Ds (5 months) a really poor feeder. I’m very worried.

[lavenderandwisteria]

Ds is formula fed and I have really noticed over the last couple of weeks that other babies much younger than him have much bigger feeds. He can only manage around 4oz at a time and that’s a struggle. It takes a lot of persuasion for him to feed.

I’m sure he wasn’t like this at birth and I’m worried ive caused it somehow (I was desperate to breastfeed and it went horribly wrong.)

He has dropped a centile - hv isn’t concerned so I probably shouldn’t be but I’m worried that when he’s weaned he will take in even less as I know milk is the main source of nutrition until they are one.

How frequently does he feed? 8ozs every 4 hours is the same as 4ozs every 2 hours, after all.

Assuming he's still passing urine, and the Health Visitor isn't concerned at weight loss at the moment, do try not to panic.

There is advice available for high calorie diets for underweight babies but that isn't something you should do without the Doctors agreement.

for you, it's stressful.

Have you moved up teat size?

Thank you. We use size 2 teats. I am just worrying as he hasn’t had a poo since Thursday and he really seems off his milk?

Will he have small more frequent feeds? My first DD would only take small amounts at a time. The milk till one isn't always true. My DD2 has fully weaned off milk at 10.5 months. Won't take a drop for love nor money. We are now nearly at her first birthday so given up cajoling. She eats food heartily.

He won’t no - just lets it look in his mouth

Does he have reflux?

The amount at a time isn't really an issue though. How many times are you feeding 4oz every 24 hrs?

With fussy DD1 we were advised to start solids early but that was after GP visits and then hospital paediatrician referral. She never liked formula but has been a fab eater since solids began!

He is refluxy yes.

He goes 4-5 hours between feeds but then won’t have a big one. I do offer more but he just won’t.

Is he medicated for reflux? My DD was similar, could never get her to drink more than 3-4oz. I used Nuk bottles with slow flow 0-6 month teats for ages because HV advised slow flow would help with the reflux then changed to medium (they are very fast compared to other teats) and she straight away started drinking 6oz. She was also on infant gaviscon.