10 week old not eating..reflux??

[driedapricots]

hi
my ds is 10 weeks and in the last week or so he has been barely eating. i am mixing bottle and BF - mainly so i could see how much he was having - and it's not a lot! he's never had a really strong suck and BF only lasts 10 mins or so, but he's been putting on wieght. now i'm giving him the odd bottle of formula and he's only having an ounce or so at a time and then starts fretting and fussing. however sometimes he will guzzle the lot no problem, so i don't think it's the formula he doesn't like or the bottle. is this a sympton of reflux, refusing to feed? today he's had a couple of very short breast feeds and about 3 oz in total from a couple of bottles. (although he is putting on weight still, albeit slowly) he's refusing to feed now, having not had any since 4pm when it was 1 oz...i'm getting so worried about him, although he's ok in himself otherwise, even smiling etc. but he's always been squirming and grunting etc after feeds and has had a runny nose pretty much since birth so now i'm wondering if all the symptons add up to reflux?

I have heard that reflux symptoms start to present between 2-4 weeks, so if you have got to 10 weeks with no symptoms I'd say it would be less likely. My DD with reflux screamed the house down almost from day one until reflux was diagnosed at 11 weeks and she stopped gaining weight at about four or five weeks.

If you have been BF'ing up to this point and your DS is gaining weight nicely there is no reason to stop? He may well be a very efficient and fast feeder and be all done within 10 minutes in fact after three months some babies can take a full feed in five minutes.

Not sure about the runny nose, perhaps some dietary intolerances coming via breastmilk eg dairy? In which case you'd be better off avoiding formula if at all possible and EBF and perhaps try eliminating dairy from your diet for a few days or a week to see if there might be an improvement.

Although I can see where you are coming from wanting to know how much he's taking, from what you're saying the BFing has been working brilliantly for you, so I'd persevere if you can.

I have a similar problem with DS right now - he's 8 weeks and has started taking less and less each feeding - he seems really hungry but then pulls off the bottle and screams. It's really stressing me out, am worried about him. Have also thought it could be reflux but hoping it's just a fussy phase!

when he's refusing to feed is that both breast and bottle?

Have you tried Infacol or gripe water in case he is excessively windy?

Have to say in many years and looking after many relux babies a runny nose wasn't something i saw.

I would continue with breast more than bottle and offer every 3 hours (but not longer than this) if not more frequently during the 'day' (7ish am - 10ish pm).

Sometimes they can be windy before a feed-more so after a long gap, so not eating much at all, when bottle feeding i put the infacol/gripe water in the bottle with the milk.

My reflux baby also has dietary intollerences. She's entirely BF, if I have any dairy/cows milk protein or soy, she is much more sickly than normal, also snotty & mucousy, puffy eyes. If I eat wheat/gluten she gets horrendously painfull tummy cramps. Try altering your diet, see if it helps.