Cries when feeding

[Lynzw75]

For the last few weeks my (now 10 weeks old) son has not got on brilliantly with feeding. He either cries from the very start of the bottle or has a few oz and then starts. He doesn't push the bottle out of his mouth but cries really hard and appears to be really distressed. He has a few sucks on the bottle while he is crying. He will, however, settle with a dummy. We keep very calm when feeding him so as not to pass on any anxiety. I've tried different feeding positions, different teats and bottles, making him wait longer and nothing seems to work. He is still gaining wait and wees and poos. He doesn't have trouble with wind either. He is very alert and smiley in between, it's purely the feeding. Has anyone else experienced this and if so what did you do to help? Health Visitors say everything I'm doing is right and to persevere but I don't like to see him upset and would like to know what's wrong.

[Fizzylemonade]

Could it be reflux??? I didn't even know I had ds2 until he hit 10 wks and he didn't really sick up as my ds1 had but just cried when feeding, took small feeds, arched back when feeding etc

Worth a thought.

[kekouan]

bump -I've got the same thing with 12 week old DS - he'll break off 5 mins into a feed and really start yelling, he looks so miserable and upset when he does, like he's in pain

[Naetha]

Could it be that he's trying to poo while feeding, and having trouble straining and pushing his poo out?

We're having a similar problem with DS where on his 7am(ish) feed he's ravenous, but won't feed because he's in pain trying to squeeze a poo out. He'll have several sucks, then spit it out and start crying. We just give him his dummy until he's had the poo or it's gone away, then resume feeding.

[kekouan]

He used to do that in the morning, so we changed his milk (Was on SMA, now on cow and gate comfort).

Solved that problem, so he doesn't really have problems anymore.

Mind you, it does sometimes hurt him when he farts, poor little thing

[oilandwater]

Mine used to do the exact same thing, both when he breastfed and when he had a formula/bottle. We never figured out what was wrong, reflux meds didn't make a difference. He started to outgrow it by about 4 months and had totally outgrown it before 6 months (i don't remember exactly when).

He never took more than 2 ounces at a go, and now, almost a year later, only drinks small amounts of milk at a time. But he's perfectly healthy.

You're right to try to stay calm but it's not always easy. I dreaded feeding db in those early days. He was otherwise such a happy baby -- the only times he cried was when he was eating.

The one thing that we think helped a bit was switching to Dr. Brown's bottles.

[ELB1]

My now 16 week old DD does this too. She has been doing it for about 6 weeks after previously taking at first breast then bottle feeds with no problems - in fact she used to guzzle her milk down. I have absolutely no idea why it started, and she was checked out by GP for sore throat/ear infection, but there are no problems. She is quite long and skinny but is still putting on weight (but only because I think I am just "perservering" with getting her to feed) but sometimes it is heartbreaking, sometimes frustrating and I have to work really hard to stay calm. She doesn't always do it - for example, if she wakes in the night, she takes her milk without any fuss - and the other day I had a whole day where she just took it, and drank every last drop from her bottle. I was amazed and started to worry that there was something wrong!

There are a couple of things that I do that seem to help from time to time - so in case you want to try them:

Sometimes - (weirdly) she will take the bottle if I start the feed standing up and holding her quite close to me - sometimes I have to sway or walk slowly around until she is happily drinking then I can gently sit down again

Sometimes - I will give her a dummy to calm her down then in my other hand get the bottle ready and make a swift switch

Sometimes - I have to sit her up and let her cry for a couple of minutes (this is tough especially in public as she wails like a small child rather than a baby and it sounds like I am trying to murder her rather than feed her), then she seems to take it fine

Sometimes - she will take it better if her head is slightly turned to one side - awkward for holding the bottle, but it works from time to time

I am hoping she grows out of it - so it's good to hear from others that this has been the case, and I am just hoping that I am not simply raising a child that doesn't like food and we'll have eating troubles for years to come (my younger sister was like this and my Mum said she used to do the same as a baby - she still doesn't "do" eating and is an American size zero unlike moi!)