has been cleared by the doctor but she is getting worse :( I don't know what to do anymore... I am crying every time I think about feeding her... it's just so heart wrenching.
Billysmummy - I would cut back a bit on the solids if she is taking less than 20 ozs a day.
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