URGENT: 8 week old has reduced her feeds!

[artyjoe]

My 8 week old has been happily drinking 4-5 ozs of formula milk, 6 times a day, for a few weeks now...bottle fed from birth.

The last three days I've noticed the amount she drinks drop slowly at each feed, but today she only took 2oz after her 6 hour sleep and then 1oz mid morning and 1oz this afternoon.

Three things have changed that I've done:

1. I've added gripe water due to her painful wind.

2. She had her 8 week injections yesterday, but her food was dropping slightly before the injections.

3. I also changed her dummy three days ago from a thin one to a cherry one (which she seems very happy with and which I only give her when she gets frustrated trying to get her thumb)...she doesn't seem to suck this longer than her original one.

I've tasted the gripe water and can't imagine it is this...but am I wrong?

Her demeanour seems fine, sleeping and playing as usual.

Any ideas or advice as I'm getting very worried?

Anyone?

My DD stopped having her 3am feed at 3weeks and then stopped her 11pm feed at 8-9weeks. All she has is 4 x 7oz of milk and is doing fine... the HV said as long as she's gaining weight it's no problem... hope this helps, i know it's very worrying!

I should point out that as soon as she dropped her 11pm feed, i bumped her daytime milks from 6 to 7oz - not that she drinks it all, but still...

she's probably feeling a little out of sorts after injection

but don't forget about natural baby growth patterns which happens in spurts .. so they tank up with lots of food then it slows down .. there's normally a 6 week growth spurt followed by a lull .. then another growth spurt around 10 or 12 weeks

do not be worried it sounds totally normal and she will probably start eating more normally soon

personally I wouldn't add gripe water to formula .. can you get the stuff you give them directly just before a feed

HTH

We are 7 days on and my 9 week old has still dropped her feeds and is crying a lot with what seems like stomach ache.

She used to be on 35oz a day and is now on around 15-18 oz. I am taking her to the HV tomorrow but I went to the doctor and she said nothing wrong as my baby was smiling and happy, which she is a lot, but she's also in a lot of pain at times in the day.

I'm giving her Infacol before feeds and Gripe Water after, any ideas of this can make it worse? She gets through half a bottle and squirms and cries and no matter at what point I burp her, if I take her off the bottle she won't go back on.

Any advice as I feel I'm being ignored by doctors and HV but am worried my baby isn't thriving

maybe changing her formula might help - apparently when I was a few months old whatever the milupa formula was in those days seemed to disagree with me, so my mum switched me to another formula. also maybe if you feed her sat up/have her sat up after a feed that might help her digest it more easily? i would also suggest burping her loads of times through the bottle, but from what you have said if you take her off the bottle she doesn't want any more.

ds was colicky/sicky - personally i never found infacol made any difference either way to him. one thing the HV suggested was an oz or so of cooled boiled water between feeds to help with wind. maybe that might help

keep plugging away with HV or see a different GP if you are still concerned.

artyjoe - is the crying during or after feeds or both and is she sick very often ??

Gripe water did'nt do much for my ds but the infacol helped a little - it was quite a while though before we found out it was reflux and the dr presribed gaviscon which really did the trick. ds started with this at 4 weeks and I think (fingers crossed) has now grown out of it, he is now 13 weeks.

She especially cries during her feeds, she'll go rigid and red and scream, but keep hold of the teet of the bottle and after a few seconds sit back down again and start to drink. She will also then start again maybe an hour after feeding where she'll bring her legs up and scream...normally she's fast asleep and this wakes her up

Saw the HV today and she is gaining weight although she's now dropped below the line in her red book that she was following, but the HV said this is okay.

I haven't tried boiled water in between but I will now...the HV said it was colic, but she also said it was very rare for it to suddenly start at 9 weeks. She also said NOT to change her formula as this is likely to upset her even more!

What is reflux? How would I know if she has that?

It breaks my heart seeing her in so much pain, especially as she really hasn't cried for the first 9 weeks of her life so I'm not 'used' to it as such

Reflux is a form of acid indigestion due to immaturity of valve at top of stomach - either "hidden" so it causes discomfort in throat and gullet or more obvious in the form of regular vomiting (not just possetting) after and between feeds. Keeping upright after feeds can help (car seat or bouncy chair), raising head of cot with books under the feet or rolled blankets under mattress and some find Infant Gaviscon, thickener to add to feeds or special thicker formula help keep it down in stomach longer and relieve the symptoms.

However, if it were reflux, I would have thought that her behaviour prior to now would also have been indicative of it ie. inability to settle flat, crying, wanting to be held continuously, perhaps being sicky etc. It may still just be trapped wind, a reaction to the jabs or just restlessness as she is developing. Fennel tea may be an alternative to the gripe water but I'd be worried about filling her up on fluids other than milk if her intake has dropped significantly already.

Hope things settle down again soon.

btw if she is crying during feeds she'll take in air with her milk, which might cause the later problems. Have you tried a faster teat in case she is frustrated by the slow rate of flow ?

Hi Lizs, I did try a faster teat but it didn't seem to make any difference to the amount she had...but the faster teat didn't have the 'bumps' that her usual one has, so I'll try and get some identical ones tomorrow and see if that helps.

It doesn't sound like she has reflux so I'll definitely try a faster teat...am a bit reluctant to give her anything other than milk due to her dropped feeds, but if the teats don't work I'll try anything.

Thanks for all your advice everyone x

I know it's been 15yrs but you described my little girl. I'd love to know the outcome. I'm so worried about her eating.

Hey,

Mine too, he had his injections on 25th August and it’s been a battle to get him to feed since. He seemed to get better on Monday but was worse again yesterday, I took him to the out of hours and they have suggested Colic and to give him infacol. Does anyone have any other suggestions? It’s like I have a completely different baby!!

Hey did you ladies find a solution?

I found that I’d given him a bottle feeding aversion, I had to change back to the slow flow teats and completely change the sensory experience for him, feeding in different places and no longer in my arms. Playing music and taking his baby grow off ect. The infacol didn’t help, he refused the bottles as soon as I put him in the usual feeding position and only took them once he was starving, wind has never been a problem for him- he could quite easily take a 6oz bottle and fall asleep and not wake up until the morning. He’s since had a cold which put us back, 4 weeks on and I’m only just getting him back to his usual intake.

Thank you so much for replying! You have made us feel so much better. Good to know our girl is being difficult and doesn’t have an issue! Annoying this could last a while though and the frustration. At least she is healthy

No worries, take her to the GP if you are concerned, no harm in trying a bit of infacol. They may also suggest silent reflux. I went twice with my boy. I just felt like 8 weeks was suddenly an odd time to develop colic or reflux and he’s a happy boy in between feeding times it’s just the task of getting him to take the bottle which was nearly impossible. He is improving though and I hope your daughter does soon too.

Oh wow, you guys have been through what I’m going through now!! My son won’t take the bottle half way through.. now it’s becoming less and less.. I’m so worried and frustrated just want to cry every time I need to feed him, feel I’m going to break down! Any suggestions now that it’s been 6 months? Would be so grateful for your replies!