Help 20 week old DS barely eating

[Birdintheburbs]

Hello - this is the first time I've posted so please bear with me. My 20 week old has had bronchiolitis pretty bad (admitted to hospital as he stopped eating and we were told to force feed him with a pipette - horrible). 3 weeks on his breathing and chest seem to be slowly improving but he's just stopped eating - e.g. 6oz at 5am this morning and nothing since. Fed up with going to GP to be told there's nothing they can do as he's still reasonably hydrated. He's lost weight and has gone from being a happy chappy to a grizzly one (not surprisingly). No GP will commit to telling me how long it's OK for him to go without milk. Has anyone else had a similar experience after an illness? Thank you in advance.

Hi, I can't help, but bumping for you. Sounds very stressful. If you don't get any replies here, maybe try posting this on Children's Health?

I think you need to contact NHS direct and get him seen by the out of hours tonight, if he's not had a feed since this morning then he's going to be dehydrated so he needs looking at now. If he's bottle fed then it's probable that he's lost the sucking ability, it's common in babies that have been fed via a nasal gastric tube as they do loose the sucking reflex. Have you tried him with different teats?

Thank you both. It is very stressful. Can you believe that I spoke to my GP about it on Tues and was told to 'keep doing what I'm doing' i.e. offering him bottles. Had emergency appt at 5pm today. GP checked him over - said he wasn't dehydrated enough for hospital so to 'keep doing what I'm doing'. DS finally had 5oz at 10pm tonight and 7oz at 2.30am which is a great relief but still means on Tues he went 14 hours without a feed and 17 hours on Weds.

Re: teats - before illness he was on Avent teats and never wanted a dummy. Since illness he's constantly wanting a Nuk dummy and will only have Nuk teats. Haven't gone back to trying Avent ones in the last week.

If it's better to move this to Children's Health section do I repost from the beginning? Thanks again.

It's horrendously stressful - I know a little of what you're going through. DD2 went on nursing strike for a few days at 9 weeks old. It made me feel such a failure - such a basic thing, being able to feed your baby, and I couldn't do it . For the few days of the strike, she was only feeding once or twice in 24 hours - was bfeeding, so don't know how much she was getting. She gradually picked up on her own, but I did have to take her to very quiet places to feed her - away from any noise (DD1!), and be very consistent with my feeding approach. And the little minx is still like that now, at 9mo!

It doesn't sound like he has lost his sucking reflex if he sucks on a dummy though? When I had the problem with DD2, I did read (amongst my frantic surfing) that sometimes babies can get dependent on dummies and not want to suck to feed. At the time, she had a dummy, and that particular week she had used it more as we were on holiday (out a lot, and it was just easier) . When I read that, I started to ration the dummy a bit, and her feeding did pick up. You might want to try? Of course, it could be completely unrelated and just coincidence!

Good luck. I would also get him checked over by another doc (even A&E?) for dehydration - it doesn't sound like he is himself, and dehydration can get pretty serious pretty quickly. It would also put your mind at rest.

HTH.

oh, just read that he has had a couple of feeds in the last few hours - that's good. Hopefully you are turning a corner

Yes that does help - thank you. He's had a couple more feeds today and again just refused to feed but in the meantime I've taken him to see a chiropractor who was brilliant. Reassured me that with ill babies their feeding is the first thing to go and that she knew of babies who had gone 24 hours without a feed. Suggested diluted apple juice if he doesn't want formula or plain water. Also soaking a flannel and getting him to suck it. Just feel better having something else to try.

Will definitely also try your suggestion of rationing dummy. And you are so right - all I want to do is feed my baby and it's so hideous not being able to especially as I'd had to stop bfeeding just before he got ill so was trying not to feel a failure over that as well.

Thank you all for posting to me - you have no idea how much it's helped just being listened to when it felt like my GP wasn't.

Glad to hear you got some help somewhere. It's so frustrating when you feel your GP is fobbing you off.

Yes, diluted apple juice would be good too. DD2 was admitted to hosp in Jan after D&V bug with dehydration, and she didn't take any milk for a few days afterwards - just pedialyte (which is US equivalent of dioralyte) - kept trying with the milk at her normal times though, and if rejected, switched to alternative fluid. Don't know if Dioralyte would be suitable after his illness... but might be worth a look?

Hope things continue to get better for you.