Can a bottle-fed baby go on a 'nursing strike'?

[Ceebee74]

Have googled and it all relates to breastfed babies.

DS2 (4 months) has been refusing to feed for the last 3 days. He has got a cough/cold so I wondered if he is struggling to suck but will quite happily suck on a dummy for ages.

Every bottle he has one suck, screams for a bit, has another suck, screams for a bit etc. I calm him down with his dummy which he is quite happy with and try again and can usually manage to get him to suck (on and off) but he is only taking about 3oz at a time.

He is still sleeping through and isn't screaming for milk more than normal - has he just lost his appetite?

Hi Ceebee

DS went on a hunger strike a few weeks ago when he was ill, managed 3 3oz bottles in 24 hours for about 3 days, we eventually took hime to the Dr's and had dioralite prescribed.

Have you taken him to the GP? Maybe he has a sore throat or ear infection, or something else making him uncomfy?

Rule out a sickness first but:

When my daughter did this my MW told me to change her teats to the next stage. She was on stage 2 and when I changed her to stage 3 or veri-flow she started eating again.

Don't know what teats you use or size but maybe that would help?

at 4 months he could be teething..

quite often around this age ds would refuse his bottle, we rubbed some bonjela on his gums, 2 mins later he was happily guzzling down 8 oz's

Thanks for all the responses.

Would you take him to a GP? Apart from having a bad cough and being a little bit grumpier than normal (though it is hard to tell the difference ) he seems ok so I have not taken him to the doctors.

Im having exactly that same with DD ( 4 moths) and after numerous othe threads on this and posting yesterday ive convinced myself it really is just a funny phase, and should go away, just be persistent with the bottles, this is what im doing. also ive tried the bonjela on gums 5 mins before feedinga ndit seems to help so worth a try. i met up with my NCT group today and out of 7 of us 5 were having the same prob, apparently its a funny 4 month phase?!!

Emmanj - thanks for that - makes me feel so much better. All the information about 'nursing strikes' say it is common around this time so why would it be different for a bottle-fed baby? Surely the reasons would be the same.

I suppose with DS2 being ill, it is all getting confused so I don't know if it is because he is poorly or just being a stubborn little so and so