Baby fussy feeding at 9 weeks adjusted

[MiniMaxi]

Hi there, wondering if anyone can advise or share experiences.

Our DS was born 6 weeks early and is now 9 weeks adjusted. For the past couple of weeks he's been incredibly fussy feeding and several times a day it's a struggle to get him to take the bottle. He screams after a few sips and screams even more if you offer him the bottle again - or even sit him in the "feeding position". Sometimes he'll eat if we can get him to nap and offer milk when he wakes.

According to the commonly used formula calculations he's nowhere near what he "should" be having and he's recently dropped off his centile curve.

We saw the Doctor who prescribed Ranitidine for silent reflux (he has several of the symptoms) - 3 days in and his volumes are up a bit but he still doesn't seem as keen on his milk as he used to be.

Pre ranitidine he was taking 500-600ml (17-21oz) per day, now it's 600-700 (21-24oz). He weighs about 11 and a half lbs.

FYI he's formula fed (Nutriprem 2) and has typically been having 8 feeds a day (every 3 hours) since birth.

A few observations / thoughts:

• He doesn't show hunger cues as much as he used to. We wonder if he's moving to wanting less frequent feeds, but he isn't taking bigger volumes when he does eat so we're concerned about letting him go 4/5 hours (except at night) as his daily intake will be low.
• the timing is right for the 8-9 week developmental leap. Could this make him so fussy? I know some babies lose their appetites.
• he feeds better when he's drowsy, eg when I take him out of his pram after a walk. Does this mean the issue is behavioural rather than physical?

Any thoughts, comments, experiences much appreciate.
TIA

Sounds like a bit of feeding aversion from the reflux pain.

He's too little for 4/5 hourly feeds IMO except at night. I'd go with 3 hourly minimum in the day. Little and often is better for reflux anyway, less chance of "overspill" upwards iyswim.

Also feeding better when drowsy is classic reflux.

I think I would give the ranitidine a bit more of a chance, maybe another 5 days, he may have some soreness in his throat from previous reflux which will take a while to heal and for him to realise it doesn't hurt any more (make sure you increase the dosage as his weight increases) and then go back to the GP if still issues.

How's his poo? Wet nappies? Sleeping?

PS DD was born 6 weeks early too - well done for getting to this point

Thanks @minipie - aversion sounds about right, plus I think he still gets pain when the meds wear off.

Will give the ranitidine a bit longer for sure, good point about it taking a while to heal.

Nappies all seem fine so far, so he doesn't seem dehydrated luckily. We are getting milk into him, it's just often a real struggle. Thanks for your response!