Developmental Leaps and loss of appetite, refusing feeds etc

[sedgiebaby]

I have been combination feeding my 16 wk old baby since she was 5 weeks.

I've had lots of feeding difficulties with her which at one point saw us in hospital with her dropping from 75th centile to 9th (staying on 75th for length). She is also dairy intolerant and on a disgusting formula for top ups which doesn't help. Without boring you further, more detail on this thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/1130612-Please-help-my-mixed-fed-baby-2-3rds-ff-isnt-taking-the-bottle

After consistently taking top ups after each BF 6X per day she is refusing bottles left right and centre. She is approx 2/3rds FF - I believe - so this is causing me anxiety.

I have the wonder weeks, she was 2.5 wks late so is on the wk 19 leap, is this familiar to anyone?

After only just stopping in counting all her feeds/oz of top ups/nappies it is very difficult for me not to panic with her cutting out so many of her top ups.

Could this be a transitional behavioral thing, please share your experience?

Just to add, there is no weight issue any longer in that at last weigh (two weeks ago) she jumped to over the 50th line following 3 month spurt and mega hungry phase, I just can't help but worry because of where we have been with feeding and weight prior to that in the early weeks and months.

My DD has always been a bit of a bad feeder (FF since 4 weeks) and sometimes only takes 80ml at a feed and rarely eats her daily 'minimum' amount. Around 18 weeks there were about 6 days where she just DID NOT want food, she ate very little over those days and I am putting it down to the developmental leap as she then picked up again. How long has this been going on?

Well I noticed this refusal for the first time two weeks ago but its been worse just the last few days, I guess she would be 18 weeks if going by dd which is how the development leaps seem to be worked out

Hi there, I was just going to post about this EXACT same issue! My 17 week old DD is completely not interested in eating during the day at the moment, her feed times have halved, and she's spacing feeds out much more than usual - one day last week she went 7.5 hours between day feeds (usually feeds every 2 hours in day), and today again, 5 hours between feeds.

I've been tearing my hair out stressing about it, only slightly saved by the fact that she is eating normally at night (although 'normally' is still depressingly at least twice a night). She's really distracted when feeding during the day, and I have to feed her in the quietest least distracting place I can find (quite often the disabled toilet if I'm out and about!).

I was also wondering if this might be developmental (also have Wonder Weeks book, which suggests it could be), and she is going crazy trying to master rolling at the moment. She's also struggling to settle to sleep at night.

Would be interested to hear if others are experiencing this loss of appetite too around this age. I'm thinking of getting her weighed tomorrow to find out if it's actually becoming a problem or not. A bit disheartening anyway as I would rather she was moving towards eating more in the day to help minimise the amount of night feeds I have, but currently we're moving the other way!

Sedgiebaby, sounds like we could be having the same problem...

Sudden changes in feeding pattern can be caused by developmental spurts.

Lots of babies get fussy at feeding at around 4 months. Distractibility is also a problem (Kellymom has some info here.

My DS and other babies I know will often refuse solids (or refuse all but a few solids) in the run up to developmental spurts - he did it with the 37 week and 46 week ones. I didn't have the Wonder Weeks before then so I can't remember if he did it with bf in the run up to the 19 week spurt though.

I think keeping offering frequently and trying to feed in as boring a place as you can is sensible. If you're worried about her weight, OP, you could try feeding when she's sleepy / waking up as sometimes that can be more successful.

MissRedIndie I think we have twins, much of what you say is familiar, including the rolling! Also dd is going hours and hours and hours without a proper feed, then I found last night she will down loads. She is also unusually grumpy but I think that is teething. I also suspect she is lying awake at night, I hear lots of grunting and mumbling. I'm starting to think it really is developmental - at least this means it should pass. I'm feeding x2 at least at night but shes waking upset too and needs a quick cuddle and going down again.

AngelDog I discovered this tip about feeding a sleepy baby yesterday it worked for me a few times, not always because I've had her refuse the top up after bf during night sleepy feeds, but in the day yes this worked twice in succession yesterday.

I wasn't sure about Wonder Weeks but I'm thinking maybe it is credible theory after all.

AngelDog she is 18.5 wks going by due date, does this mean a break through and happy days next week by your experience (please say yes!)

Thanks AngelDog for the distractibility info, that was definitely useful info - I think this is a big factor in her not being interested in feeding at the moment.

Sedgiebaby, I think the lying awake at night is also connected to the developmental stuff too. It took dd about an hour to settle to sleep last night instead of 15 mins and I'm sure it's all related!

Fingers crossed for both of us that it passes soon!!

sedgiebaby, I'd love to say yes but I can't remember exactly when things cleared up around that time for DS. :) (Sleep has always been what's affected more than feeding for us). But we did have a easier spell once he hit the developmental spurts at 26 weeks, 37 weeks and 46 weeks.

Lying awake at night often goes with developmental stuff IME - DS is almost always wide awake in the night for 1.5 hours when he's working on a develompental spurt. It's always 1.5 hours (there's some biological basis for this apparently). It has always disappeared on its own without me doing anything different. (He does it when overtired too, which is often connected as developmental stuff often makes him nap badly - again, that just sorts itself out without any help from me.)

Babies who are working on new physical developments at the same time as brain development will have an even rougher time - we had this at 8/9 months when DS was working on crawling.

Hope it all improves soon! :)