Is he bored with his bottles?

[joni]

Hello, my 3-mth-old LO has never been a big eater. He is on a 4-hr feeding schedule (not hungry before then) and usually takes about 550 - 600 ml (uh, approx 18 - 20 oz?) in a day. Since last week, however, he's only taking about 450 ml per day.  This is approximately the same amount he was eating when he was 1 month old!  

This is what I've noted:
- He doesn't have reflux (or at least, he has no such symptoms)
- He doesn't show much enthusiasm for the bottle anymore. When he starts wailing for it, meaning that he is REALLY hungry (which he does less nowadays), he only takes a max of 100-110 ml (about 3.5 oz)
- He doesn't fuss at the bottle either, he just sucks and sucks, and then stops. If I try to insist, he starts crying
- He has been drooling quite a bit, but I don't see any signs of teething (no hand biting although he likes to suck his fingers, can't feel anything popping through the gums, no nappy rash that he didn't already have...)
- I've tried changing the teats...no effect
- I've tried varying the temperature of his bottle, thinking that maybe he has a preference (slightly hotter/cooler)
- I've tried burping him more often, in case it is gas that is making him feel full
- He does like drinking water, so I tried giving him a more liquid milk (the milk that we use is a "thickened" version)
- His doctor doesn't even want to listen to me coz LO has been putting on weight (even though I pointed out that this whole eating episode started after his last checkup a week ago, so he could have LOST weight since then)
- I don't remember what else..... 

Well, none of the above have worked. Since he doesn't appear sick, and I must say that he is a happy and smiling baby who babbles A LOT, my only conclusion is that he is bored with his bottles. However, according to what I've read, 450 ml per day is really insufficient for a baby's nutritional needs. And since he's only 3 months, it's too early to diversify.

Does anyone have any idea on what I can do? This is really stressing me out... 

[joni]

Oh, I forgot to add: I have considered whether he could be allergic or intolerant to cow's milk (I had a slight intolerance when I was a wee kiddy, which didn't prevent me from eating my bottles according to my mom LOL). But I don't see any obvious signs of intolerance and his doctor, being the typical doctor, has declared that he CANNOT possibly be allergic or intolerant as he is doing *so well* (read: no rashes or symptoms, and smiling all the time).   

Can a LO develop an allergy/intolerance without having any symptoms? 

[shimzy]

Hi there! {big big hugs} I am not an expert (just wanted to say)

I had gone through the same thing with my daugher, only she was only 7 wks at the time. She was absolutely bored to tears with her bottles. One moderator suggested upping the teat size, and sure enough we are back in action! My daugher weighs just over 11lbs and only takes about 20ish ounces each day (should be 27oz according to charts) but seems otherwise happy with what she's eating.

I too have been looking up whether my daugher would suffer from reflux or something of the sort but since her symptoms are so vague I was holding off taking her to the doc. What Ive found and been told is if baby is otherwise happy, leave well enough alone.

I hope that helps some. 

[SallyDom]

My little one seemed to go through the same thing and I decided he was bored with milk. He would go upto 6 hours and still not cry for a bottle, I was so stressed. I said this my friend and she looked at me as if I was mad and said "you what, a baby can't get bored of milk" I felt quite silly for saying it so am glad you wrote this.
I was quite lucky in that it started with Dominic at about 21 weeks so I stuck it out until almost 24 weeks and then started feeding him. I know milk is more important but I figured if he wasn't drinking much then it was good for him to be getting some calories from food.
It was quite strange cos I expected to start feeding Dom when he was always hungry and waking in the night etc. not when he was never hungry!
Hope it passes soon for you, maybe you just have a baby that isn't a big eater. As long as he is happy and healthy and isn't losing weight I suppose there's nothing to worry about!
Let us know how you get on
Sal

[LŠuren]

joni

Can you post your current routine and amounts of formula?

what happened when you increase the teat flow?

3 - 4 months is a fairly 'exciting' time for LO because they start to realise they have hands, etc...

[yaya]

joni, we also had very similar probs with DS and he has both reflux and lactose intollerance and presented NONE of the usual symptoms (well some yes but hardly noticeable). An endoscopy later revealed he had pretty severe reflux and the lactose intollerance was due to gastroentiritis. Ped also suggest that DS must have a pretty high pain threshold, which now I can see is true as he hardly ever cries from pain.

[yaya]

meant to add that in the end he did get bored with bottles (is to this day) as they were such a bad experience for him

[joni]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with an LO who seems bored with his milk! 

Ever since LO started daycare fulltime, his routine has pretty much gone out of the window coz I just can't get his nanny to follow his nap (and therefore, feeding) times. But generally, he feeds at 0700 - 1100 - 1500 - 1900 + df. When at home, I put him down for his naps between 1h30 and 1h45 after his feed, or since his last wake-up time if he's had 45 min naps. With his nanny, well, the most I can get her to do is to make sure he has at least a 45 min nap between bottles.

He is given 150 ml (5 oz) bottles for each feed, with 2 tsps of cereal in his df bottle (per his doc's advice) which allows him to go through the night w/o feeding. The amount he actually eats, well, can vary between 60 ml (2 oz) to 110 ml (slightly less than 4 oz).   

Calum's mum - I pretty much already use the fastest flowing teats I can without LO choking on his bottles. If he wants, he can down his 110 ml in just a few minutes. Anyways, so when I tried even faster teats, uh, the milk just spilled out of his mouth.   

Sallydom - I think your friend was absolutely wrong about babies not getting bored with milk! The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that LO is BORED stiff with his bottles.

Yaya - what were the few symptoms that your DS showed?

[yaya]

well to start with he just 'went off' milk, slowly and gradually. then he used to cry if I insisted. He also had what we thought was eczma on his face (lactose intollerance) but it wasnt awful so i thought it was due to the cold. He didnt used to spit up often and when he did it was a long tiem after bottle (symptom of relfux). Basically the only symptom he had was not wanting to eat, before he was admitted to hospital he went 2 days withotu eating a thing and was totally dehydrated before anyone took any notice of me, i hear them now "oh he'll eat when he's hungry"! When he did eat it was only a few oz

[joni]

Gosh, Yaya, that is scaring me. 
LO also cries when I try to insist he eat a little more. He also has some eczema on his face although I've always thought that was just because he was smearing his drool all over his face while trying to suck his fingers.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have to wait until he goes without eating before this problem gets resolved!
Hope your little man is doing much better now!

[yaya]

sorry! didnt mean to scare you! DS is much better thank u, once on reflux meds and lactose free milk it was sorted! He now has diary products too and is fine. My advice would be to keep a close eye on LO and write down amounts that he eats every day ( i still do this ) so that if need be, they can trace back to how much he was eating. BTW DS never really lost much weight, only a bit when he was dehydrated and I was told that reflux babies have the ability to assimilate food ery quickly so its a false believe that they r thin! see pics of mine, he's huge! I'm sure u don'thave anything to worry about but just remember that u see ur son every day, docs dont so ur the one who knows him best and, trust your insticts, if u think he's not well, or behavign differentlt, maybe somethings up! HTH