3month old not taking her bottle

dubontour1

Hi,

Just wondering has anyone else had the same issue. Our 3month old daughter has been refusing feeds the past 3weeks. She gets really really upset when the bottle goes into her mouth. When it first started I was lucky to get 30-60mls into her in a 24hr period. I have changed her formula and her bottles and she now takes 80-110 per feed. She still is very fussy though and feeding time is a real battle with her. She is generally unsettled in herself as well. She was a very happy baby that only cried when there was something wrong now she cries an awful lot more. Also she used to sleep from half 7-4 or 5 and then feed and go back until 8or 9. She now wakes every 3 hours and when she does sleep she is very restless.

I have brought her to the doctors and they say not to worry as she is not losing weight. I also brought her to the midwives in the early childhood centre and they where unhelpful to say the least. They basically told me I was making it up as my daughter has a double chin and fat on her thighs, they quickly changed their minds when they witnessed a feed. I asked them could she be teething and this has caused her not to want a feed because you can see white tips in her gums, she's dribbling a lot and when I put my finger in her mouth she bites down really hard and she seems to really enjoy it but they told me she's too young to start teething.

I really don't know what else to try. All help would be greatly appreciated.

wmpdd3

Mine were both teething at 127 weeks, on my first I felt so bad as I had to give her calpol every 4hrs for 3 days as well as bongella. So much for a drug free baby hood!
Could it be trapped wind too? Is everything worse during the evening when wind builds up from feeding during the day?
my daughter was way under weight according to the charts and olny taking an oz at a time but had rolls of fat around her wrists. She had weekly weigh instead until she was at the bottom of the charts.
is the baby happy in the car seat? If not it could be wind, but if they love the car seat it could be reflux. The only good thing is, at 14 weeks most of the problems above go so you might be at the end of it.
I'm sorry it seems to be a case of trial and error.
If the trouble was only for a few days, you'd think it might be a sore throat.
Did the midwives check for thrush in the mouth?

dubontour1

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Mine were both teething at 127 weeks, on my first I felt so bad as I had to give her calpol every 4hrs for 3 days as well as bongella. So much for a drug free baby hood!
Could it be trapped wind too? Is everything worse during the evening when wind builds up from feeding during the day?
my daughter was way under weight according to the charts and olny taking an oz at a time but had rolls of fat around her wrists. She had weekly weigh instead until she was at the bottom of the charts.
is the baby happy in the car seat? If not it could be wind, but if they love the car seat it could be reflux. The only good thing is, at 14 weeks most of the problems above go so you might be at the end of it.
I'm sorry it seems to be a case of trial and error.
If the trouble was only for a few days, you'd think it might be a sore throat.
Did the midwives check for thrush in the mouth?

Thanks for the reply.

No it's not trapped wind, she had that when she was two weeks old and since that I give her wind drops with every feed and she's great at getting it up.

I don't think it's thrush because ders no white coating on her tongue plus the doctors and midwives looked into her mouth so I presume they would of said.

Yea she loves the car seat but don't think it's reflux because she loves lying flat on her mat, if it was wouldn't it be painful for her to do that?

She's 14 weeks now so hopefully it'll pass just really worried because nothing I do seems to work and she's so unsettled the poor little thing.

Maggie 2

I would think she's teething. You could try her on some solids, Baby porridge, very wet, even though she's a bit young. You could also try a soya based formula, no dairy.

dubontour1

Maggie 2 wrote: »

I would think she's teething. You could try her on some solids, Baby porridge, very wet, even though she's a bit young. You could also try a soya based formula, no dairy.

Thanks I'll try the formula. I tried giving her solids but she was having none of it. She Jst kept spitting it out.

Suucee

My lil one (now 5 months) started that from 4 weeks but her problem was wind so we gave her gripe water and then We switched to Dr brown bottles and didnt need to give gripe water any more. It then started again when teething. We also changed the bottle teeths to a faster flowing teeth. When we moved onto solids she did settle more (as she was fuller) but we still have an awful battle getting enough milk into her. Do you heat the bottles. I didnt in the beggining but then started as i found it did help a bit.

I would say in your case it probably is teething. I dont think she's too young. In fact when i brought my daughter for her 3 month check i mentioned it to my phn and she agreed with me. She cut her first tooth at 19 weeks and her second yesterday. Try a faster flowing teeth as she wont have to suck as much. I got an amber bracelet for teething and find it very good and also use teetha gel and granuales when needed. Hopefully this will work. I know how frustrating it can get when they wont drink.

dubontour1

Suucee wrote: »

My lil one (now 5 months) started that from 4 weeks but her problem was wind so we gave her gripe water and then We switched to Dr brown bottles and didnt need to give gripe water any more. It then started again when teething. We also changed the bottle teeths to a faster flowing teeth. When we moved onto solids she did settle more (as she was fuller) but we still have an awful battle getting enough milk into her. Do you heat the bottles. I didnt in the beggining but then started as i found it did help a bit.

