Refusing morning bottle

[Eva's Mummy]

My 4 month old used to take 8oz for her first bottle, now she will only take about 4oz. She will eventually take the rest if i give her a 30 min break but this then puts her off her next bottle.

She takes a bottle every 3hrs 45mins the usually between 6-8oz and she has a drean feed where she takes about 6oz aswell

[Buttonbobs]

All LOs are different of course, but my DD always did this when she was ready to drop or reduce one ofthe other bottles or stretch times between bottles. How old is your LO?

[Eva's Mummy]

she is 4 months old x

[Buttonbobs]

It is around this time the transition to 4 hour EASY takes place. I see that you have already moved from 3 hour, so it may just be that she's ready for another time increase between bottles. I found when we did this, and dropped one of the daytime bottles later in the day (I think) then she upped her intake again. Even though E was having fewer bottles overall, her intake was pretty much the same over the day. What do you think?

My other thought was that the DF might be affecting things, but she's still young to go without a NF so I think stretching the daytime feeds might be the way to go.

[Eva's Mummy]

she is only having 4 bottles a day and a DF. But maybe spacing them out to 4 hes will help, i did wonder about the DF wasn't sure if i should reduce the amount but then don't know if shell sleep through the night without it x

[Buttonbobs]

Personally I would try the 4 hourly feeds first & only look to reducing the DF if that doesn't work. You don't really want to remove/reduce the DF until your little one is weaned and on three solid meals a day. Let me know how you get on.

[*Kara*]

Just popping on to back up all that Naomi has said   Does sound like she is ready to move to 4 hrly feeds.  And I wouldn't change the DF at all at this age.. she would likely just wake for a NF

[Eva's Mummy]

I'm back i have been feeding my LO every 4 hours now but she still wont take her first bottle till she has been awake for at least an hour or more which then means we run out fo time and ashe now won't take her bedtime bottle, she basically take 3 bottles and maybe 2oz at bedtime then her dreamfeed. Is this ok or should she be having more. She takes about 6oz usually.

[Buttonbobs]

Sorry to hear the suggestion to stretch time between feeds hasn't improved the first feed for you. Is there anything else that could be affecting her willingness to feed, e.g. Could it be you need to increase the flow rate of the bottle teat, or are you giving her any solid food at all?

Other than this, have you tried offering the first bottle shortly after waking and then not offering it an hour later even if she hasn't taken much...and then leaving the four hours. She may catch up again later in the day and then re-set to an earlier feeding time. Kara, do you think it might be ok to do this?

It seems from your post that she is taking about 24oz over the course of 24 hours, it is possibly a little low, but depends on the weight of your LO.

I'm sure Kara will have some better advice but if that is all your LO will take and she is happy and healthy and gaining weight nicely then it may just be all she needs. Some of my IRL friends had babies who never fed as much as the recommended guidance amounts. Hugs x

[*Kara*]

Any chance she is teething?

Could it have been that she was actually in that 4 month growth spurt when she was taking loads of milk and has now just settled down again?

And same questions as Naomi - any solids introduced?  What size teat are you using?  how is she when she does eat?  Is she happy or is she resisting a bit?

[Eva's Mummy]

I think she might be teething but i am giving her bonjela and nurofen if i think it is upsetting her, no sign of any teeth though but she is dribbling alot and chewing on everything.


She has always been a good eater and was taking 7oz at every feed, now she is happy at the beginning but after a few oz she is resisting.

I use Dr Brown bottles and have been using level 3 teats for quite a while (the level 4 drown her), maybe i should move back down a level?

She has started solids but only a couple of spoonfulls of porride, funnily enough it's the bottle right after that that she always takes no problem and finishes completely.

Last night she refused her bedtime bottle but tool all 7oz at her DF, which i had to move forward to 9:30 as i could hear hwe waking up sucking like a mad woman. then she woke and 1 1/2 hours earlier than usual this morning.

[Lolly]

How is her reflux at the moment? Neither of my kids were keen on the first bottle before their reflux was under control and both would eat better as the day progressed. I know if my stomach is playing up (reflux symptoms here too ) I'm not hungry until mid morning at the earliest - I think it's the acid from lying down all night.

Taking a couple  of oz happily and then refusing/ fussing is pretty typical reflux behaviour, especially if you are leaving a good interval between bottles and she *should* be hungry. The bottle she takes well after the solids feed could be because she is refluxing less because the solids help to keep the milk down so she feels better by the next feed.

Laura

[Buttonbobs]

Ah yes, Laura good point, if my DD's reflux was playing up she would always eat better as the day progressed!

[Eva's Mummy]

ah right ok, i think i need to go back to the docs to see about her reflux as she seems to have put in alot of weight and i know the meds are weight related, so she might need to increase them.

I didn't even think of that, she has started rolling onto her tummy and she is sick every time she does it, is this normal or could that also be the reflux 

[Lolly]

I didn't even think of that, she has started rolling onto her tummy and she is sick every time she does it, is this normal or could that also be the reflux 

Pretty normal for refluxers - especially if it's fairly soon after a feed!

Ranitidine is very weight sensitive so it's worth checking - if she isn't on the full 4mg per kg it may be that she needs her dose upping to that level too. Ranitidine can become less effective as they get used to it too so you could discuss trialing a different class of drug (a PPI like omeprazole/ losec) with your Dr too.

Laura