5.5 month old suddenly pushing away bottles, not finishing feeds. Why???

[ElmMum]

My DD has always had a very good appetite, chugging through breast and bottle, always finishing every drop, gurgling like Beavis and Butthead when she realises she's about to eat!

But suddenly this week she's not finishing any feeds - leaving quite substantial amounts of each. She's a very good weight, so I'm not worried about her health (unless it went on for a while). I'm more concerned because it's not like her and also because it means she's not sleeping through like she was.

Sometimes she's quite playful about refusing and smiles while she's doing it. Other times she gets quite upset.

Any ideas why? Thoughts I'd had were: teething; flow of teat too slow; she's just bored of milk and fancies something else to eat.

Oh, I should say that I try to let her show me if she wants more or not, as I'm conscious that with BF babies, they control what they take in, whereas bottle fed babies aren't in control. Plus, I'm going to do baby led weaning, so I want her to develop her own controls.

In other words, I don't force it on her if she doesn't want it and up til this week, that's never been an issue as she's always finished every drop.

Anyone? All advice very gratefully received

dunno - but sympathise as dd little younger (4 months) and doing the same. someone suggested she was teething (I don't think she is but cold be a prob for your dd). What has helped is putting her on slower teat (I changed to faster teat but that was too much) and doing it somewhere quiet. Also have started to give her some food as she was salivating /watching what we were eating and whether its coincidence or not she has been better since.

Elmmum unless you have changed anything e.g. bottles, milk, she is probably feeling a bit poorly - through teeth or stomach. My DS at about that age started refusing BF and bottles , or drinking for a bit and then pushing away. We thought his reflux had come back, I was panicking - but after a few days he started having bright yellow diarrhea. It didn't seem to bother him in any other way though. I would watch and wait for a little longer.

Ds did this at a similar age - he would push the bottle away and then scream to have it back. Before this he had always finished every bottle.

The only thing that worked was not to hold him in our arms for feeds. We used to lie him on the rug and hold the bottle for him, and he would drink it happily. I don't know if it was a wind problem or something, but after a couple of weeks he was back to normal.

She definitely doesn't seem herself. Face is a bit blotchy and dry looking (nothing anyone else would probably notice) and she's quieter than normal, not as quick to smile - and she's usually very smiley. Poor little mite - I think it's probably teeth or a bit under the weather.

Thanks all