Advice - 3.5 month old not feeding

[KLG3101]

Our 17 week old DD still has horrendous reflux and colic. I’m managing it (just!) however the last two days she’s refused more than 1-3 Oz at a time. She’s had a stuffy nose and runny nappies. Every time the bottle is in her mouth she cries. Could she have a sore throat?

Sorry to hear your LO isn’t feeling great. Is she on any medication for anything? We found colief and ranitidine a lifesaver for our son. She may well have a cold as well, I’d recommend elevating the head of her Moses basket a little and maybe some olbas oil drops on a muslin cloth placed near the Moses basket. What have you tried so far?

She’s taking colief, carobel and 3ml Daily of omeprazole. It’s brutal however she does usually feed. She’s just refusing her bottles completely she so unsettled :(

Ah that’s awful I’m sorry.. for what it’s worth, we were on omeprazole first but ranitidine worked better for us. Obviously it’s a personal choice because I know omeprazole takes around 10 days to start working so you don’t want to stop it to start something that might not work as well. Can they up the dose of omeprazole? Maybe try infant gaviscon on top?

Hi there, have you tried changing the bottle teats to the next size? I had feeding issues around the same age and I had not realised that there were different teat sizes. It transformed our feeding overnight changing to medium flow. The same happened again at 5.5 months so we’ve just switched to fast flow. Hope things improve soon - I get so anxious when my DS has feeding issues!

Could she have a cow's milk intolerance?

Snuffly, congestion, diarrhoea and reluctance to feed can point to an allergy.

Infants very quickly learn that if taking in milk is going to cause them pain then they start refusing it.

It obviously might not be this but may be worth considering and discussing with your GP.

Agree with Queen. All of these symptoms fit with Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA). Have a read of this and if you think it could be CMPA I’d film her the next time you try to feed her so that you can show the GP. I’d also insist on a referral to a Paeditrician. If it is CMPA they can prescribe hydrolysed baby milk where the proteins are more broken down so easier for her to digest and if that doesn’t work there are sone completely dairy free baby milks.

My dd did this around the same age for a couple of days. Turned out to be teething. No teeth actually showed for another month or so, but it must have been irritating her gums.

My DS did this at a similar age, the gp diagnosed a sore throat, recommended calpol etc and he was feeding again in about 3 days. I recommend just a quick GP check up which can set your mind at ease.

DS was the same. I suspected CMPA so cut out dairy. Improvement within a few days. It's not officially diagnosed, but I'm staying off it for now.