I would say in your case it probably is teething. I dont think she's too young. In fact when i brought my daughter for her 3 month check i mentioned it to my phn and she agreed with me. She cut her first tooth at 19 weeks and her second yesterday. Try a faster flowing teeth as she wont have to suck as much. I got an amber bracelet for teething and find it very good and also use teetha gel and granuales when needed. Hopefully this will work. I know how frustrating it can get when they wont drink.

I have her on the medium flow teat the fast flow makes her cough so cannot use it.

I've heard about the amber bracelet what is it??

I asked the midwife could I start her on solids because shes not eating enough but she told me I can't until she's 6 months.

We're in Australia at the minute and the after care here is awful. They are so unhelpful! When I went about her not drinking her bottles they asked me was there domestic violence in the house!! I asked her what that had to do with my child not taking her milk and she couldn't answer me, she then did a depression scale on me!! I really don't know where else I can bring her I've seen 4 people now and none of them where any use.

Suucee

dubontour1 wrote: »

I have her on the medium flow teat the fast flow makes her cough so cannot use it.

I've heard about the amber bracelet what is it??

I asked the midwife could I start her on solids because shes not eating enough but she told me I can't until she's 6 months.

We're in Australia at the minute and the after care here is awful. They are so unhelpful! When I went about her not drinking her bottles they asked me was there domestic violence in the house!! I asked her what that had to do with my child not taking her milk and she couldn't answer me, she then did a depression scale on me!! I really don't know where else I can bring her I've seen 4 people now and none of them where any use.

Ah thats awful. Yea at 15 weeks fast flow is probably too fast .
The amber bracelet or necklace is very good. What ever is in the amber helps them. I seen it on another forum here and got it. Try some teetha or calpol if you can get it there. 6 months before starting to spoon feed?. I know every baby is different but i thought 4 months for bottle fed babies and 6 months for breast fed babies. I actually started at 3 months and my phn was fine with this and my daughter loves her food. It really helped settle her more but did in fact make it harder to get milk into her.
I dont really know what else you can do really. As i said my LO is the same even now but at least i have the reassurance that she is not hungry. I tried 3 different types of teats, 3 types of milk, 5 types of bottles and nothing worked for me. But thankfully i have a great phn and doctor giving me helpful advise and assuring me my daughter is fine.

pwurple

What kind of midwife says a child is too young to be teething at 12 weeks? Utter Nonsense. Children can be born with a tooth. My own had her front lower teeth by 8 weeks.

Now, it may not be teething, they do start to drool a LOT at 12-16 weeks. Salivary glands kick in full whack at that time, and they don't figure out how to swallow all of it for another while.

Don't be too worried about getting the same amounts of milk into her all the time. Babies go through hungry growth spurts, and go through patches of less appetitie. If she isn't losing weight, and has wet nappies, just go with the flow.

You can't force it anyway. Feed her smaller amounts more often for a while and see how you go.

And be wary of people selling something a child can easily choke on as a teething aid (amber beads). Dangerous mumbo jumbo, these are banned in several countries.

Suucee

pwurple wrote: »

And be wary of people selling something a child can easily choke on as a teething aid (amber beads). Dangerous mumbo jumbo, these are banned in several countries.

I've seen your posts on another forum regarding amber beads and get that you dont agree with it. Each to their own.

Op i wouldnt say they are a choking hazard. We put it on our daughters ankle under her sock.

pwurple

Suucee wrote: »

I've seen your posts on another forum regarding amber beads and get that you dont agree with it. Each to their own.

Op i wouldnt say they are a choking hazard. We put it on our daughters ankle under her sock.

Sock-on's are not advised for use when a child is sleeping as they restrict a babies circulation, an ankle bracelet is likey to do the same. Plus, OP is in Australia. That is one of the countries the beads are removed from sale as far as I know.

The domestic violence thing seems a bit much alright OP. But if the baby is not losing weight, and is taking 80-110 ml per feed, has no temp, the health workers are probably thinking.... there's nothing wrong with the baby, is the mum ok. Now, don't get me wrong, you know if she is out of sorts, but babies patterns change all the time as they grow. They eat more, they eat less. They are humans, we have hungry days and not so hungry days.

wmpdd3

OP looks like you've looked in to all the usual ailments!

It's just odd that calpol etc dont make any difference, even at the worst, calpol always gave atleast an hour of no pain.

I dont want to frighten you, but any tummy issues in your families? Does she bring any back up?

You could try keeping a diary of her behaviour everyday just in case you have to bring her to another healthcare professional.

dubontour1

Thanks for all your help.

I've tried new soothers today that have little grooves in it to message her gums, I have only given it to her once before her last feed and it seemed to make a difference she took 120mls without any fussing. The only downside is that because they're different to her usual soothers I have to hold it in her mouth. I don't mind that once it helps. Hopefully things are looking up

You can't get calpol over here, I've just been giving her baby panadol and she hates the taste so she spits the majority of it out. I can't give her neurofen yet because she isn't 6kgs and they still use the bongella over here that has been banned at home due to the ingredient salicylate acid so I haven't touched that.

