I'm going insane with 3.5-mo hardly eating, HELP!

[bennybean]

He did have reflux as a baby, but it seems to have gotten better over time. 

[* Paula *]

Is he on meds for his reflux?

Is he teething?  Teething can cause reflux to flare up.

[bennybean]

He was on zantac but we weaned him off of that 2 months ago.  He isn't spitting up much anymore, just not interested in eating.

[* Paula *]

Could it be that the reflux is more silent?  My DD suffered with reflux, but very rarely spit up.

[bennybean]

The amount he has been eating has been getting even worse.  Yesterday he drank a total of 9oz during the day, and today he drank about 12oz.  He also was up every single night the last two nights.  I've been talking to the doctor and he says to watch his habits for a day or two, but I'm going to take him in tomorrow.  I'm thinking it's reflux, but I didn't know they could have it without the spitting up.  Even though my lo won't eat or sleep he is still such a happy little guy!

[* Paula *]

Huge hugs hun.  I hope you get some answers from the doctors.

Yes my DD had the silent reflux, what it is is that when they spit it up, they swallow it before it comes out.  I did not think my DD had reflux, but after watching her when I burped her, I could hear it come up and could see her swallow it.

Keep an eye on your lo after a feed, and see if you can see him swallowing it.  My DD would always scrunch her face up as I bet it tastes awful.

Please keep us posted on how things go 

[dshef]

Our 4 month old baby girl won't take more than 18-22 oz per day. She eats every 3-5 hours taking from 1.5 to 4 oz at a time.  She has reflux and is on prevacid.  She drinks neocate because she is allergic to milk and soy.  She is so very challenging to feed.  She is gassy and constipated.  She is over 14 lbs so she should be taking at least 28 oz a day.  Any ideas on ways to get her to feed better would be appreciated as each day is a struggle for us.  She does typically sleep for up to 5 hour stretches at night.  I do a dream feeding with her at midnight.  This is her best feeding of the day.  She is relaxed and drinks a full 4 oz. for me.  I wish she would do that during the day.

[* Paula *]

I don't know much about Prevacid, but is this one of the reflux meds that needs to be upped as their weight increases?

The fact that she is constipated could be the reason why she is not wanting to take much milk.  Is your lo on any medication to help with the constipation?

[amdemuth]

I had same problem with my 2 children.  I think itīs something between the 3 and 4 month stage where they go a bit loopy.  I tried figuring it out and always came up blank.  The good news is that they both pulled out of it by 4 months having 180ml every 4 hours ad nothing at night.  I know itīs very frustrating when they donīt feed well, but if theyīre like mine, theyīll sort themselves out.  Good Luck!

[campbellina]

Aside from our napping issues (posted in other board), this week has marked the start of our four-month old daughter stopping eating...  She is already 18lbs (bottlefed) and literally one day last week, seemed to decide to go on a 'diet' or something.  She had been steadily eating more and more, up to on 7oz bottle the week before last (on average 5.5oz per feed, every three hours) and now, she'll have one medium sized bottle (5oz) then a small one (3oz) followed by a large one (6oz).  She's also been very hard to get to sleep (for the night) since this started - prior to, she'd been sleeping through and waking when we did, at 7:00am (ish).  She's been 'whimpering' while falling asleep, sleeps for half an hour to forty minutes, then wakes again with a screech.

I finally lost my mind and burst into tears just half an hour ago when everything went pear-shaped.  She just wouldn't eat any more, so I put her in her crib where she eventually fell asleep (with some slightly weepy shushing on my part).

I've read through these posts and wonder if this is 'just' a developmental thing, or if its sudden onset indicates something else?

Any advice will be most welcome - thank you

[* Paula *]

Huge hugs, Im sorry you are going through such a rough time.

I am wondering do you think that your lo could be ready to move onto a 4 hour EASY?  Not wanting to eat at the 3 hour mark can definitely be a sign.

[robyn-h]

Hello there!  i'm glad to see that I'm not the only one experiencing this.  However, my son is 13 weeks (2 weeks early so more like 11 weeks) and has been cutting down his feeds for about 3 weeks now.  We had to switch him to soy formula 5 weeks ago and at first he loved it and was taking about 4 to 5 ounces per feed.  Now it's a struggle for him to take 3 or 4 per feed.  He is on a 3 hour easy and never actually seems hungry when it's time to feed him.  So I have been toying with the idea of switching him to a 4 hour easy.  But is it too early for him?  He has only gained a little over a pound in the last month (since middle of Feb)and is now 12lbs 2.5 ounces.  But he gained 5 lbs in the first 2 months.  So i'm worried that his weight gain is slowing down. 

He is also still not sleeping through the night yet.  He wakes up at about 3:30 or so for a feed but will only eat about 2 ounces or so.  I've been thinking about trying to cut out that feed, but wonder if he still needs it.  After I feed him, he will sleep til about 5, at which time usually his soother will help him sleep til about 6:30 or 7.

Any advice?

[* Paula *]

robyn-h,

Your lo may be ready to go 3.5 hours between feeds.  Might be worth a try and see if your lo takes any more per feed.

Also what size teat are you using?  Do you think your lo could be bored with the flow and ready to move to the next stage up?  Also might be worth a try.

[robyn-h]

I think you may be right, I was thinking of trying to increase the time between feeds.  I did change his nipple that he's using to the 3 month one, and so far so good!  But I think I will try to increase the time between feeds too and see how that goes!

Thank you!

[* Paula *]

Great I am pleased that the faster nippple is going better.

Good luck with increasing the time between feeds.  Keep us posted on how you get on.