My 5 month baby wont have any milk

[bunsen]

I am bottle feeding him and begun weaning him about four weeks ago as he was not getting enough milk, he wasn't gaining anymore weight. He has a few ounces then gets bored or it must ache his gums as he puts his fingerrs in the way and then won't take anymore. I have to mix it with baby rice to get him to have anymore. He still wants 5 feeds a day, but is generally having 4-5 ounces at each sitting, I can't get him to have any more. He now wakes up in the night and I can't settle him, he's not bothered about a feed, he falls asleep as soon as he has had a bit of the bottle (water).
I am at my wits end, the midwife has recomended the spout cups to feed him, which of course, I have been down that route, but they frustrate him cas he can't get anything out of them unless I use the free pouring ones, which when I use them, the milk just pours out all over him, he doesn;t drink any and then starts crying and its a good half hour before he will have any from a teated bottle. I have run out of ideas.
Please help!

[Spidermama]

Hi bunsen. I haven't any experience of this but I wanted to bump for you.

[suwoo]

Hi Bunsen. My DS is 20 weeks and he has 5 feeds a day and only about 4-5 ounces at the most each time. He isn't sleeping marvellously at night either. He is on the 25th centile and has just put on 4 ounces in 2 weeks. I am not worried though in the slightest. If he is not hungry, then there is nothing you can do. He really won't come to any harm and will eat when he is hungry, so try not to worry.

[bunsen]

Thanks both of you!
he is a tall baby if you know what i mean, its frustrating me .maybe its more of a problem to me than him. I suppose he can't be that hungry but he whimpers like he is and i feel like i am constantly trying to appease him. he was so easy to look after before, now i feel like tearing my hair out! sorry for crap typing, i can't be arsed with good english at the moment!

[ruddynorah]

a couple of ideas..

try an open cup with no lid or spout. doidy cups are especially designed for babies. your baby will lap the milk up.

why are you giving water at night when you're concerned he isn't getting enough milk? have you tried offering milk instead? or are you offering only water in a bid to get him to not wake up?

[bunsen]

Yes ruddynorah, as advised by hv. what do you think? would giving him milk just encourage the night feeds? bearing in mind that he has slept through from week 3? he started waking up in the night about the same time as his hunger went down, also i would think he would be ravenous in the morning but he has about 3 ounses, he used to have 8 at a time, thats what i don't understand. is it cos he knows what 'foodf' really is and can't be bothered with milk anymore?
thanks all, every nugget is appreciated!

[ruddynorah]

you know how your baby is in himself. if it's a case of he's just having the amount of milk he wants and is otherwise happy then fine. if it's that he is actually hungry and you need ways to encourage him to take more milk then try the things i've suggested maybe. i would try to encourage him to take more milk rather than upping the amount of baby rice you're giving him. i also wouldn't do the water at night thing if you're worrying about his milk intake. the water will fill his belly making him feel full, but isn't actually giving him any nutrition. however, i know lots of people swear by the water at night thing.

[suwoo]

I, personally would stop the rice as it has less calories than the milk, so you are not gaining anything by giving it to him. I have re-started offering my DS milk in the night if he wants it, to help him settle and to increase his milk intake. He takes on avaerage between 18 and 24 ounces a day, thats all.

[pudding77]

Hi bunsen, could it be the teat size? Perhaps he's ready for a larger teat, whenver my ds went off his milk it was generally because the teat was too slow iyswim and when I put him onto the larger one he started having more again.

[suwoo]

Good idea pudding, I did that with my DS but forgot all about it. Have you changed his milk, Bunsen? My DS is now on C&G Comfort and takes it better. It has helped his reflux massively.

[bunsen]

Thanks everyone! Avent don't do a bigger size than the ones I am using, are there any makes that do bigger teats than Avent? I tried making the holes bigger, but they just split, i don't think you can fudge the silicone teats can you?

[suwoo]

Are you on Avent 4 teats? They are quite big aren't they? I should think they'd be fast enough.

[fizzbuzz]

Ds and dd did this, although ds was worse.
Basically at 3 months he refused all milk. The advice was to wean at 4 months then, so I just stuffed him full yoghurt. I even tried , putting sugar in his bottle, but it made no difference.

He refused all forms of liquid milk unntil he was about 3.

Dd also did it but not as bad. I did yoghurt routine again, although she will have bottles now (10 months old)

[Pitchounette]

Message withdrawn

[bunsen]

Glad (in the right way!?) that it's not just DS, I thought I was doing something wrong. Sounds familiar to Fizzbuzz situation with her 2. Pitchounette, I see what you mean, but he seems well enough, no rashes, so I think he must be just bored of the stuff. Not that I can blame babies for getting bored of their milk. I'd be crying out for a cider by now. Ha ha. Right, I'll just have to chill with it. I have been giving him yohurts, I'll keep on with that.
Thanks a lot to you all for listening to my frustrations!

[pudding77]

bunsen, I think you'll find that there are very very few situations when your dc is the only one doing or not doing something, it seems that we've all generally been through similar things