Baby refusing bottle

[SingedChinchilla]

When my daughter was born we thought she was a brilliant feeder, especially compared to her brother who had reflux.

Now she's 11 weeks and since she was around 7 weeks old it's been a battle to get her to take anything! Feeds generally take an hour because she screams as soon as the teat goes anywhere near her mouth. Once she finally takes the bottle she tries to push the teat out and moves her head around, the teat comes out and the whole process starts again.

At 11 weeks she is not taking any more per feed than she was when she was 4 weeks old. She seems to be gaining weight slowly but nothing to be massively concerned about. As I said, she fed brilliantly for the first few weeks - she's on the same formula, same bottles, same routine. She's brilliant and bringing up wind and has no constipation.

She's now waking more at night, presumably because she's not taking enough milk during the day. Her brother is not yet 2 and the long feeds, screaming and frequent night wakings are not making life any easier!

Does anyone else have any idea what might be going on or any tips? I did ask the nurse at her 8 week check-up only to be told she couldn't help because she breastfed both of her babies

[SingedChinchilla]

I should add that she will often start screaming as she's placed into position to feed, before the bottle has even got near her, but she is so obviously hungry.

[Mylifesarainbow]

I had this with mine. Turned out to be oral thrush which is extremely common apparently! After a few days on medication he was completely back to normal.

[SingedChinchilla]

Thanks for your reply @Mylifesarainbow

Were there any obvious signs? Her tongue looks clear. I feel like there is something going on though!

[Dolphin1986]

Have you tried paced feeding? (Can YouTube it!) So sit her up right a bit more and keep the bottle horizontal?
We did this but I was switching from breastfeeding to bottle. But if she's screaming when being put on position it might be worth a try. Or sit her in a chair. My DD likes to sit in her bouncy chair and has a bottle in that.

[SingedChinchilla]

Thanks @Dolphin1986, that is exactly what we'd been doing.

Just a little update:
It got worse and worse to the point where she was only taking 1oz at a time. We saw a GP who suggested it could be silent reflux and prescribed Gaviscon. A week on, things are not perfect but they have certainly improved!