Baby refusing to finish feeds

[Mococo1]

Hi all I have a 3 month old baby who has since his 12weeks jabs been refusing to eat properly

Before he could easily finish 4oz per feed and then his night feed would be 5oz! (He used to eat 6 times a day) I've tried upping his feeds in the past but he just pushes back the bottle

He's barely now having 3oz per feed (6times a day) help any advice? Is this normal? Will he lose weight? He's already quite small on the percentile chart but was starting to reassuringly round out (he was a Didu 5lb when born)

I may also add he constantly has his fists/my fingers in his mouth so assume he has started teething- any advice? Xx

Have you tried a faster teat? He could be frustrated with the flow.

Fists/fingers in the mouth is usually developmental. My DD was doing it all the time from 3 months but didn’t get her first tooth until just after she turned 1!

My little girl went through this, taking less and less and it turned out to be silent reflux. She only gained 2oz in almost 2 weeks, so the HV suggested switch to comfort milk. This sorted the problem for us and we've since upped her to 180ml bottles which she's finishing no probs

Babies should never finished a feed. They should be feed responsively, which means feeding when they show feeding cue and stopping when they are ready to stop. If a baby drinks all of their bottle then they should be offered more milk.

I agree that you should try changing the teat first.

They could have just had a growth spurt and now they are cutting back down again. What weight is he? The rule of thumb is around 2.5oz per lb of weight per 24 hours e.g. 7lb x 2.5 = 17.5oz over 24 hiurs

Hours*

I've just changed his teat and he seems fine on that still not finishing feeds 😣

He doesn't follow rule of thumb he's 12.5lb and at most I can get him to eat 24oz in a day! Which is only 2oz per lb and he has reflux so has been on gaviscon since about 3 weeks old..I will try maybe just offering him 5oz to see if he finishes it x

Drop down to 5 feeds- leave them a little longer to get more hungry

@Mococo1 Just to add, gaviscon made my DD very windy and she’d often refuse to finish feeds because she had trapped wind so I had to make the milk quite warm, warmer than usual and that helped.

I'd try either a faster flowing teat or variflow teats (been a godsend with DS2). Sometimes they just get board if it's too slow.
we have been through he'll with DS2 and taking tiny amounts. Turns out he has reflux and a milk allergy and it caused horrendous issues. He's now on lactose free with variflow teat and within a few days went from only taking 2oz a time to 6oz.
Was told the way to work out if they are eating enough is 4 x weight in kg. So he's about 5.7kg x 4 which works out at around 23oz in 24.
Some reflux babies eat loads and loads to help the pain (DS1 did this - 72oz in 24hrs) or they have less (DS2 did this). They're all different but if you are worried about the amount he's taking definitely go to GP.