My 4 1/2 month baby refuses to eat unless he is asleep!

[AFergie]

Hello,

My baby boy has over the last 3 weeks become incredibly fussy with eating his bottles of formula. He was breastfed until 8 weeks old and then took to the bottle/ formula very well. He has always been a very good eater and now he pushes the bottle away, smiles, cries, does everything he can to push the bottle out of his mouth when I try and feed him.

I manage to get 3 oz in per feed, sometimes I can get more in by taking big 20 minute breaks. I have just moved and have been unable to have him weighed. He is incredibly chunky and seems happy.

I stopped feeding him ' every 3 hours' or as per the guidelines, I just wait for him to ask for a bottle but sometimes he goes for hours. He can easily go from 2 am to 1 pm without asking for anything.

He has had a bit of cough the last week but since the problem started before I dont think its linked. He doesn't have fever and is very smiley.

I think Im going to take him to the doctor to have him weighed and checked just in case but has anyone experienced something similar?

He feeds very well at night when he is asleep... Im getting a bit worried.

[AFergie]

bump [ blush ]

[Macocious]

Is he distracted? My breastfed baby is like this and I have to try to replicate night feeds as much as possible so same place, as dark and quiet as possible

[nannynome]

Is he starting to teeth? My baby does this when his gums are really sore. Try using some anbesol liquid on him before a feed or maybe experiment with giving some calpok half an hour before a feed and see what happens?

[AFergie]

thanks for your answers.

It might be a mixture of teething, distractions, maybe a bit of a tummy bug? Its so hard to tell.. I just wanted to know if it might also be a phase and some women noticed their babies became fussy at 4 months and it was just the way it was and had tricks on how to make their babies more interested in eating.

It's so hard to guess with little one sit could be so many things.

Anyway thank you for taking the time to get back to me
x

[LittleMissP81]

Have you had him checked for tongue tie? My lo became more fussy at around that age although he was never a good eater, and that was the problem. Get someone who knows something about it to look though- ie not most gps/ hvs- I went to a private lactation consultant. He's been snipped now but we're still only able to feed him when he's asleep most of the time- he is improving though just takes time to relearn how to use his tongue. Hope you find a solution, it's so stressful when they won't eat.

[AFergie]

He had a tongue tie when he was born and was unable to breastfeed. We had it cut when he was 2 days old and the change was incredible. Its never been a pbm since.. Plus I thought tongue ties didn't affect bottle fed babies? My knowledge on the subject is limited though !

Thanks anyway for the suggestion ! xx