13 week old refusing bottle (Formula fed) GP unhelpful

[H44123]

Hi,

regular poster here looking for your advice as a FTM I am unsure in a lot of things

baby is 13 weeks, was 2 weeks overdue. Had a tough start, was on omeprazole and comfort milk as was very colicky and screaming. Weaned off omeprazole approx 6 weeks old and stayed on comfort milk no issues, past 3/4 weeks it has been lovely, I was actually starting enjoying being a mum!

2 weeks ago we started back on normal cow and gate (same brand as comfort) no issue. Last week he was occasionally fighting the bottle and crying but still eatting. Had his 12 week jabs on Thursday and since then has fought every bottle.

I know babies can be off for a few days from vaccines but the bottle fighting started before this. He never did this with his first jabs and even when had reflux when younger still always had his milk no issue. Friday/sat he refused all and as a whole ate half of his usual feed. No wet nappy Saturday overnight. Yesterday we got food into him as he takes his dummy, when falling asleep taking the dummy out and putting the bottle in but if he wakes up and realised he pushes it out and screams. Doctor today was so dismissive and rude literally said no temperate and looked in his mouth and said no sore throat or thrush. Then said to speak to HV

his hands are in his mouth alot and dribbling and has been for past 2 weeks so I am wondering whether this is teething. But he has learnt to blow bubbles. Nothing else has changed, we are back on comfort milk, same bottle and vari flow tests as we always have been. I’m scared he will associate the bottle with pain, wondering whether reflux but no other symptoms or even if it’s a milk allergy as he will take a few mouthfuls then push the bottle out and scream.

As a whole he is back to being cranky and crying a lot nothing soothes him. I have tried Nelson’s teething gel and granules and not made a difference to him having his bottle.

is bottle refusal normal for teething babies? How old does it last? What else can I do? I have had a look and feel but in all honesty I don’t know what I’m looking or feeling for

thank you

Hey I’m so sorry, sounds like you’re having a really hard time. I too have been struggling with feeding. I can’t tell you what’s wrong but I could give you something to try that might help. Try feeding every hour with 1oz, put some music on some nice lights, make it zen. Give him one, wind him and then try again with another oz if he refuses that’s fine go again in another hour. Sometimes it will work others times it won’t. It’s extremely exhausting but it’s the only way Iv managed to get some milk in mine and then eventually we have managed to get up to 4oz my babies almost 4 months and has never drunk more then that.

Could it be that the test size is wrong? Maybe the milk is not fast flowing enough? I think I changed test size at about that age. Worth a try.

also try massaging in the morning and evening if your not already. The aim would be to lengthen in the times by 15mins between bottles. Please let me know if it helps at all

I also wondered about teat sizes. I think it might be worth trying other teat shapes too.

Yes, teat size. Sorry for typos

It sounds very much like they may have CMPA to me as well and that he's developing a bottle aversion

Iv also had my baby refuse bottles. If you get worried just got to A&E and they will monitor feeding. My baby has silent reflux it causes him to get congested and cough a lot.

Try the test the next size up, might be coming out too slowly and baby is getting frustrated.

Had similar and needed to increase the dose of omeprazole. You could try a bigger teat size quickly to see if that is the issue. Paediatrician strongly advised me not to transfer any stress about feeding to the baby and not to force it as it could lead to a real feeding aversion. Teat size didn’t make a difference but increasing the dose of omeprazole helped. The paediatrician advised that babies are clever and associate drinking their milk with heartburn, so want to avoid it.

Iv also tried changing to hypoallergenic milk but hasn’t made a difference but it’s also worth ruling out CMPA.

Baby could also have cmpa as others have said. If so, a specialist formula would need to be prescribed. They usually trial an extensively hydrolysed formula first and if that doesn’t help, an amino acid formula

i Brought my own milk as my Gp didn’t think is was CMPS my health Vistor advised Aptamil Pepti 1, it did cost me £35. I’m on day 3 and It hasn’t made a difference for my baby as yet. But would defo say it’s worth a try.

Thank you for your replies.

we use the vari flow teats which I am lead to believe are good are all ages as it just depends on their suck. We went back to using comfort milk yesterday incase it was the normal milk. I am really trying to be calm and not force it when he doesn’t want it as I am terrified of creating bottle aversion. I was hoping it’s just because of teething it also worried it it CMPA or reflux. But he has no other symptoms at all.. happy sleeping on his back, infact sleeping/napping better during the day than normal probably because of all the screaming. No arching back etc.

As the GP was so bad I have managed to get a HV walk in appointment tomorrow (weds) so hopefully they can have a look and see whether possibly teething as I have no clue what I’m looking or feeling for.

So upsetting, after the first 9 weeks being awful with bad colic and a miserable baby we started to enjoy life.., now I feel back to square one with a miserable baby, dreading the next day. He literally screamed for 2 hours last night, nothing soothes him, the bottle set it off, eventually got tired so took the bottle and fell asleep.

@H44123 Hi!

I know this post is quite old but I was just wondering what your outcome was? My baby is exactly the same right now and GP is being quite unhelpful

Thanks x

@Dotty23

hi

oh gosh this seems so long ago!

if I remember correctly baby started taking bottles again after about 2 weeks. Gradually started being ok. I think it was teething as even now he can go off them when it’s bad

what helped me was feeding him in his sleep so if you can do that. I didn’t change bottles or teats or anything but we went back to the comfort milk. Incidentally now have a new issue where we tried toddler milk and he wouldn’t stop pooping so I suspect the other milks don’t agree

even now when he wakes at 7am he doesn’t want a bottle when he last had one at maybe1am he waits til around 9/10am

try not to push it and just offer little and often and try when sleeping. Also found nurofen better for teething if you think that might be playing a part. I do think it’s a stage they can go through too as I read up saying some do

hope your little one is better soon. Sending hugs as I know how tough it is! Xx

Did you get sorted with this? I am also going through the exact same now with my 9 week old

his hands are in his mouth alot and dribbling and has been for past 2 weeks

Plus refusing a bottle. I reckon it's teething.

Try some calpol about 30 mins before a bottle is due and see if that makes a difference.

Hi,
I believe it was a bottle aversion and I read this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Babys-Bottle-feeding-Aversion-Solutions/dp/0648098400/ref=asc_df_0648098400/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697270414247&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9323019780282388454&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006601&hvtargid=pla-571608579301&psc=1&mcid=6b86aa1c97933e3b8fa13d1f02e6c109&th=1&psc=1&gad_source=1
I don’t know looking back if it could have been teething as his teeth didn’t pop through for another month but maybe it could? He dropped down to very little milk some days but eventually picked back up & really started to enjoy bottles again after a couple of weeks.

I’ve heard about this book I’ll have to have a read. Did you do anything in particular for him to go back to liking bottles? Everyday is different for us some days she’s fine and then the next it’s a struggle to get her to feed, it’s so confusing