trouble with feeding

[noreha]

Howdy all, your help would be appreciated. Our son has taken to refusing the bottle, he was never a large feeder, we have had troubles with bottles from day one (due to various reasons he was never breast-fed), he never has a big appetite. We have only really had success when he was extremely tired and would fall asleep halfway through, he would do the rest on auto-pilot. We are beginning to get a little worried as he is now 8 months old, about 7kgs (I think) and would struggle to have 450 to 600 ml a day, we are trying to get him to eat either farax or weetbix in the morning, yoghurt in the early arvo, and vegies/meat & yoghurt in the evening before putting him down for the night.

He is still a content child, not quite crawling yet (he tends to roll where he wants go), and is becoming a hell of a talker.

Any solutions/advice? We have tried several different teats to no avail and mum and I are feeling a little bit inadequate as parents (yes this is our first child :D )

Thank you in advance for any responses.

[the_queen]

Hi Noreha,
My daughter was bottlefed from 15 weeks old (after her cleft lip repair surgery, she wouldn't breastfeed anymore) and was perfectly happy taking the bottle - until about 9 months old, when she just refused to drink her bottles anymore!! She was not walking yet, but was crawling around. She was eating 3 meals a day (B:weetbix plus fruit, L:yogurt plus some veges, and D:meat plus veges); I'd put them on her highchair tray plus her bottle and she'd pretty much feed herself (not that I didn't try to feed her, she was just very independant from an early age!) and then drink her bottle herself. But one day, she just didn't drink any bottles. After dinner that day, I realised I'd poured 3 full bottles of formula straight down the sink.... So the next day I just didn't make any up, and she didn't "ask" for them, or seem to need them! I asked her doctor about her nutritional needs, and he said to increase her cheese/yogurt/cows milk intake if I was worried. So I started giving her some chunks of cheese with lunch, and I started cooking more food in general for her (more finger food type veges eg steamed whole green beans, steamed carrot sticks, really well-done steamed broccoli florets etc) She never had formula again!! If you're really worried, see your doctor or child health nurse person, but in general if he seems fine, he probably is fine! I thought 9 months was waaay too early to stop having formula, but my doc (he's quite pro-breastfeeding) said that formula companies don't want you stop early, because then you stop buying their product!

Anyway, hope I've been some help! Good luck with your little man, and :D isn't that cute when they roll everywhere!! Vallerie did that for a while before she started walking too. And the talking! Mine never shuts up now LOL....!!!

[Chickadee]

Yep. Increase other forms of dairy (though there are some cautions I think if you have lactose intolerance in your family, not sure on this).

Use formula to make up his farex or other cereals. Or use formula to make custards or rice puddings for him.

I saw another member had a recipe for a white sauce which used quite a bit of formula, you might have a search for that.

Also, he's probably old enough to switch from bottle to cup and might drink more that way. Don't invest too much in cups, there may be a bit of trial and error to find one he likes. Straw cups are a bit easier to get the hang of than no-spill cups which usually need quite a strong suction to make work. We started with Playtex no-spill cups but I had to take out the "no-spill" part so that DD could figure out that she could drink from it. Or just try a cheap plain plastic cup that he can sip from like an adult would (plastic ones are good as you can squeeze and deform them a bit to make a smaller "spout" for bub to sip from).

[rebeccamum]

Hi, I'm having the same problem with my DD as well. She's been bottle-fed pretty much since birth (I BF for about 4wks but still needed to give complementary formula all the way) and took bottles quite well. Last week she suddenly became very difficult with feeding (she always was due to reflux but that was solved) and didn't seem very interested to drink. She never is a big eater, drinks only about 90ml or 120ml when sleeps very long. She's gaining weight ok and a happy little girl. She is 13 weeks old and weights 5.5kg which I think it's pretty good.

I know a lot people say it's ok as long as bub's happy but my problem is she doesn't want to drink even if she's hungry. It takes a lot of energy and time to successfully feed her and I'm getting weary. She fusses and cries, turns her head from side to side even if the teat is already in her mouth she still won't suck. The only time when feeding isn't too chaotic is when she's very sleepy or alseep, but she still doesn't drink a lot.

What can I do about it? I can't give her solids to substitute and BM/formula should be her main food as we all know. Can she get bored of her formula? Is it just a phase or growth spurt?

