5 month old off his food?

[manna]

Any help greatfully appreciated. My ds is 5 months, and a very content gina baby. He's a good, fast feeder, but when he's had enough, that's it. He's also more interested in anything else happening rather than feeding. So we feed quietly, whenever possible. The last 3 days he's be turning his nose up at up to half of each bottle, and also his solids, which he has never done before. Could it be that he doesn't like baby rice anymore - He seems to snub that particularly. Is it because he has that at 6pm and is tired, or the heat is effecting him (at the moment!), teething, anything? Any ideas? He's very tall and very active so I would like him to eat more to keep himself going, or he gets grumpy. However, I don't want to force him. He has a typical clbb menu: fruit for b'fast, veg lunch, baby rice & fruit dinner + 4 feeds a day. Could it be that he needs to try other things - I vary the fruit and veg as much as possible. Also - does anyone know if I can magimix organic porrige oats to make them fine enough for him to eat? Would I mix them with warmed formula? do they need cooking through?

Hi manna - Guess who ???

First - no panic !
Second, yes he could be teething or be fed up of baby rice. Try something new if you can - remmeber what we said to Pena : he will NOT starve himslef... he may just be more interested in other things. There are babies who'se appetite fluctuates.
I don't thinks that eating more will make him less grumpy - if he is hungry he'll eat but he may have outgrown the baby rice. Have you tried avocado ?
3 - yes you can refine porridge cooked or uncooked. I mix it and cook it (3 minutes I think- depends what brand maybe) with formula (in my case goat milk).

BTW - where is Pena ?

thanks pupuce - I am quite relaxed now with his feeding going up & down. It's just the 6pm one he needs to get him thruogh. Guess who woke up at 5.30am today? hungry baby....

He took a full 8oz bottle, + 1 cube apple and 1/4 mashed banana at 7am. Played happily until 8.30. Got a bit grizzly (broken sleep after 5.30am, so not surprising) and then calmly vomited up most of his feed. Was fine afterwards, and is now happily asleep. Have you got any idea why? I know that he occasionally vomits if he eats too quickly / overeats/ is really phelmy, but none seem to be the case here. The fact that he didn't puke for 1.5hrs is weird, or at least it's not in my experience. He also has been pooing more and smellier than usual. Coupled with the lack of hunger, could he just have a mild tummy bug? Also I feel I'm back at square one. There I was, greatful that he fed well at 7am, thinking he was back on track with being hungry again at 11am, and now I'll have to jiggle his feeds again! I will try the porridge tonight. Do I cook it first with formula then let it go cold? Urgh....!

Don't know where Pena is - either business trip or ds is getting on so well that she's forgotton us! (only joking, Pena

Manna

Dont want to worry you but this sounds like what happenend to my ds at five months, and he has gastroenteritis. In the words of pupuce though, don't panic as it can be nothing (and indeed your son could just be teething etc) - just that in hindsight I should have been pushing water/juice onto him the minute it started but I didn't know that (Mummy guilt now) and he got dehydrated. Just to say again, this may not be what is going on with your ds but I wanted to pass that on about the fluids

Zoe
xx

I've been thinking about the fluids myself, especially as it's so hot at the moment. My trouble is that I'm paranoid that giving him water will put him off his milk even more! Any advice? He really doesn't seem to like eating at the moment. Whined all the way through supper. What is gastroenteritus and how long does it last? is there anything I can do?

i think I've answered my own question! he felt sick yesterday, I felt really nauseous all day, but put it down to the miracle effects of the herbal detox I'm doing (ha, ha!). Then this morning, no sooner had I changed a rather horrid upset tummy type nappy than I had to dump him rather quickly and race to the loo myself! At least babies have the advantage of nappies! Same colour and everything.... sorry to be gross!

Anyway - looks like we've got the same thing. I feel alot better today, and he seems slightly sunnier too. If I'm better will he be soon? what can I do to stop us reinfecting each other? can I do anything to help him or is it just working it's way out of his system? Sorry to appear so daft, but this is his first illness apart from the ubiquitous cold and cough, so I don't know what to do, really. I feel instinctively that it's on it's way out and I don't think it's serious enough for the doctor. He has no temperature.

Manna, as long as he doesn't seem really poorly and is drinking plenty it should be ok I think. DD and I had a similar thing about 6 weeks ago, it went after about 4 days.

Re the reinfecting.If you've had the germ isn't it unlikely you'll get it again so soon because you have built an immunity ?