Hi all, looking for some advice and other people’s experiences as I’m really suffering with anxiety about my sons feeding. He’s 12 weeks on Friday.
Due to traumatic birth he is FF. Started on aptamil but had 10+ dirty nappies so changed to Hipp 2 weeks in. Always was a bit fussy ion the bottle but at first we put this down to colic. In his fifth week things started to get worrying - he was clearly in pain taking the bottle and was crying and very fussy during feeding, especially when awake. Previously was doing 4-5oz easily in many feeds, then struggled to get him to feed. He’d try but clearly was in pain (I suspect from acid reflux).
Dr was very condescending and prescribed baby gaviscon which did nothing. Another out of hours doctor prescribed nutramigen for suspected CPMA but we tried this for about 3 weeks and no improvement and baby’s feeding became more and more stressful and he became fussier on the bottle. Also gags a lot on bottle and coughs on it. Makes a funny noise after feeding at times (think from floppy larynx) and mouth makes a clicking noise. Sometimes when he takes bottle his tongue is really loud sucking noise. Found it much easier to dream feed during this time because he was in so much pain awake so had to catch DS during naps or get him off to sleep to feed. This has carried on and I have real anxiety about his feeding.
At night he was very unsettled after his second feed of the night- made really loud noises and could hear him gulping milk and milk coming up and down. Clearly had reflux and probably silent reflux as he brings up a lot of milk after most feeds - either immediately but also mouthfuls up to 2 hours after a feed.
Otherwise he is a very happy baby. Loves playing, very strong and contented. He started sleeping through the night earlier this week.
Finally saw a paediatrician privately a few weeks ago after no success with GP, who prescribed neocate and omeprazole for GERD and CPMA. These have helped with the pain as he feeds so much better but we are still struggling with feeding him awake. I am worried the pain has caused an aversion as he often rejects bottles when awake. I have tried to do more awake feeds but he will often turn his head away entirely on the first offer and then cry for it about an hour later. Then, when I give it to him he takes a few ounces, stops and then fall asleep and takes the rest. This week he is showing even more aversive behaviour (cried a couple of times when we offered bottle) and his milk intake is falling. His weight had dropped slightly from 91st to 75th centile but went back up when we switched to neocate. I suspect he hasn’t put on much this week at all.
The last few weeks have been a living nightmare and I have been so worried about him but have felt very unsupported. I don’t feel I can leave the house because he feeds so badly and I dread every feeding. I’m sure my anxiety rubs off on him so am working on that.
I am baffled by the way he acts with the bottle and worried he now has an aversion. We have the speech and language therapist assessing him later this week but I genuinely don’t know what to do. Wondered if anyone has any experiences or advice to share as I feel so hopeless.