FF baby refusing to feed. Is it teething?

[Lucinda15]

My 4.5 month old usually takes 5-6 bottles a day, between 4-7oz a time, averaging around 30 oz a day.

Last few days she has become incredibly difficult to feed. She is not fussing particularly, not distressed at the bottle, but whinging a bit and just reluctant to feed. She takes a few gulps and then pulls away whinging. It may take quite a few attempts of this before she stays at the bottle and perhaps takes 3 oz. by bedtime yesterday she had only had a total of 21 oz in 12 hours.

She has definitely been teething, chewing and dribbling like mad. Last night she was very upset and unsettled at bedtime and we have calpol which calmed her right down. We were then able to do a dream feed an hour or so later and that topped her up to 24oz over the whole day.

We have moved up to the next size teats but this dsnt seem to have made a difference.

Is this down to teething? Is there more I could be doing or should I be concerned? She is a bit baby (91st percentile) and my first FF baby, I'm just not sure what is normal or if I should be worried.

TAke her to the gp to get checked for sore throat or ear infection.
Otherwise yes could be teething in which case by far the most effective thing is anbesol liquid (not gel)

Thanks. She has woken up a land refused this morning's bottle. It's worrying me, surely she must be ravenous? No walk in centres in my area I will call 111 and see what they suggest. I will also try and get some anbesol, I have heard that recommended before. Thank you.

Just discussed this again with DH, in particular whether she had an ear or theist infection and he pointed out a fairly obvious issue at the moment that I totally overlooked! She does have a cold/cough at the moment. Not particularly snotty so she can breath when feeding but the cough is troubling her. So maybe she could have a sore throat with that. She does not have a fever tho. Anyway. I'm thinking she may be under the weather and the cough and/or teething is getting in the way here. I will still call 111 for advice and get some anbesol liquid today and see how we go. Thanks x

If she is not taking liquids then I would not mess around and would go to A&E or a walk-in clinic.

As long as your LO is taking 20oz+ and having wet nappies, it should be OK. At 4.5 months DD would normally have 35oz of milk (+ vegetable purees twice a day - I weaned at 4 months) but when she started teething, she dropped her intake to 20-25oz for a few days. She then got back to her usual levels. In our case the problem was clearly teething - no cold, no cough, just very red chicks, lots of drooling and a very grumpy girl.

Thanks all. She is deffo taking more than 20oz a day, and we have started using anbesol this morning and she is getting back up to normal levels steadily with each bottle. Hopefully it's a teething issue and we're on the up now!

Great news! Hope she continues to get better over the next couple of days