HELP My 7 Month old DD refuses to drink and is very difficult with feeding - Is there anyone out there that can help me!!!!!!!!!

[Gina1981]

My DD is now 7 and half months old and since she was 2 months old i have had trouble feeding her.

She was diagnosed with silent reflux at first but after medication, blood tests, an endoscopy and PH probe we were told that her reflux wasn't as bad as they thought and that there is no need for medication (not that it was doing much).

Over the last couple of months her weight has been dropping and it's almost impossible to get her to drink anything.

Feeding her solids is becoming more than a task and by the end of it all leaves both mother and baby very stressed out.

Her milk intake now is less than 8oz a day and that is only an estimate - some days she has less. she will only drink around 40z and the rest i have to add to her food.

To be honest i have no routine as she never indicates that she is hungry and when i offer her food or drink 90% of the time she refuses it.

I have tried so many things but nothing is working.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!1

You need to go and see the doctor. This cannot continue and obviously something has to be done.

Is she eating liquidy foods (cereals etc)?

Sorry you are having such a crappy time.

Hmm, although you say that her silent reflux was not as bad as first thought, the fact you are having such problems with feeding kind of suggest that it is still causing problems. Babies who have reflux can develop issues with feeding/food because of reflux and negative association with food/milk because of pain suffered when feeding. Are you still in contact with or did you ever see a paed about her problems?

My dd had reflux (not silent, my god, anything but ) and although she is a good eater of food, she was never a big milk fan and her intake of milk was extremely low. (she's really healthy btw, it hasn't done much harm not having a lot of milk!)

how much weight is she losing? are you seeing your HV for weigh ins? what are her suggestions? has she referred you back to your gp or to a paed?

She was seen by one of the top consultants in the country who we are due to see in 6 weeks time and is thinking of putting her on high energy milk - which i see no point as she isn't taking much of the normal formula.

Breakfast is the most challenging - and that really is the only time i can get some milk in a meal. She has some but is so difficult with it. I know babies and children need a certain amount of distraction with feeding some don't any at all but with my dd she clearly and simply doesn't want it and there is nothing i can do to get her to take it!

I'm going out of my mind with worry as she is losing weight and surely not getting enough fluids or nutrients either.

Can you call this consultant's secretary and ask for the appointment to be moved forward - offer to take a cancellation or something?

i would have thought the high calorie stuff would be good though, even just if she's having very little. it's good you're seeing the best there is in this field though isn't it? must be hard having the 6 week wait. any way you can hurry this up?

also have you tried her with finger foods at all? see if she'd rather feed herself than take food on a spoon? treat it as play time rather than a battle to get some food into her.

Is there any way of seeing the consultant sooner? High energy formula was mentioned when my dd was tiny because she lost so much weight from being constantly sick. It might be worth considering, even if your dd doesn't take a lot of milk, if what she takes is the high-energy milk, it could help, and certainly not hinder?

You must be so worried

will she nibble with finger foods at all??? good luck hope it sorts it's self out....... six weeks seems a long time to wait to see the consultant if she is losing weight could you ring for a telephone consultation to put your mind at rest???

Right, firstly I wouldn't worry about the solids too much at the moment. There are more calories in milk than in the sorts of things she will be eating at present, and it's really not unusual for babies to not eat well before they are 1 (especially the case for many blw babies).

Secondly, apart from not being interested in eating/drinking, how is she throughout the day/night? Perfectly happy, or moany a lot? Asking because I wonder if she might also have milk intolerance, which can put babies off drinking (often goes hand in hand with reflux - my dd is milk intolerant and also had silent reflux). Have you tried a hypoallergenic formula (Nutramigen, Pepti-Junior, Neocate) to see if she is better with those?

Thirdly, have you tried different bottles/teats/cups? I've never bottle fed, but understand that these can make a big difference.

Is she BF or FF?
Does she have wet nappies throughout the day?
How does she sleep?

my dd has had severe reflux. we have had loads of problems. speak to your hv and try to get a dietician involved. she could be put on infatrini which is a high caloie milk, thickened feeds, even a low dosage of medication just to help her. my dd is 3 and now has a gastrostomy in because we're lucky if she drinks two ounces a day. it's so hard. i'd start keeping a record of what she eats, drinks and what nappies she's producing. hope it gets sorted soon.

Thanks everyone for the advice and really quick response!

My GP wasn't much help at first, it wan't until we took her to A&E when she was 5 months old that they took notice of us. It was then she was put on medication and to go back for a follow up! Unfortunately we didn't get much luck with the NHS so we opted to go private and that is when we found a consultant who specialises in Pead Gastro and nutrition.

She had the endoscopy, ph probe and blood tests ( which they tested for allergies) under a month ago now! All results have come back normal apart from the exit from her stomach to her bowel is a bit narrow but her consultant said it wasn't anything to worry about and it should widen as she grows!

I have spent so much money on every bottle, teat, beaker, cup and more i could open my own shop! To be honest nothing has helped and i don't even know if the bottle she is on now is the right one!

Her consultant doesn't really seem to be that worried about it all and has adopted the attitude that there is nothing medically wrong then there is nothing wrong and doesn't understand how hard it is!

I'm sure she has silent reflux or reflux of some sort but now think it has died down as she isn't as sick as much as she use to only now just refusing to eat and drink!

I experiement with her everyday with finger foods and different distractions. The only thing i can confidently say she enjoys cumcumber!

There aren't many wet nappies at all and she only opens her bowels every other day! Which appears that she is always constipated!

For a long time now i have been keeping a record of her intake and outtake and was told by her consultant to stop as there was not much point.

She was 3 weeks early but a good weight and started on the 50th centile, now she is just below the 25th and going down! she has been between 7.24kg - 7.50kg for the past 3 months. She has been sleeping through the night now since she was 2 months old (when all the feeding trouble started) and during the day she could have upto 4 naps, so overall sleeps a hell of alot! She is quite a happy baby not much moaning at all!

I am going to ring her consultant asap to see him sooner as this is beoming a huge strain on myself especially and surely this is no good for my dd.

I thought i would post to see if anyone has or is going through what i am going through and to see if i have anything to worry about and if anyone has any ideas!