3 month old refusing full feeds opting to snack! HELP

6 replies

Kahil · 09/03/2013 06:27

Hi,

I am having real trouble with my 13 week old son who is refusing full feeds, opting to take 2-3 oz instead of the 6 that he needs resulting in him wanting to feed very frequently and this is wreaking havoc with sleeping.
I've tried making him wait by offering him cool boiled water as HV suggested but he just howls and howls.
For the past few nights at his last feed around 22:30, he's only been taking an ounce. I go through the winding, bum changing etc to try and encourage him to take more but to no avail. He then wakes again at 00:30-01:00 where he will take no more than 3-4oz and then he's up again at 05:00.
I have also tried dropping the last feed and he manages to go from 19:00 - 01:00 without the last evening feed but then he will still only take maximum of 4oz when I thought he would be ravenous!!
I am at a loss with what else to try and wondered if anyone had any suggestions please?

Thank you.

OP posts:

thompson369 · 09/03/2013 06:34

Hmmm very hard to know but I've ff two babies and having traf what you've put I think I'd be sticking with the last feed at 7, get him to bed and then next feed at 1. I suppose the total daily intake is what matters but at least if you could get into a routine you're happy with at evening then the rest of the day will settle down. Are you keeping an eye on weight gain too?

thompson369 · 09/03/2013 06:35

having read

minipie · 09/03/2013 16:28

how big are his day feeds? if his day feeds are a decent size then could be that he is not really that hungry in the night and so the feeds are more of a 'back to sleep' association than anything else. if so... then the solution is to change his sleep associations so he can get back to sleep without a feed... easier said than done however!

katiecubs · 09/03/2013 19:38

DS did this too - it was because he was a bit refluxy and smaller feeds were more comfortable. Not much you can do about it tbh, he was waking every 3 hrs for ages and then suddenly at 4.5 months just started sleeping through!!

Original poster

Kahil · 09/03/2013 19:51

He does suffer with silent reflux for which he was on infant gaviscon but has been taken off that as it was severely constipating him.
His day feeds seem to be getting better. He takes 3oz and then will have a breather and want the other 3 about an hour later which isn't terrible.
I don't mind the getting up for him in the night, it's just it seems to make him so tired as he wants to be up for 2 hrs.
I guess it's perseverance. The HV said it may not improve until he is on solids but I am in no rush to get him going with that until he established good feeding with his milk. Also, I like to get advise from other Mummies as I find some health visitors very old school.
Weight gain is fine. He's 14lb 2oz at last weigh in which was Thursday last week and has steadily increased. He seemed to gain more when I was exclusively breast feeding but he was really poorly with a cold and cough and struggled to feed off anything other than the bottle and then I seemed to dry up a bit so we made the decision to move him over to formula. Not entirely sure whether that was the best move :(
It's all so trial and error!!
Thanks ladies x

OP posts:

minipie · 11/03/2013 19:50

if you think he is still suffering with the silent reflux, you could ask for ranitidine. it's more effective than gaviscon and doesn't constipate. this may help with the night waking...

Flip