started drinking less and spitting up

[Fudge]

My LO has just turned 4 months old and has started with a few problems in the last week.Firstly Shes not finishing her bottles,(whereas before,she always finished them),and she stiffens/arches her back, protests and spits up alot of milk afterwards.She was happily finishing 8 ounce bottles untill a few days ago,now can only manage 5-6 oz.I've been changing her from a 3 hour EASY to 3.5 hours and shes still on the 1st size teat because when I tried the next size a few weeks ago,she spluttered lots.
 The other problem is that after sleeping from 7.45pm till 7.20am for the last couple of months,shes begun to wake early for the last 2 nights,4.45am one night then 5.55am the next night.She drank 8 ounces at these 2 awakenings.
 Do you think this could be teething related,as shes dribbling and sucking her fingers a lot and seems generally more fussy lately during the day.

PS,shes started 'blowing raspberries' in the last few days,does anyone know if that means anything like tiredness?She does seem to do it after shes been up a while.

[Lucysmom]

Hi There -

When I saw the title of your message, I thought that probably your baby needs to be on the 4 hour EASY.  When it was time to stretch out her feeds, my dd stopped drinking the whole thing and spitting up.  I did switch to a faster flow nipple/teat and she was fine with it.  However, with you stating that she is protesting, arching her back, and stiffening, this makes me think that she might be experiencing some reflux.  I would advise checking out the colic, reflux, and crying board to see if your dd has any other symptoms of reflux.  It really could be that she needs to eat every 4 hours now and that she has some reflux.

I know that at some point babies' salivary glands kick in and they start drooling all over the place.  This usually coincides with them wanting to put everything in their mouth.  This is nature's way of protecting them from germs and yucky stuff on whatever they are putting in their mouth as the saliva washes it away.  It is possible that she is teething, but I would say not incredibly likely although I have heard of a few babies teething that early.  Her fussiness could be related to reflux or other tummy issues.  Just a thought.

I don't know if I have helped but I thought I'd give it a go.  I definitely would check out the colic, reflux, and crying board to see if reflux might be the issue.

Take care and congrats on your beautiful little girl! 

[* Paula *]

Hi,

I definitely agree with Lucysmom, it does sound like your lo may be ready to go onto the 4 hour EASY.  May be worth a try.  If your lo is not drinking as much as usual during the day, this could be the reason you are getting disturbed sleep and having to feed in the early hours of he morning. 

As for the arching back and stiffening - I would defintely post on the Colic/Reflux board to see if the ladies there may be able to help you.

Hope this helps, and let us know how you get on.

Paula x

[NKmommy]

Hi!  I agree with the other ladies.  It sounds like there could be more than one issue, but that reflux might be a problem.  The bobbing on and off the bottle, the backarching, the stiffening are all classic reflux signs.  Also, reflux tends to peak at around 4 mos old, so the timing works out. 

Can you try keeping her more upright during and after feeds?  Definitely mention it to the doctor - maybe the doc might have you try thickening bottles in the future to see if that helps.  Also, the doc might let you try to spot-treat with Mylanta to see if reflux pain is really the problem. 

Hang in there! 

[Fudge]

I noticed that the spitting up is only happening towards the end of the day,after her last 2 bottles and shes never had this problem before.Shes asleep now since 8pm and tomorrow,so I'll see how she if she wakes again early morning.I don't do a dream feed as shes never needed it since sleeping through the night.At the moment she has 5 bottles between waking up and 8pm but if I do the 4  hourly,she'll only get 4 bottles,should I do the dream feed then to get the extra calories into her?

[* Paula *]

You usually find that when they go onto the 4 hour EASY, that they start taking more oz in their bottles, and although they are taking less bottles, they will still be taking around the same amount of formula.

Try making up an extra oz or so in each bottle to see if your lo will take more.

HTH

Paula x