Pwpurple it was a bit much all right especially when I brought her she was only taking 30-60mls in a 24hour period so it was obviously hunger that had her upset. I asked her should I change the formula and bottles to see if it would make a difference and she told me not to that it would not help at all. She also told me instead of feeding her with a bottle to feed her by dipping her soother into the formula!! It was at dis point that I stopped listening to her advice and went a head and changed the bottles and formula which made the big difference. After the consult with her she told me if it was her child she would put a stamp on her forehead and return to sender!!! Of course I flipped as my daughter is usually so happy and contented and there was obviously something wrong with her needless to say I won't be back to her.

Wmpdd3 no there is no history of tummy problems in either of our family and she's not constipated she has 1-2 dirty nappies a day.

pwurple

Dip the soother in formula? Cripes you would be there all day!

Baby panadol has the same active ingredient as calpol. It is orange flavour isn't it, so the same as the neurofen.

If she spits it out, there are a few other ways to try. If you are using a plastic syringe, you can aim it under her tongue towards the back of her mouth. They find it hard to spit out from there. Or, you can ask your pharmacist about a suppository form of paracetemol. Paralink does a paracetemol one for babies, but be very careful with the dose. It is one or the other, baby panadol OR the paralink, not both together. And check the weight guidelines on it. It will be a half or a quarter of the tab you give her, not a whole one.

Have you got some support to do one or two of the feeds and give you a break? It sounds very stressful at the moment.

dubontour1

pwurple wrote: »

Dip the soother in formula? Cripes you would be there all day!

Baby panadol has the same active ingredient as calpol. It is orange flavour isn't it, so the same as the neurofen.

If she spits it out, there are a few other ways to try. If you are using a plastic syringe, you can aim it under her tongue towards the back of her mouth. They find it hard to spit out from there. Or, you can ask your pharmacist about a suppository form of paracetemol. Paralink does a paracetemol one for babies, but be very careful with the dose. It is one or the other, baby panadol OR the paralink, not both together. And check the weight guidelines on it. It will be a half or a quarter of the tab you give her, not a whole one.

Have you got some support to do one or two of the feeds and give you a break? It sounds very stressful at the moment.

Thanks i'll try that.

Yea thank god I have a really supportive partner who basically takes over when he comes in from work. I'm blessed otherwise there is no way you would cope I'd be on the first flight home to Ireland haha.

Kash

Dubontour, I was so relieved to see your post. My little one (10 weeks) has started doing the same. She will drink happily for the first half of the bottle, but once winded she refuses to go back on and gets very distressed if I try to feed her. It's as if feeding actually hurts her.

I've had some success with completely changing her position, she might drink another oz or two lying down on her play mat. Or by quickly giving her her dummy, then replacing it with a bottle after a few seconds - again, good for an oz or two. But whereas before she was polishing off 180 ml regularly, now she often won't take more than 90.

At the same time, she has lots of wet nappies and regular poops (albeit every two days, but that's normal for her) and is in sunny form when not feeding. I'm stressing myself out with it, which I'm sure isn't helping!

Hopefully, as people say, it will resolve itself in a few weeks!

dubontour1

Kash wrote: »

Dubontour, I was so relieved to see your post. My little one (10 weeks) has started doing the same. She will drink happily for the first half of the bottle, but once winded she refuses to go back on and gets very distressed if I try to feed her. It's as if feeding actually hurts her.

I've had some success with completely changing her position, she might drink another oz or two lying down on her play mat. Or by quickly giving her her dummy, then replacing it with a bottle after a few seconds - again, good for an oz or two. But whereas before she was polishing off 180 ml regularly, now she often won't take more than 90.

At the same time, she has lots of wet nappies and regular poops (albeit every two days, but that's normal for her) and is in sunny form when not feeding. I'm stressing myself out with it, which I'm sure isn't helping!

Hopefully, as people say, it will resolve itself in a few weeks!

Yea we've tried them tricks too although we're using the soother trick so long she knows what we're at the minute the soother comes out haha it's amazing how smart they are. I find that putting her in the bouncer helps too and at night when she starts fussing we put her in her cot and feed her and she takes some more.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that this has happened to because the midwife told me that she had never come across it before and that had me thinking it was something I had done wrong.

Kash

I hope I'm not jinxing it now, but her last two feeds were great - no fussing at all and she was very eager to get back on the bottle after each break.

The only things that were different was that I gave no Infacol yesterday (we had been using it for about 6 weeks). No idea if that is related, but after her 7pm (and hellish) feed of yesterday she had a MASSIVE burp... it went on for ages... and since then she has fed happily. This is my first baby so I have no idea if they can hold wind for days on end, but that's what it seemed like!

I don't know if your little one is taking Infacol but maybe stop it for a day or two? Hopefully you'll have the same result.

cyning

Just on the spitting out if the medicine: I use the medicine soothers: the med goes into the well of the soother and they suck it out then: like this. I was driven demented but these really really help. The more I used the syringes the more that was spat out!