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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

5.5mth old refusing bottle

45 replies

Angeliki159 · 16/01/2019 21:06

My DS has been bottle fed from birth.
Started weaning him 1st Dec- gave him a little baby porridge just before his 4pm and 8pm bottles.
For the last week he hardly has his bottle
Out of 6oz he has 4oz on average. Sometimes he will only have 1oz.

He loves having his porridge and wolf's it down when we give it to him. But bottles just get pushed away.

Tried sippy cups, changed the teats to the size 3s, tried spoon feeding him milk, tried free flow bottles/cups. Tried giving him a bit of water...He drank a few mouthfuls but that's all.

Any suggestions?

I'm concerned he isn't getting enough fluid.
Also his weight is under at the moment so he is being monitored so he can't really carry on like this.

TIA

OP posts:

ChippedVarnish · 20/01/2019 00:42

I was also told that yoghurt and water were ok as a last resort if milkkeptnbeing refused

Imknackeredzzz · 20/01/2019 00:44

3 meals a day is ridicuous at 5 months, why the rush Jesus!

ChippedVarnish · 20/01/2019 00:48

I don’t think it’s particularly fair to be so judgemental...of course offer opinions, advice etc but it sounds like op is trying her best with feeding and doesn’t need to be made to feel bad

Original poster

Angeliki159 · 20/01/2019 14:30

@chippedvarnish THANK YOU!!!

I'm just doing what I was told to do.
I'm giving him porridge for breakfast then a bottle, lunch then a bottle etc
Since doing this, he has taken 5oz of his 6oz bottle almost everytime.
If I give him the bottle first he won't take any of it.
He just wants the food.
I'm offering him cooled boiled water between his bottles.
He's 6 months in a week and he is happy.

If you can't give porridge until they are 6 months, why does it say from 4 months on the box? Same with the puree?
He sits on his own, he holds his head in steady, he holds the spoon and puts it in his mouth, he has never spat the food out, knows how to physically push the food to the back and swallow.

Based on this, that's why the HV said to just wean him. He is clearly ready for food and there is no harm starting at 5.5 mths.
If he pushes the food out. Try again another day.

There really is no need to mumshame!

OP posts:

PoutySprout · 20/01/2019 14:38

He is clearly ready for food and there is no harm starting at 5.5 mths.

You started at 4 months though.

PoutySprout · 20/01/2019 14:40

If you can't give porridge until they are 6 months, why does it say from 4 months on the box? Same with the puree?

There can be medical reasons to start earlier.

Or maybe baby food manufacturers like the idea of 2 extra months of profit from those who ignore guidelines?

I'm just doing what I was told to do.

By whom? You weren’t medically advised to do it at 4 months.

Original poster

Angeliki159 · 20/01/2019 15:04

You mean like the safe sleeping guidelines that you ignored?!

OP posts:

Confusedbeetle · 20/01/2019 15:16

Op You are doing fine but I would suggest porridge in the evening and veg fruit the other meals. Make it pretty wet to keep the fluids up and give milk-based food eg yogurt if he is not taking many bottles. Most people here are too young to remember the introduction of the 6-month WHO weaning advice. It was done on the basis of looking at babies in undeveloped countries where babies were smaller and at risk of infection from poor water etc and was an attempt to improve longer breastfeeding. It was crackers with developed countries big babies and clean water, The result was a lot of hungry babies between 4 and 6 months, I am delighted new research is showing the benefit of earlier exposure to allergens ( pregnant mothers who eat peanuts, babies have fewer allergies also) In my experience you come across health professional who do not always keep up to date with good quality research. By the way, porridge has plenty of calories. We can only work with the evidence we have at the time and so it is important to keep up to date ( One of the reasons we Grannies don't always know best) I am sorry you have been subjected to some very unpleasant and ill-informed advice here. MN is frequently not a good place for advice. It is a forum only. You are getting opinions. If you don't find your HV very helpful you can always talk to a different one. It does sound like your doctors are supporting you. If you need further help ask for a hospital dietician, Don't ask here, Good luck

PoutySprout · 20/01/2019 15:49

I followed safe Co sleeping guidelines.

PoutySprout · 20/01/2019 15:50

With the blessing of my midwives and HV.

HerSymphonyAndSong · 20/01/2019 19:50

Why offer cooled boiled water if you are worried about milk intake? Offer milk instead!

Original poster

Angeliki159 · 21/01/2019 09:54

Poutysprout current guidelines say that you shouldn't co sleep at all.

OP posts:

Original poster

Angeliki159 · 21/01/2019 09:55

And I am giving him milk. Sometimes he won't take the whole bottle.

OP posts:

HerSymphonyAndSong · 21/01/2019 10:15

No current guidelines do not say that you should not cosleep at all - even the lullaby trust do not say that explicitly - the quote from their website is “We do not tell parents to never bed share”. But that is irrelevant to your concerns about weight gain and milk consumption

HerSymphonyAndSong · 21/01/2019 10:17

It’s a bit odd to bring up someone else’s sleeping arrangements in a thread about your baby’s feeding, when no one was talking about sleeping anyway

Original poster

Angeliki159 · 21/01/2019 10:35

My point is, the guidelines (according to the midwives and HV in this area) is never to co sleep. Yet it's fine for poutysprout to because her midwife/HV says it's ok...
Yet MY HV said it's ok to give him food and doctors said it's ok to give him porridge, yet I get attacked because I'm not following the rules/advice you were given.

My initial issue was that my baby was not taking his milk. Not the food/porridge. Yes I understand about him being full on the porridge and to give the milk first. Which I tried. Which is why i spoke to the.HV the following day. She told me to give him 3 meals a day plus his bottles as normal

But people are getting bitchy because I'm listening to my HV instead of them.

Just to clarify. The issue is resolved. He is having his bottles most of the time now that he is having food.

OP posts:

Alyosha · 21/01/2019 11:10

Mn has a heavy bias towards attachment parenting philosophies and people who are very pro breastfeeding. Recent research shows there is nothing wrong and many benefits to early weaning.

Having said that milk shoukd be majority of a baby's intake, mixing porridge with milk counts too...

HerSymphonyAndSong · 21/01/2019 13:30

What on earth has “attachment parenting” got to do with earlier weaning?

I BF, sometimes cosleep and introduced solids at 6mo and I wouldn’t describe myself as doing anything other than just “parenting”.

Anyway, I am pleased that your problem is resolved, OP

PoutySprout · 21/01/2019 17:54

My point is, the guidelines (according to the midwives and HV in this area) is never to co sleep. Yet it's fine for poutysprout to because her midwife/HV says it's ok...

I thoroughly researched it during pregnancy so didn’t actually need approval from anyone to do it. But even 8 years ago my midwife/HV understood that the benefits often outweigh the risks. (Millions of babies around the world bedshare.)

Yet MY HV said it's ok to give him food and doctors said it's ok to give him porridge, yet I get attacked because I'm not following the rules/advice you were given.

When was that? Because, and I quoted you, you implied that your doctor gave you no advice and your HV went apeshit that you were doing it. So that’s not on medical advice.

ChippedVarnish · 21/01/2019 22:12

Regardless of everything else, I can totally understand why you would offer cooked boiled water if he’s not taking bottles as you want him hydrated after refusing the milk.

So glad it’s resolved, hopefully just a phase I think teething and apparently “leaps” have a lot to do with it x

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