Help! Sudden refusal breast AND bottlr

[PeelingmyselfofftheCeiling]

Quick backdtory: Dt has starred mouthing at bottle feeds halfway through, which i assume is teeth? In the past couple if days he has started refusing the breast (we mix feed every time), going down to just 1 good bf a day.
THe past 2 mornings he has woken screaming, and refused bottle AND breast [:-(] heartbreaking. Why?! What can I do?!

Should add that eventually we got some into him yesterday but it took nearly 3 hrs of screaming. Don't want that every day obviously, would rather find cause/solution. He has reflux, but always has, and meds are up to date as he was handling it well for the best week or so.

How young is he, is he so tiny that a few days of less milk is going to be a problem? Dd had some days like this around her first teeth, I gave her some Calpol and offered a feed about 20 mins later. I think we had three days of her not really wanting to feed.

I don't think it's worth three hours of upsetting and forcing him. Just offer a feed every hour and youll catch him as soon as he's interested.

I remember this happening with ds1 who also had reflux. He had built up to an aversion to breast feeding over a period of weeks and refused completely eventually. I believe they can develop it due to an association with pain. Hopefully, this will prove to be 'just' teeth like you suggested. For us it meant going on to bottles as he found it slightly less painful, though was never good at them either! I would say offer both frequently but do not force it. Keep an eye out for dehydration. After about 24 hours of virtually no liquid, ds1 went for the bottle. The other thing that helped was to get a bit of breast milk in while he was still sleepy. I assume lots of cuddles, skin to skin again and trying really hard not to stress would help, though easier said than done. If no improvement, ask gp for referral to specialist speech therapist for sucking and swallowing. Good luck.

Sorry phrased that badly, didn't keep forcing it on him for 3 hours, more he was upset for 3 hours and eventually fed to sleep. He's lying in bed next to me looking weirdly content now, but must be starving! Hasn't fed since 11pm. Very confused.

It might be worth talking to your gp.

Does he have a temp?

Oh and he's 6 months, 10 weeks prem. He was always my champion feeder, his sister is rubbish!

Anyone else? Nearly 2 hours now and still no food, and back to screaming.

Have you eaten something very strong over the last few days? I had a friend who swore blind her DS fed badly if she had too much onion based food.

With me, DS seemed to suffer if I had too much dairy in my diet.

It might be worth thinking about.

Do his gums look sore or inflamed at all? I found DS fed more when teething for the comfort factor I think.

How have you got on today?

It's likely to be the reflux even if meds seem ok.

DS did this but younger. In the end I had to feed when drowsy, in a dark room to get fluids in. You can also try a syringe.

Have his meds evaluated. Is he on solids? DS seemed to have worse reflux at 6 months because he had a growth spurt so ate more and solids upset him.

Fingers crossed it's just teeth!

Hmm, we had 2 mornings of this, and then during the day he was occasionally feeding well and occasionally not. We're still only averaging 2-3 good Bfs a day.
The funniness in the morning coincided exactly with trying solids I've realised so I think maybe that made him constipated and uncomfortable. The playing with bottle feeds I think is teeth related - he's chewing and clamping down on the teat (not on me thankfully!)
He feeds worst when just woken - so 'dream feed' (he always wakes) and 1st thing in the morning. It's almost as if we need to drop the dream feed but he's not sleeping through.
His reflux mess have been recently reviewed and are at full whack right now.
So it could be to do with reflux, teeth, sleep,or possibly nipple confusion!! Arrgh!!