DD not eating enough - any suggestions?

[Carys' mom]

Hi,

For the past few days, my dd hasn't been drinking enough formula - yesterday she only drank 17.75 oz total. I keep hearing that 18 oz is the bare minimum babies should drink. She's 7 months old this week, and I think it may be teething that's causing it. She acted like this when her first 2 teeth came through around 4.5 months of age. But the thing is, it seems to last so much longer with her than it's supposed to in the descriptions of teething that I've read. I'm worried she's not getting enough, but she refuses and bats the bottle away. Any ideas on what to do?? 

Thanks...

[mattandcindy]

Is it affecting her nighttime sleep or her naps?
If not I wouldn't worry about it. My dd does this on occasion. I always worry that she won't sleep at night, or won't nap but she does.
I think when they are teething (and some other odd times) they just don't eat as much. I stressed with it with dd and it didn't make a difference. If I forced it, she just spit it up anyway!
HTH

[NKmommy]

Hi Melanie,
I am sorry to hear about the bottle refusal.  We have dealt with the same issue since day 1 with nathan.  I agree with you that it is probably just temporary with teething.  While you are trying to ride it out, these are some things that we do just to make sure Nathan gets enough fluids.  We give him formula or pedialyte in a sippy cup.  For some reason, he sometimes refuses the bottle but will drink a bit from a cup.  We give him pieces of fruit in a baby safe feeder (not sure if you have one of those) just to get extra fluid in him.  We make baby smoothies with formula, ice, and fruit, and either spoon or straw feed it to baby.  Just recently, instead of giving him dry cereal, I will put it in a bowl with formula, and spoon feed it.  Have you tried bottle feeding with a distraction, like Baby Einstein?

Hope things get better, and that she pops her teeth soon!

[Carys' mom]

Thanks for your replies. These are great ideas. Today, she seems to be eating a lot better, so I'm crossing my fingers that everything's going back to normal.

Thanks!