Baby doesn't drink milk

[babyfeedingissues]

Baby was born at 37 weeks and generally healthy.
He is exclusively formula fed.

From birth he scoffed milk like he'd never seen it before, drinking around 700ml a day. But then the intake steadily declined form about 4 weeks to 500-600ml a day and he started showing signs of reflux with a lot of screaming and squealing and back arching whilst taking bottle. We started reflux medication and then tried everything possible to get him to eat more including gas drops, different teats, different bottles, different formula (including a reflux special one), osteopathy, physio, upright feeding, paced feeding, feeding on demand, feeding every 4 hours and even getting his tongue tie released.

He still only eats 500-650ml a day at 15 weeks and is now 2nd percentile for weight. He doesn't seem upset or too lethargic but he does sleep for about 12 hours at night. We wake him twice to feed to get it into him but he wouldn't wake up himself.

I have been given something called polycal to add to his milk to add calories but it's not working.

He has also just discovered his tongue so now just plays with the bottle teat and pushes it around.

The kid just is not hungry. I cannot get him to eat more. Doctors aren't helpful. I have seen two and a paediatrician and they just say to feed him when he is hungry - which is never. Today we haven't even managed to get 400ml into him and it's 5pm here.

I don't know what else to do and I feel so alone. Did anyone else have a kid that just wasn't hungry?!

I have had similar with both of my DDs. Neither of them seemed to really like milk and both had similar symptoms of silent reflux. Have you tried him with a non-cows milk? He could have CMPA although you would expect some other symptoms. Occasionally the only symptom can be reflux and then babies develop a feeding aversion.

Other than that I’d be asking your paediatrician about early weaning to get him onto solids earlier. You can probably start on stuff like baby porridge from about 18 weeks under the guidance of a doctor.

What centile was he born on? Neither of my girls ate much but somehow they stayed ok weight wise. I don’t really understand how because they both had very little milk but their nappy output was good and they gained weight steadily. But my eldest in particular had about half of what was recommended for her age.

I had this - eating loads and then it really tailed off when he was about 3/4 months. Lots of talk about reflux and omeprazole (think that's how you spell it?) I think in reality he had a feeding aversion caused by me being so stressed about getting 700ml into him in every 24 hour period. On many occasions I was trying to get him to feed and he would pull away/turn his head and I would just try again and again. We saw a paediatrician and then a paediatric gastroenterologist - the PG said start weaning at 4 months and it was really helped - just started with the aptamil porridge which he loved and it let me relax about the milk consumption because he was also getting calories from food. Now he's 9 months and having 500/600ml milk plus three big meals and he's so much happier. Good luck!!

Thanks. No allergy here so I'm afraid that's not it.

He was born early and on the 25th percentile so he's dropped percentiles he just will not finish a bottle. He has put on weight but not very much.

I think there's a combination of issues here (a) he isn't hungry and (b) I have given him a feeding aversion from my stress because I keep trying to force it into him but don't know how to fix it - there a book on this but it basically advocates that you stop offering after two tries each time and wait for the next feed. If I do this he just won't eat but will get upset if he is actually hungry so how can I realistically do that to a kid?!

Nappy output is generally good but has been lower in the last couple of days.

What do I do?! Doctors don't seem to be taking me seriously.

I'd say start weaning - start on the porridge made by your formula milk company. They usually say say from 4 months on the packet.

Hiya my son had same situation since 6months and he doesnt grow weight or height he was only 71.5cm when he was one yr old now he is 3yrs and half but because of refusing taking milk he is quite shorter than average not even 95cm i have my second baby now because of my eldest son i have learnt a lesson which is you never force him to drink milk will get worse trust me, if he doesnt like it just take the bottle away, secondly your feeding position probably wrong the baby needs to stay sit position and the bottle should be holding flat so he can contorl the speed of gettinf the milk otherwise he would have silence refulx and this will lead to once he sees bottle he hate it as he got nightmare of it i think your baby probably grow up already and i hope my message can be seen by other parents who is suffering this and btw how is your baby now? Did he drink milk later or you have started solid food for him? Regards

Hiya just curious what did you normally feed your baby to get caroles even though he refuse taking milk? Because you said he still gain weight thanks

@babyfeedingissues hi, I’m just wondering how you got on with baby since you posted this? Reading your post is like I wrote it about my 3
Month old son! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to the hospital and GP but I’ve just been told nothing is wrong. They can see he has dropped percentiles but they don’t seem concerned!

@bigheartlittleheart how have you gotten on with your baby? Did it get better? My DS is 12 weeks and won’t drink much at all!

It may be from trying to get him to drink when he wasn’t hungry?
my first had a tongue tie ( I was exclusively breast feeding)
they snipped it and to make sure they swallow the blood and don’t choke asked me to latch him straight on after they cut the tongue tie.
i had an awful week afterwards where he didn’t want to latch at all, screaming, back arching etc. it took hours to feed him each time and was horrific. Luckily breast feeding consultant witnessed it at the check up appointment.
she sent me home telling me to strip my top off and him too and sit/lie on the sofa all day under a blanket and do skin to skin. I did for a couple of days and weirdly it worked.
but I don’t know whether the breast feeding versus bottle would mean it may not work for him? (As in I obviously must have smelt of milk) but I guess it just took the pressure off for both of us!
sending lots of love!

@SassyPants87 Hi, so sorry I never replied. Tbh it's been a difficult journey with his milk! He's 8 months now. We tried so many different things - even tried Kendamil goats milk which he seemed to like but it gave him diarrhoea so we had to stop. It's very expensive but may be worth trying it out. We then just stuck to his original milk hipp organic. We had to distract him by shaking a toy or something just to get him to drink milk sometimes. Thankfully his feed before bed was always good and he would drink out without any toys. He is now 8 months, definitely isn't the weight he should be but docs never worried or bothered to look into it. They always said he looks healthy. Fortunately, he has now on solids and really enjoys food! He's having two full meals (breakfast and lunch) and we're still aiming for him to have up to 20 ounces of milk - if not, I don't worry and just make sure he has vitamins.