Please help, I think my son has a feeding aversion!

[ellieellie44]

My son is 13 weeks old. He’s on gaviscon for his reflux. We’ve been on lansoprazole omeprazole and ranitidine previously, all of which worked for a very short space of time then no longer worked. He’s also on similac alimentum for cmpa. He’s normally been a great feeder aside from the puking afterwards. He’s began throwing up again, but this has been our current situation for 2 weeks: he has between 5-30ml of a bottle, and then sort of decides he’s finished. He cries and cries and cries, and then after maybe 20-45mins of fighting with him to eat enough, he goes for his bottle like he’s starving. Today, he hadn’t been fed for about 5 hours as he hadn’t wanted one until now. He took 20-45ml and began screaming and crying, tried him again for 20 mins and gave up! He then threw up maybe 10ml 20min after. Does anyone know what it could be other than an aversion as I’m stuck, tried winding him previously, he brought some up but he got even more upset when trying to give him his bottle again. We’ve moved him up a teat size, no better and no worse, so no difference, moved him down one and that was a whole lot worse as he was trying too hard to get it out. Tried putting gaviscons in the bottles we can due to the dosage, no difference. Tried decreasing and increasing the amount in his bottles, no difference, tried holding him differently to feed, tried his bottles cold, warm as he likes it, room temp, seems to take it best warm as he’s always liked. Tried little and often, every hour or two, and he took even less, maybe a couple of sips then he decided he's done! Im so drained from fighting with him every single bottle for him to eat enough, I end up crying half way through as this has been the situation with every bottle for roughly 2 weeks! if it was up to him he’d take a tiny amount and be done😩I don’t understand why he’s being like this, does anyone have any advice or suggestions?

My little one has CMPA and reflux. Similac is a hydrolysed formula and some babies still react to this, my son had to be moved to an amino acid formula, Neocate, as he was still really poorly on the hydrolysed ones. Perhaps ask your GP to switch to Neocate? They are often reluctant as it's so expensive but if your LO is refusing feeds they should let you.
We also use cow and gate instant Carobel which was recommended by our paediatrician (as it doesn't cause constipation etc like gaviscon) and it has been a complete life saver for us, our LO used to bring up his feeds constantly and now doesn't at all, we can lay him down pretty quickly after a feed and he is fine. He still does fuss quite a bit on the bottle but will generally have around 110ml every 3 hours (he is 12 weeks).
I hope you manage to find something that works for you!

@Kennylou12 I'm just so drained. I KNOW he's hungry and it's killing me, I've just sat on the toilet crying after only getting 50ml down him. The last feed he had was at 11pm last night and he had 170ml so I thought we were on the right track. But he's not been fed for 8/9hours and he's only had 50ml he MUST be hungryI just don't know what else to do. I can't get a telephone consult. I can't get an appointment. He has his injections at 10am at the doctors surgery today so while I'm there I'm going to beg to see a doctor for him. I can't go on like this for much longer

@ellieellie44 I feel for you, we are also having injections this morning and had a bit of a battle to get him to drink. I know people will probably say don't form bad habits with feeding but when my LO gets really hysterical I play the "hey bear sensory" videos on my phone to him on YouTube and it seems to distract him enough that he will drink at least 100ml, I've never managed to get him to drink more than 150ml if I'm honest! I only ever use that trick when I really need to, like yesterday with it being quite warm I was worried he might dehydrate. Have you tried the health visitor for advice? I managed to get prescribed Neocate really quickly as I saw a paediatrician privately, he asked the GP to prescribe it on our first appointment and they didn't argue at all, but I know that is a slightly expensive option if you don't have private health insurance l, I'm lucky I have Bupa through work. We are also seeing the osteopath as lots of people recommended that to me but if I'm honest I don't think it's making a difference.

@Kennylou12 just seen the doctor they're refusing to change his milk or give him anything else for reflux as he's had everything they can give, I feel like crying it's impossible to get any help his vomit is literally hitting the walls, I don't know what else to do, he can't have another thickener as gaviscons a thickner and he's had that, feel like crying

@ellieellie44 you are meant to use Carobel instead of gaviscon. It could be worth trying as my little one was so upset on gaviscon as it made him so constipated. I'm sorry you aren't getting the support you need at the doctors, is your LO gaining weight? If there are concerns about how much milk he is taking they should at least be weighing regularly.

@Kennylou12 they're weighing him next week again. He used to put on so much weight SO quick. Now he was weighed one month ago and he was 5.1 now he's only 5.7, which is nothing compared to how much and how fast he used to put on!! Tried every pharmacy possible to see if they have it and none have carobel in so gonna order it online and in the meantime thicken his milk with baby rice

@ellieellie44 that's good they are weighing :) oh so sorry I meant to say I could only find it on amazon, I drove around every pharmacy when I was told to get it and no one had heard of it! I knew I wasn't mad though as loads of people on Mumsnet had mentioned it. I hope it helps :)