Baby won't feed!

[Bamboop]

Hi all, I'm at my wits end and really don't know what to do anymore. Long story short, my daughter (12 weeks old) has a cows milk allergy and is on nutramigen. She's always been a bit iffy with it but would take between 3-5oz per feed.

For the past two weeks or so, she will only take an ounce then turn away from the bottle, we persevere and she will take more sometimes but it normally ends in her screaming and me and my partner getting frustrated. She's on gaviscon, we've tried feeding her whilst moving lightly, laying her down, sat up in her chair, tried a different milk (neocate), nothing seems to work. We're tried little and often but again she'll only take an ounce and will end up not having enough milk overall.

She's absolutely fine in herself, no temperature and laughs/smiles etc. When she cries during a feed we take the bottle away and most of the time she will stop and be back to her normal self so I don't think there's anything actually wrong with her as she doesn't seem in pain.

We suspect she may be teething as she's chewing everything she possibly can and spoke to a doctor from the hospital who confirmed it but surely that can't be what's causing her to only take such a small amount?

At the moment my partner was feeding her and at 3oz she was screaming so he's put her on the changing table and cleaned her up but left the nappy off and tried the milk again, shes kicking her legs like crazy but is slowly taking it. She's not upset but is moving around loads.

Please does anyone have any advice??

Try the CMPA Facebook group. There are lots of knowledge mums on there.

Talk it through with a health visitor. She may recommend weaning early, and also advise you on other ways to get her nutrition right.

How is she weight wise? Is it possible she just doesn't need as much as you are offering?

Assuming she's holding to her line weight wise, and having wet nappies, then there's no desperate emergency. In this hot bothersome weather, lots of us are off our food! Try the bottle chilled, she may like that!

HV shouldn’t recommend weaning early on a paediatric dietitian or paediatrician should be suggesting this.

Please get in touch with the Dr who prescribed the formula. It's a hydrolysed milk, so not DF, abs your DD may be better suited to a completely DF formula.

How much does she weigh and how much formula has she had in the last 24 hours?

Make sure that you know the signs of dehydration as well if her intake has gone down and you're in this heatwave that we're having in the UK.

@Pissinthepottyplease I'll give that a look at, thank you!

@picklemewalnuts I'm trying to get her weighed but my doctors won't do it, they keep telling me to go to HV and HV don't have any drop in clinics and I assume don't deem this an emergency as no one called me back! I will keep chasing though. She takes the required minimum amount or more a day but its such a struggle! She's not uncomfortable, half the time she's smiling at me or my partner and pushing the teat around with her tongue. If not she just turns her head away.

Nutramigen has to be given at room temp but I'll try it chilled. Thank you!

@bunnyRuddington it wasn't a doc that prescribed the milk it was the hospital as the doctors wouldn't see her and just gave gaviscon. She was covered in a rash which led the paediatrician to believe it was a cows milk allergy, it's so much better on this formula and doesn't seem to be in pain or uncomfortable with it. It's just almost as if she's lost interest in eating. My doctor prescribed a different milk to try but she's the same with that one. She's fine in herself, it's just like she'll take an ounce or two then lose interest. I have to literally keep her distracted to get her to drink (whistling works wonders haha)

@Pissinthepottyplease I have a feeling we'll be heading down the weaning route sooner than expected as feeding has been an issue since birth. It took 5 weeks for us to get a diagnosis on the first feeding issue (crying in pain during feeding times, upset belly, covered in a rash, sounded really congested) and that was the hospital that diagnosed as the doctors weren't interested. Since nutramagen she stopped taking her normal 5oz and went down to 4-5, then it went down to 3oz. Now she'll take 1-2oz in one go and we have to struggle for the rest! I feel like there's no end to this! Honestly put off from having a second baby haha.

Not sure how to get referred to a paediatrician or paediatric dietician though as my docs aren't that great lol

Ring the GP get an appointment and ask for a referral for a paediatric dietitian. As she has allergy she should be referred anyway.

Have you tried different bottles/teats? Could be something so simple!

Yep, something simple like flow rate, alternatively have you left a bigger gap between feeds? She may be less hungry than before, if she's getting better nutrition from the food.

@Pissinthepottyplease I'll give them a call tomorrow as this has been going on for tree weeks now and I feel like I'm going mad!

@30degreesandmeltinghere I've tried different teats, she's normally on 2 flow so we upped to 3 and it just dribbled out. It doesn't come out quick enough on 1 flow. I have ordered some Dr browns bottles in hoped it might help. She's on mam anti colic at the moment.

@picklemewalnuts I feed her when she let's me know she's hungry and it seems to be bang on every 3 hours. I've tried to go longer but she just cries. She's only 3 months so no food yet 🙁

Yes sorry Bambop, I meant that because she is presumably digesting the new formula better, she might not need as much as she used to.