5 Month Old has cut down on most of her feeds - help!

[shilpa]

Hi there,

I am a first time poster with so many questions and I think they are all inter-related but I'll start here with whats troubling us at the moment. My LO is 5 months old and has been on 4 hour EASY for a while now. She generally doesn't cry for her food and so, I feed her 4 hourly and am still doing the dream feed. The last two days, she refuses to have more than 3oz or 4oz of milk for the 7am, 11am and 3pm feeds, no matter how long I spend trying (she was on 6oz for each of these feeds previously). She manages 8oz at her 7pm feed and for her dream feed at 11pm, she has 3oz or 4oz.  Yesterday, she slept through till 6:40am but the day before, she woke at 3.30am - I settled her and she went back to sleep, woke at 5:30am but again, not crying for food, just playing in her cot by herself.  This morning, she just about managed 3oz for her 7:00am feed. Shes now asleep (varies from 40 mins to 1 hour 40 mins!).  I am sure she is teething too and has been for a while.

Is it normal for her to drink this little and is there any way I can get her to have more? Is it all due to the teething? Should I be trying something different when trying to get her to drink her milk (not been a problem in the past, usually finishes in 10 mins)? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Shilpa, mum to Shreya

[Sarahboh]

Hello Shilpa,
Welcome to the website, I am sure you will find there are lots of people willing to help and answer questions. It is a great site! How is your little one acting after she drinks the bottle, does she seems satisified with the amount or is she seeming still hungry? It could be teething as the whole teething process can sometimes come and go, thus making it uncomfortable to drink out of the bottle. If you think it is related to her teething you could try rubbing a numbing gel on the gums a few minutes before you start the bottle or if she seems in pain possibly trying some tylenol (but you probably don't want to do this everyday).
What I would do is probably watch her for a few days, see if it changes back to her regular amount, if so it is probably is teething, if not I might rule out other things, for example at this age they really start paying attention to things around them thus they get "distracted" and thus drinking the bottle becomes way down on the list of exciting things. She possibly might also need a little bit longer between feeds, sometimes even 10 extra minutes make them hungry enough to take more milk. You might also want to check the flow of the nipple as sometimes if it too slow for her age, she may not want to work so much for it, thus getting a faster flow nipple might help.

I hope this helps a little. We all go through this, you are not alone, just be patient and she should go back to drinking her bottles again soon
sarah

[LŠuren]

Hi Shilpa welcome to the boards 

1.Try a faster flow teat if you think your LO is bored
2. t may be that your Lo wants to eat every 4.5hr like my DS has done since changing from 3hr EASY. Your 'E' time would look like; 0700/1130/1600/1900. Our 'E' time is currently; 0730/1200/1630/1930
3. If your Lo is teething rub her gums with teething gel before giving her the bottle.

If you are not sure follow your LO cues for a couple of days, I know it is very difficult when they don't cry for feed - Calum is the same.   What is she doing to let you 'know' she is finished?

HTH's

[shilpa]

Thanks so much for the helpful advice Sarah and Lauren.

I will try the teething gel and also a faster teat to see if that helps (shes currently on the number 3 from avent). She does drink a lot slower than normal when shes only having a few ounces and when she doesn't want anymore, she either pushes the bottle out with her hands and keeps doing this when I try and put it back in or when I put the bottle in, she just chews on the nipple and doesn't drink any milk - she does it so playfully you can't help but laugh along with her!

You're also right about the distraction - I usually feed her in a quiet place. If I had the TV on in the background or there are other people talking in the room, she wouldn't drink at all!

I will also try and stretch the feeds out as you both suggested - just to make sure she really is hungry.

I think this is a fantastic site and have been raving about it and the BW books to all friends and family.

Thanks again
Shilpa

[LŠuren]

Good luck and keep us informed.
Calum does the teat bitting when he is teething - just wait until she learns ping the milk all over the place, by pulling the bottle out with her mouth with her hands and still biting at the same time. 

[Sarahboh]

It might work if you feed her and when she stops, wait 10 minutes and offer the rest. Just a last thought I hope one of the things helps you out soon! sarah

[shilpa]

Thanks guys - the teething gel and stretching out the feeds seems to have helped today. Her last E time was 19:30 - I was wondering what time I should now do the dream feed? My DH usually does this at about 23:15 - 23:30 - is this too late? She does wake erratically, sometimes at 03:30, sometimes at 05:30 and sometimes at 06:30 but she never has a feed - shes just awake playing and goes back to sleep an hour later. Could this be because the dream feed is too late?

TIA
Shilpa

[LŠuren]

Do the dreamfeed between 10 -11pm, closer to 10pm.