Help! Little man being very difficult to feed!

[MummyEmz10082012]

Hi All,

Im at my wits end with trying to feed my little boy.

Hes nearly 6 months old and recently had a cold which he is completely over now but since then he has been very difficult to feed. He constantly flicks the bottle teat out with his tongue and is tightening his lips so you cant get the teat into his mouth. I can only manage to get half of his feed down if that.

Ive tried changing the teat type but no joy. He just doesnt seem interested in his milk at all Ive even tried leaving longer between his feeds but it makes no difference.

Whats more when he was weighed recently hes lost weight and the HV has put pressure on me to get little man to put on weight :-(

I just dont know what else to try and Im terrified he is going to lose more weight. What will happen if this occurs?

Also i suspect that he is teething and i do give him calpol when he is particularly grizzly but i dont want to constantly keep giving him this as i dont think it will do his tummy any good.

Please help! Mummy in need! :-(

How much weight has he lost? Is he eating solids?

The health vistor said he is two cencils (i think thats how its spelt) down. Which means he should be weighing 7.5kg but only weighs 6.2kgs.

We are trying solids but its early days he only takes very small amounts of baby food.

Has he actually lost weight, or just gone down the centiles?

Just gone down centiles as he has slowly been gaining weight. The way the HV put it across it was like she was saying he has lost weight sorry for confusion think im over panicing myself :-/

I wouldn't panic just yet - sometimes weight gain does slow, especially if it's for a genuine reason like teething and a cold. I wouldn't try to force him to have milk or force the bottle into his mouth either as he will get bad associations with feeding. Maybe try smaller feeds more often?

A drop of two centile spaces is within normal - your HV needs to explain why in your individual case she is concerned.