15 week old eating less and fussy at feeds?

[bossanovile]

Hi my DD has been strangely fussy at feeds particularly in the evening and abruptly drinking a lot less - she used to happily down 5oz every 3.5h or so (5 feeds) with only one or two night wakings per week around 4-5am (and would only take 3oz and we were pushing that feed to the 7am one)

Now she takes maybe 2oz to 4oz (if I'm lucky) every 3.5h and has never quite shown me hunger cues since she's always been on an EASY that seemed just right for her. She was a heavy gainer but now seems completely distracted, not hungry and feeding her is a panic between will she won't she scream.

Anyone has a similar experience with 3.5 month old firstly  decreasing their intake of formula?
Also - anyone experiencing a sudden change in feeding behaviour? She's usually SO consistent and peaceable!  the last 2 feeds are sometimes distressing and hellish where she screams and is unhappy to sit still or be propped in the usual manner. It got so bad last weekend she screamed till hoarse and we went to the hospital only to have her conk out in the ride to the car. 

She was diagnosed with supposedly silent reflux and is on Zantac and domperidone, I'm monitoring the dose but I highly doubt it's that to begin with and is fairly mild in my opinion (no problems being on her back/tummy/no longer spitting up or fussy AFTER feeds)

[Lolly]

Hmm - could be the reflux, fussy feeding and suddenly taking less at a feed are pretty classic symptoms.

What dose of zantac is she on and what weight is she now? It could be that she needs a med increase.

Have you tried her on a faster flow teat? That's an easy thing to try first, it could be the flow is too slow for her now which also leads to busy feeding and smaller feeds.

How are her naps? Being OT can also disrupt feeds.

Laura

[bossanovile]

Thought I should update this - I upped her Zantac dose and she hasn't had any screamy moments this week, but what puzzles me is the feed amounts. I think because we are transiting and faffing about on an awkward 3.5h schedule (7ish, 1030, 2, 515, 815 - i can't cluster any closer she refuses to take ANYTHING unless moderately hungry) that has me reducing feeds to 3oz at 515 just so she can take more at 815... It worked yesterday but today all she had at 5 and 8 was 3oz. The rest of the feeds were 4oz bottles and one 5oz one. I read that at 3.5 months some LOs feed less especially if they were heavy gainers early on (mine was! She's in the 100th percentile for weight and height!) but are not genetically 'big babies'. Also, some sites indicate that formula amounts drop in the 3rd month and/or taper off/stabilise. Alongside this is the whole distracted baby syndrome - where my irritatingly cute but vexing child smiles at me as milk streams down her chin!

I've decided that since she's reasonably playful/happy between feeds, isn't particularly hungry at 3.5h intervals but isn't ready for 4 (her WT is barely 1h40-45mins before she gets cranky) I'll just have to accept her feed amounts for now! Perhaps when she's actually on a 4h schedule I'll be able to get her to take more, and not have her wake for a large feed at night.

If anyone has similar experiences I'd love to hear when this phase sort of passed/if any, how you dealt with night wakings and is this changing feed pattern part of the infamous 4 month regression?

[julia.north]

So this is a really late reply but I thought I'll comment anyways as I am experiencing a similar thing!
My 15 week old little monster  has been behaving in a similar way (but he is EBF).
For 12 weeks or so, we had no problems at all, and then Sh*t hit the fan.
He only feeds for around 3 min or so, then comes off the breast - sometimes quiet and smily, sometimes screaming furiously. Often can't get him to take any more before a minimum of 1hour has passed. But then he is really hungry. Also has gone back to needing a night feed at around 4-5am (he didn't need one after the DF when he was still feeding properly).

I assume the feeding intervals are too short for now. I'll try to lengthen them and see what happens.
But it is really frustrating to have a screaming baby refusing to feed, I understand your pain! 
Just gets you so worried that something may be wrong...
I thought about reflux (but is not likely, as he takes a full feed when he is sleepy and does not have any problems afterwards) and nipple confusion (also unlikely, as he is only fed one bottle a day) ... in my case, it could also be OALD, as my milk is pouring quite quickly.
Did things improve on your side?