5 month old eating less
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Anonymous
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My son turned 5 months last week. He normally drinks 4 oz bottles of pumped breast milk every 2.5-3 hours during the day. He sleeps 7pm-7am with one dreamfeed bottle and usually is at 28 ozs per day on average.
Since last Tuesday, he is now refusing full bottles. He will drink 2 ozs and then whip his head away and refuse to take more. We are able to get him to take another ounce sometimes if we wait another 20 mins or so but that’s it. It’s like his brain is saying “you’re at 2 ozs stop now!”. He hasn’t taken one full 4 oz bottle since last Tuesday. He’s now been ending his days at 20-22 ozs max. Tonight, he’s only at 17.9 oz currently and will get a dream feed in an hour but if he does what he has been, he won’t take more then 2 ozs. He does seem like he may be teething as he’s been non stop drooling, having excessive saliva, shoving his fists in his mouth and any toy he can. Could this be him teething and not wanting to eat as much or do babies sometimes go through a bottle strike? I’m nervous about the lack of daily ounces and he was a preemie also (6 weeks early) and I don’t want him to stall on his weight ( he was 15 lbs even when we weighed him last Monday). |
Anonymous
| This is a pediatrician question. Call and ask. |
Anonymous
| Take him to the doctor. It could be lots of things, including an ear infection or other illness. Have him checked out. |
Anonymous
| (How did you get baby to sleep through the night like that?! Please tell me, I’m desperate). |
Anonymous
Op here: haha honestly I’m not much help as he just started doing it at 10 weeks old. We start bedtime routine at 6, he’s in his crib by 7, 10pm dream feed and he’s asleep until 6:30-7am every morning. He had a few nights where he was waking up again once a night during the 4 month sleep regression but that was it. We just got lucky with a good sleeper I guess. |
Anonymous
Op here: thanks. I’ll be calling in the morning but figured I’d see if anyone else had a baby do this around 5 months. He’s not acting sick at all and has been his normal happy self, just not wanting to eat his normal amount. |
Anonymous
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Agree doctor...
but maybe also make sure you have the right size nipple? We had some with holes too small and baby was getting tired of trying so hard. |
Anonymous
Op here: thanks! He takes the comotomo bottles and is on the 3+ month flow. Next flow is 6+ months so we haven’t upped him to that nipple yet. |
Anonymous
| My son also did this. Switching to a faster flow nipple made the difference. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like teething |
Anonymous
Op here: we have him on the medium flow 3-6 month nipple. When he actually drinks his whole bottle, he finishes 4 ozs in 5 mins so I don’t think it’s a flow issue and I’d be hesitant to put him on the fast flow 6+ month nipple. |
Anonymous
Seconding this too. You may just want to try out the next size just to rule it out. And in the meantime check in with your ped to rule out an ear infection. |
Anonymous
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Hi Op, hopefully this isn't the issue but the whipping the head away at EXACTLY the same amount each time is a tell tale sign of a bottle aversion. It usually stems from very well intentioned pressure to feed more on babies who happen to be extra sensitive to pressure. So then baby starts pushing back and refusing basically - they eat JUST enough to be satiated and then stop. My baby was one of these babies! it can happen for many reasons, but pressure is a part of it always (even though it is well well intentioned on our parts as parents! This part of it can be really hard to accept). Your pediatrician likely won't be super well versed in it.
My recommendation as someone who experienced this is to read a little about bottle aversion and then keep your eye on it. The first time I read about it I said oh no that's not my baby he's not that extreme. And then as time went on finally a lactation consultant said to me, oh that sounds exactly like bottle aversion behavior. The second time I picked up the book it all made a lot more sense. So, I have no idea if this is what your baby is going through but if it is it will likely get worse and so I want to share it so it's on your radar (because it can get so stressful!) because I am so so glad that the LC finally said this is a bottle aversion! The good news is there is a very effective treatment. There is a book that walks you through it and you can also do a consult which I ended up doing and was VERY helpful. This is the book on it: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Babys-Bottle-feeding-Aversion-Solutions-ebook/dp/B076PWRHH2 I can't get their website to work for some reason but here are the experts on it https://www.facebook.com/Babycareadvice/ |
Anonymous
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I don't know why but their website isn't working for me, but here it is in case it works for you: http://www.babycareadvice.com/consultation/first_time
we worked with lindsay and she was wonderful. You can also just use the book and it takes you through the two week program but if you need help, she is great. It seriously works. My baby went from doing the whipping head thing, to refusing bottles generally some of the time, to going back drinking normally and loving bottles the rest of his first year. Took a few weeks of following their approaches. There is a facebook group too (not the one I sent you) where parents share their experience and it can give a lot of hope. |
Anonymous
Op here: I took him to the pediatrician today and they ruled out any ear infections or other illness. He’s up to 15 lbs 7 ozs so he’s still gaining fine. The dr said he’s not dehydrated either. He pretty much said to give it another week and if he’s still doing this, to bring him back in for a weight check. He said there is no harm in him eating this much less for the short term but not to let him go less than 18 oz a day as then we risk him getting dehydrated. Today he ended the day before bed at 19oz and still has his 10pm dreamfeed so I feel a bit better with todays eating. |