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

[linussally]

I've just posted on the other thread about trying to put more milk in the bottle, so hopefully he can drink more from the bottle before the milk drains down to the plastic valve in the bottle.  I'm trying different things and hopefully SOMETHING will work.  I'll keep this extra hole in the teat in mind.  Thanks.

[Mjcoventry]

my 4 month old has been doing the same thing on and off since she was 3 months.  I worried to start with as she was a bit grumpy and was clearly hungry. Our Dr says its most likely teething. I've been quite successful in getting her to take the bottle after she sucks a chilled teething ring for a few minutes.  Sometimes she won't eat at all for hours, I offer her feed at her usual time and then try every 15 - 30 mins after her feed is due, eventually she will give in, its easier to do this than try and convince a willful one to eat on a schedule. Mostly she is just happy and cheerful and not hungry. I'm wondering if its a developmental stage if so many other babies are doing it at this age?

[odri]

I also have a 16 weeks old and has not been eating well. I changed his teat to level 2 on Dr. Brown's bottle and I switched him to 3.5 hours schedule but he didn't like how the last two feeds before bedtime were so close together and as a result, was refusing to take anything during DF. And he especially doesn't eat well at his first feeding in the morning.

His 3.5 hour schedule looks like this
E 7am
S 8:30am (1 hr nap)
E 10:30am
S 11:30am (2 hr nap)
E 2pm
S 3:30pm (catnap 0.5 hr)
E 5:15pm
S 5:30pm (catnap 0.5 hr)
E 7:30pm
S in bed by 8pm
DF at 10:30/11

I just moved him to 4 hours today. He was doing well for the first two naps and then it was all downhill from there.
He did a catnap from 4 - 4:30pm and then stayed up until his 7pm feed and went straight to bed after. I'm really worried about how he'll do for his DF today since he refused to take any for the past two nights. He was drinking 6 oz. per feed and total of about 30 oz a day.

[kerryt]

Hi all

Wow so many babies with the same issue, around the same age...

My LO is 20 weeks tomorrow and has been like this since around 2.5-3months. Some days are good, most days are bad but reading this thread has really given me hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel

[uzi]

Hi, my 5 month LO has stopped feeding all of a sudden. He weighs 17lb and has been eating fantastically until two weeks ago. He was on a 4 hour EASY, drinking 8oz each feed. I'm feeding with a syringe now as he will not take even an ounce all day in the bottle. He was breastfed until 4 months when he decided he didn't want it anymore and prefered the bottle. It takes me an hour to get two ounces down him as he refuses to swallow. He was eating in his sleep, but won't even do that anymore. Doctors have told me to ride it out, but i am at my witts end now as i have two other children whom i am homeschooling. I feel maybe where i have tried forcing him a few times, he has associated negative response to the feeding. He sucks his thumb like anything. How can i make him unlearn this response to feeding time?

[*Liz*]

This thread has become pretty inactive so I am going to lock it.

If you have any questions that relate please post a new topic on the board and we will try to help.

Liz