Milk needs vs food..HELP

[moresleepplease]

Hi,
I have a little girl who is 19 1/2 weeks old. Started her on baby rice a week ago and she loved it, ate the lot. Things went great for a few days, she was even having more milk than normal (normaly had about 34 oz) then since Wednesday the amount of milk has been going down by the day. She is now having around 24oz a day and one meal of baby rice.

I think she is also teething at the moment. she is drippling like a loon, chew on her hand, cries in pain and keeps getting very hot.

I went to see the HV and all she had to say was the amounts a little low come back next week!!

I would just like some advise.
is her lack of interest in food to do with teething?
Should I be worried (as i really am) about the reduction in food.
Help please!!!

[hermykne]

absolutely, has she a temp or is she irratable noticeably?
if it continues til the weekend then i'd be a little anxious, is it hot where u are? she mightnt need it presently

[moresleepplease]

She has been hot and we have given her a bit of calpol over the last few days when stipping her off and cool wipes on the forhead did not help.

She is not grumpy all the time but a lot more than normal. She is normally such a happy bunny.

We live in the south so its warm but not to bad.

[hermykne]

put it down to her just being uncomfortable, maybe a tooth - but a bit early, she just mightnt be herself
just keep watch

[Windermere]

Sounds like teething, ds eats like a pig but when he is teething he won't touch a thing.

[Aragon]

I'd put this down to teething and not worry too much (easy for me to say I know). My DS dropped his feeds massively about this age but continued to gain weight.
I'd just go with what she wants at this stage. Give some Calpol and teething powders when necessary and perhaps drop the rice completely and replace it with extra milk ( there will be minimal difference in the calories).
If she loved the food before then she'll go back to loving it once the teething pain has decreased.
Much of the advice now is to wait until six months to wean so you won't be doing any damage by going back to just pure milk for a while -she's still young and you'll have lots of time to re-introduce food when she's more comfortable and to try some new and exciting flavours.

[Littlefish]

Once I had started introducing solids to my dd at 6 months, she got 2 colds and 2 teeth in quick succession (can't spell it!). Each time, she went off her solids completely and wasn't that keen on milk either. I just let her go with whatever she wanted to do. The lack of interest didn't last long, and she was soon back on both solids and milk.... until the next time! As long as you are still getting wet and/or dirty nappies my HV told me not to worry. We don't feel like eating the same amount every day and babies are just the same.

[Sproutfeet]

Hello
My boy did the same thing when we started solids, dropped his milk feeds considerably and would scream if we tried to give him more. He loves his solids, we think he likes the spoon but won't eat anything at the moment that isn't mixed with baby rice and milk to lessen the flavours.
He went through the sticking his hands in his mouth and drooling and screaming phase at the same time as his milk drinking slowed and for about a week and a half I was a bit stressed to say the least!
Teething begins well before there is any sign of teeth and it sounds like that is what is happening, we found that a little bonjela helped every now and then(didn't want to keep giving him paracetamol). Good advice we were given was that your baby will not allow himself to starve and just go with the flow. He still has a couple of off days every now and then but back pretty much to normal.

[moresleepplease]

Thanks to all of you that have given advice. DD is now on three meals a day and 30+ oz of milk. She did lose weight from her "diet" but is now back to normal.