Food refusal, terrible nappies - is this teething or more serious?

[Novia]

Hello everyone - we have an 8 month old DD. She was EBF and has been a really good eater of solids which we started at 5 months. She has 3 decent meals per day and had gone down to just 2 milk feeds per day, morning and night, with another feed in the night if she wakes up.

Over the last week she has been very uninterested in food (even yoghurt!) and had had terrible clothes-destroying nappies. I've started feeding her during the day again as I'm concerned she isn't getting enough calories. Unfortunately she is a total bottle refuser and won't take cows milk or formula by any method (bottle, sippy-cup or glass). She drinks a decent amount of water though.

She has also been a bit emotional and clingy. She hasn't had any teeth (so far) so I was wondering if these were teething signs? Can't see anything coming through though... Anyone else experienced this?

Bump?

Hi Novia,
Whilst it could be teething; it's known to cause symptoms like this, it could also be a food allergy to something that's been introduced into her diet. It might be worth googling to see some of the symptoms of food allergy poo just to investigate further (in particular if there's mucous or green, or blood) Good luck!

Thanks Mayfairmummy - she hasn't had anything new in the last couple of weeks, so not sure it can be an allergy. Also she's refusing food, so isn't having enough of it to have a reaction iykwim?

tummy bug?

She might have a virus or have eaten something that's upset her tummy. I wouldn't worry about calories at the moment. Fluid is what's important and BFing will really help.

Babies who have had an upset tummy can have a temporary intolerance to lactose which sticks around for a while.

If it carries on for more than a few more day get her check over by the GP.

I always though diarrhoea always came with sickness but my son had a diarrhoea-only bug a couple of months ago (he would've been 8 months then) Hideous nappies and totally off his food. Went on for nearly two weeks. Doc took a sample but was all clear. That sort of bug destroys the stomach lining so it takes them a while to be well again. Took DS a long time to get fully back into solids. Maybe reintroduce the afternoon milk feed (8 months seems quite young to have dropped that one anyway?) and just try finger food.

There's been a couple of occasions where my ds has been like this. Each time I've blamed the teeth and only discovered otherwise when I came down with it a few days later.
Sounds like a virus to me I'm afraid.

Are her cheeks bright red and is she dribbling lots too? If she also had these symptoms I would put it down to teething, but if not, more likely to think it was a bug.

my dc had a 'cold' (or so i thought) which developed into a lactose intolerance. at first i put it down to extra mucus and teething, but it didnt go and got to the point of 8 horrendous poos a day pure liquid and a very sore bum. lactose free formula sorted her but it took such a long time i thought she would be lactose free forever! alas she recovered and demolishes her milks, yogs and cheese as before

could you try going lactose free yourself and removing yogs from dc diet?

I'm pretty sure dd was feeding (breastmilk) a lot more at this age? I'd be tempted to cut right back on solids and bf until she feels better but keep milk as her main source of nutrition until she's 1.

There is a "gastric flu" bug doing the rounds. DGS is only just recovering after almost 2 weeks. Nappies were dire, and he went off food totally (normally an A* eater) and just wanted to be held all day..... eventually developed a bit of a cold, too.
Miserable time, and he piggy backed Ibuprofen and Calpol .....which he never normally has.

At least it passes!

Thanks everyone for your help. She seems to be on the mend - her appetite is coming back and her nappies seem to be normalising! No teeth (still) so thinking she must have had a bit of a tummy bug.