ds getting worse, he's now screaming whenever he sees a bottle.

[frootloop]

im running out of ideas now.

took him to the gp yesterday who gave gaviscon, which didnt work.

ive tried calpol, calgel, gripe water, disguising the bottle and none of it worked.

i tried giving some baby rice and he clamped his lips shut.

now tried changing formula, he still screams.

he had a grand total of 16oz yesterday and nothing but a few sips today.

he's now started coughing and im dreading the weekend, im so worried.

should i go back to the gp? or give the gaviscon a bit longer to work? what do i do???

what age is he? Have you tried using a lidded cup instead of a bottle? (or even an open cup if you can handle the mess!)

is he ill? how old is he>?

If you think it's reflux then go back and ask for something a bit more heavy duty than Gaviscon. Could he have a dairy intolerance? Have you tried one of the special formulas?

How long has this been going on for?

froot, sounds as if this is behavioral, not health related. And the more tense the whole thing becomes, the more difficult it is.

I agree about trying a cup. Even an egg cup.

It's also important to try to take the tension out of the situation - difficult, as the situation is what's causing the tension....

Is your HV any use?

I think froot's baby is about 4-5 mths.

he's now 5 months.

it been going on for about 3 weeks and its been slowly getting worse, but its only in the last 3/4 days he's been refusing and drinking hardly anything.

ive tried using the lid of his bottle, he spits it out again.

he seems perfectly normal, no tempurature.

dh tried giving him his bottle as i was getting so stressed and he still screamed and thrashed about.

all i can think to do is just leave him untill he is screaming for food

froot - don't use his bottle lid. My idea would be to use something completely different, with a tiny amount inside and make it into a game with you pretending to drink from it, then it being his turn, and so on...but if he gets upset, stop immediately.

And is the HV likely to be helpful?

do you have a sling? carrying him upright and close to you can help

also, you could try this:

strip half naked, take his clotehs off too, get into bed and snuggle up together, and try feeding him skin to skin and make eye contact and be really close to him..

the gaviscon needs time to work over time or is it instant?

probaly worth perservering with

don;t bother with baby rice, he does not need any new things to deal with, just milk

Why did the gp give gaviscon? Did he think it was reflux? Can reflux suddenly start at 5 months?

Ds had reflux and dairy intolerance and he behaved exactly as you describe towards the bottle (was bf but topped up for a while). We gave him thickened feeds with a soft cup, and that worked for a bit but tbh nothing really did the trick until we put him on heavy duty drugs.

DD refused to take a bottle for ages and we finally took her to the noisest brightest place we could find - the local bowling alley actually - and she was so busy gazing at the lights and noise, DH just slipped the bottle (one with a NUK teat so nothing spurted out until she started sucking) into her mouth and she just sucked automatically while she was so distracted.
Any discos near you or anything....?

i will try those tiktok and lulumama.

HV is pretty useless, she just said to go to gp.

he will take his bottle without much fuss at night when he is half asleep, but not during the day, which is why its so frustrating, he had 6oz between 7am and 6 pm and then 10oz during the night.

could it be related to a very stressful time he had recently??

froot, my experience is with babies who reject the breast for a time, and yes, sometimes there is a recent stressful experience (a stay in hospital, separation from mum, for instance). Babies are so sensitive but they have no way of rally communicating that something is not right in their world, and this causes what often looks like stressed out behaviour with feeding (which is central to their lives and relationships)....but I am speculating, as I don't think this has been studied much.

Usually, with breastfeeding 'strikes', patience and gentleness bring the baby round.

oh fruit it sounds like a nightmare, ds4 has the occasional fussy day with a bottle, i try feeding him in diff postions, standing up and rocking him etc.

even in the bath might be worth a go, if he likes the bath that is? get in with him.

i think i would go with tiktoks suggestion and to try a cup, just let him play with it and see how he goes.

my elder three boys all went through phases when they refused the breast when awake and would only feed during the night or very sleepy during the day.

I really hope he improves soon, its awful when there are problems with feeding as you get so worried and stressed and it feels like such a personal rejection.

we are taking him back to the gp, he's only had 1.5oz in 11 hours.

not sure if im OTT in worying so much but better safe than sorry.

It could be reflux. Could you get a referral to a rapid access clinic?