Baby won't take bottle's

[kiwibird27]

A little bit of background info

My daughter has a genetic disorder that took several months to diagose during this time due to chronic reflux she has been continuously feed both gastric and jejunally. She also had several weeks of vein feeding - during this time she sucked her dummy with vigor and has nothing physically wrong with her suck. When her gut finally repaired itself and she was able to be fed into her tummy we began slowly re-introducing bottles starting at 5mls, the continuous still needs to run due to blood sugar issues.

All was going well with thickener added, she was sucking well from a cross cut soft teat, then her refux worsened as she grew and it took a few weeks to up her dose of meds (LOSEC AND ZANTAC). She stopped taking bottles and this point and even now. I can't even coax her into sucking once. She doesn't get upset she just smiles at me and sticks her tongue out. We have been doing lots of oral stimulation and rubbing the lips etc to get a rooting relex, which has pretty much faded.

If she would take a bottle we could slowly get rid of the continuos NG feeds. Obviously we have a speech therapist who said just keep offering 3-4times a day, for 15 min, if she doesn't take it, don't stress.

She is 4 1/2 months old now - ANY IDEAS AT ALL??? I will try anything!!!! We are getting very close to needing a gastrostomy as she is getting too good at pulling out tubes!! They are looking at starting solids at 5 months - can babies just skip the whole drinking from a bottle thing sucessfully???? Disorder put aside she is now physically and mentally a "normal" baby and the reflux is totally under control.

[the pero clinic]

Dear Kiwibird27,

It is not unusual for bubs with significant reflux to experience some degree of feed refusal, but it can be frightening when they refuse to the point of needing tubes or gastrostomies!

It is good news that her reflux is now being managed and that she is not becoming distressed with the bottle. To return to oral feeding, you should discuss the use of a cup with your speech pathologist. While there would be some spills and dribbles, your bub can learn to suckle and drink from a cup at 4 months. As a new experience, she won’t have the same negative associations as with the bottle, and you can more easily pour small amounts into her mouth to elicit sucking and swallowing.

Also, your bub will probably have minimal motivation for oral feeds while she has continuous tube feeds, as she wouldn’t be experiencing typical hunger cycles.

You will need to discuss with your doctor and speech pathologist alternatives to oral feeds (such as cup drinking or even a spoon), and a plan to reduce the tube feeds (under close observation) for your baby girl to want or need to return to oral feeds.

the pero clinic