[cwsmum]

Hi rebeccamum
I was gonna suggest the Avent spout thingy too. They have one for bubs from 3mths old, the white one, then there is a green one for bubs from 6mths old.
I emailed avent a while ago for some info on some of their products and they sent me a brochure and also one of the white spouts, along with a few other things. It all arrived about 2 weeks after I emailed them :)

[reAllytee]

noreha - Try not to stress too much easier said than done i know heh but my bubs often goes through stages where im lucky to get 100mls into him for the entire day ! Drove me batty ! But then i realised he was ok & spoke with my CHN who said he would drink if he was thirsty as they never go without. But of course keep an eye out for bubs getting lethargic etc you will know if bubs isnt his normal self.
As everyone has said just keep up with using formula to make up his cereal at brekky & anything else that requires it eg. custard this will give him some added extra as well as offering yoghurt & cheese as you have been doing as it seems your doing exceptionally well !
rebeccamum - I often find my bubs is worse when he is teething or hot maybe bubs isnt happy due to this or i saw TanUch talk about reflux maybe this may be a problem also. My bubs has had trouble with reflux & while ive had it pretty easy compared to others there were days & still a few every now & then i want to scream ! Im with TanUch saying id give new teats a try or even formula im actually going to look into this as even though bubs has been fine on his formula since summer hit he really has started to reject it more so which will come from me as im not lactose intolerant but get queasy when i drink milk so this time im going to look into soy based. But maybe if you try a few more things before changing formula then if you have tried all those avenues you not changing bubs willy nilly.
Good luck girls hopefully all settles down for you soon

[Ky]

It sounds like you are doing everything right!

Every child is different and some just take to solid food over liquid earlier than others. Both of my kids refused to have bottles at around 11/12 months old and I didn't push them to have them. As long as their intake of dairy is adequate (and you can make a heap of food with a formula base!) then there should be no problem. Make sure that you keep fluids up ... this can be water, fruit gels, jellies, dilute fruit juice etc. Putting bub in the highchair with ice cubes to play with and suck on is another great way to get fluids into them!

Try a straw cup ... this will get bub used to one so that if you are ever out and run out of fluids, your bub will drink happily through a straw (both of mine were at 4 months!). Babies R Us has a cheap "disposable" (haven't disposed of one yet!) cup with a sipper lid that is really easy to use. It has no valve, the fluids run freely when it is being sucked on and yet at the same time it is almost non-spill when tipped up ... it will only leak when shaken vigorously.

Keep up the great work!

[Chickadee]

Rebeccasmum/Ying - Your bub is around 4 months old right? This is an age when they are becoming much more aware and interested in their surroundings, and alot of mums report having problems with feeding. Bubs who breastfeed in particular are on and off the boob & constantly distracted. Bottlefed bubs don't always do this, because it's easier to give them a view of things while feeding. So in addition to trying other teats or bottles, you might take a look at where and how you are feeding bub. If you are holding her close and cuddled in, perhaps try holding her more so she can see the world while drinking. Or maybe the opposite, you could try feeding in a quiet darkened room with few distractions. I started a bad habit of feeding in front of the tv, and DD would watch tv and drink contendly, but she's also now a tv addict (at 2years) so I'm not sure I recommend it! :rolleyes:

[rebeccamum]

TanUch, long time no see :D Nope, didn't try the anti-reflux formula (was very temped but DH didnt agree oh well) her reflux is so much better so I'm not concerned about changing formula. I bought a couple of cheap teats from Vietnamese chemist yesterday, $1.70 each!!! They fit Avent wide neck bottles and I thought if they didn't work out I could just throw them away. The teats are softer than Avent, cross-cut (good for our situation as we spill the milk everywhere when DD keeps turning her head madly), and have pointier tips. They don't make much difference so I don't think it's bottles/teats problem.

TanUch/cwsmum, can a 3 month old use a training cup? I didn't think of it because I didn't know if DD can grasp or hold a cup yet. :confused:

MarthaM, yes she's turning 14 weeks next week and she's been showing great interest to everything around her lately (smiles and babbles alot at the moment too). I was suspecting she could be distracted and that explains why the feeding is ok when she's asleep or sleepy. I lie her down in her cot to feed (very bad for my back) or sit her in a bouncing chair. I can't hold her close and cuddle in (except at night when she's sooo sleepy) due to her reflux - she'd arch her back and scream like crazy everytime we try that. I have to avoid making eyes contact while feeding because she looks into my eyes, gives me the sweetest smile of all, starts babbling, and stops sucking! I think this feeding problem may be nothing but herself? If I try to give her a bottle when she's cranky (even if she's hugnry too), she won't take it unless she's calm down and ready to sleep.

noreha, I'm so sorry for hijacking your original post, I just thought my questions are similar and relevant to yours so wanted to share my experience here. If you prefer me to post my questions in a new thread, I'm happy to do so :) Anyway, good luck with your little one. Looks to me he sounds a bit like my DD :D