3 month old feeding less and less

[Elliot82]

Hi there,

I have a 3 month old who has been getting progressively worse for feeding since birth. She is formula fed since she was a week old. I tried everything to get breastfeeding established but nothing worked. She had her tongue tie cut at 1.5 weeks old and feeding went from bad to worse after that. In the early days though, she would feed a decent amount. But as the weeks and months have passed she's very gradually taking less and less and feeding her has become extremely stressful because she starts to either get full, bored, upset or something else around half way through her bottle and we can't get the second half in with out a lot of distress for her.

I started to notice she was feeding less about 6 weeks ago but I just let her stop when she was full. At 9 weeks she was weighed and had dropped from 95th percentile at birth to the 50th percentile. After a referral & few nights' stay in hospital for failure to thrive she was prescribed a high energy formula. A month on and she's gained weight well and has climbed up to the 60th percentile.

My worry is that while she's gaining weight for now, every day feeding seems to get harder and harder. She's figured out how to spit out her formula now instead of swallowing it so it's hard to tell how much she's actually taking in. She's a happy wee girl and while she does throw up sometimes during or after feeds, she generally doesn't seem to be in pain so I'm not sure about reflux. When she started on the new formula she was taking over the minimum amount every day. That has steadily reduced though and she hasn't hit the minimum (620mls per day) any day for over a week.

We've seen a lot of medics and specialists and not one person has offered an explanation for why my baby doesn't feed like she should.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of thing that you could possibly suggest a reason? I'm at my wits end and need to try to get answers from doctors but don't know what to ask for. Thanks in advance.

What weight is she?
If she's gaining weight I would worry about specific amounts of formula.

Wouldn't *

Mine was like this and is now being assessed for CMPA, guessing if she's been seen by professionals they've ruled that out?

Hey dementedpixie, thanks for your reply. Her last weigh in was a week ago (@ 12 weeks) and she was 5.9 kilos. It's not bad, but I guess I'm just concerned that she might not continue to gain weight well if she keeps taking less and less formula. Before we switched to the high energy she was on regular formula when her appetite (or whatever it is) started to go south and her weight suffered as a result. The high energy stuff saved the day because she can get away with taking less of it, but now shes not even making the minimum amount of that anymore. She has a weigh in tomorrow so hopefully it will go ok. Just long term I'm thinking the problem of weight could arise again if she keeps going this way.

Petal21, thank you for your input. Would you believe no intolerances have been mentioned by anyone. Literally no possible explanations have been offered to me by any medic we saw. May I ask how do they assess for CMPA?

Thanks again, both.

@Elliot82 that shocking.

OK so first, do your homework and research CMPA. Cows milk protein allergy or intolerance.

Mine started refusing to the bottle because she started associating eating with pain. She also has reflux and silent reflux so there was that causing pain and discomfort to.

Are you in the UK?

In the UK the health visitor refers to you to a dietician, they then ask you about baby's symptoms and then if they match enough with the symptoms of CMPA they put baby on a prescription milk for a few weeks then you slowly reintroduce normal formula.

Keep pushing for a dietician referral.

See mine dropped from 98th to 42nd pc and we weren't sent to hospital as failure to thrive. My DD is very long and to! It's so crap how inconsistent health care for babies is in the UK. She's only just got to the 50th pc!!!!!!!

@Petal2021 thanks so much for the advice. Ive looked into CMPA and it sounds very like it could be the cause of the feeding issues. I don't understand why this wasn't offered as an explanation. I'm linked in with a dietitian in the hospital who I'll call tomorrow about perhaps trialing a new formula suitable for CMPA babies.

May I ask, has your DD changed to a more suitable formula and if so, has her appetite improved at all? I really just want my DD to want to eat more so she continues to gain enough weight. I obviously also don't want her to be in any pain or feel unwell. I feel so bad for her.

Thanks again.

No worries. At 2/3 months she was only taking 2oz since the prescription milk she's now taking 5oz!

There's prescription milk has the protein broken down more so it's easier on the tummy. It's definitely helped. We're just about to start reintroducing normal formula a scoop each day, 1 scoop day 1, 2 scoops day 2 etc... We then document any symptoms that come back. If they do it's confirmed CMPA.

My LO went through loads of stages like this. I was in tears. She's on the 91st percentile and has been since 4 months old now 6 months. We hit 600 mls some days 🤦🏼‍♀️she's meant to be on 1000mls. I think if your getting as much as you can in, that's all you can do. I weigh her at home to keep track just incase she drops too much.

I know it's very stressful when they only take small amounts.

Suggestions that helped me, bigger teat size at 4 months old she was on the 6months plus teat size 🤦🏼‍♀️

Try formula different ways as in warm, slightly cool (my LO went through of wanting it almost straight out the fridge) she now wants in room temp (against guidance but she feeds best this way)

Feeding positions - I have tried in bouncer, holding her, even sitting cross legged and her laying across while feeding her, I did go through a phase of holding her upright on my knee and holding back of her neck to get her to feed. She likes me sitting cross legged and doing it that way, though she could change tomorrow 🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Good luck 🤞

Oh and another tip from my mother, was don't stop to wind her unless she literally chooses to stop. I found after winding I have no chance of getting the bottle back in. I have to try again an hour later 🤦🏼‍♀️then I have a snacker day and only takes little 30mls here and there all day.

Also I found letting her wait till 3.5/4 hours mark helped her. She did not want to do the 3 hours mark 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Agree about the winding thing yes.

@Elliot82. How are you getting on?

Another trick to use is when rocking or lulling baby to sleep, just as they're about to drop off, shove the bottle in to finish the feed. This works almost 100% of the time Xx

@CourtneyCox2021 @Petal2021 thank you both very much and apologies for my delay in replying. We are mid house-move so I've been consumed by that and of course the endless feeding 😭

So on Saturday I started DD on Nutramigen LGG 1 for CMPA after requesting a change in prescription from the dietitian. Miraculously, there has been an improvement. Sat she took 600ml, Sunday 685ml. We are on track for her minimum of 660ml today, though I have to say she's protesting a lot more today than over the weekend so I'm starting to wonder if the issues are starting again. I really hope not.

Thank you both so much for your suggestions. We have the same thing here with the winding, I don't stop the feed unless she asks to stop as I know anytime the flow is broken, getting back into it is work. I've also tried lots of different teats & for a while the larger teat was working well but now her suck is so strong she collapses it in like a vacuum so it's much slower now.

I'll try the temperature changes, the different positions and feeding her as she's drifting off. Fingers crossed something will stick. It's reasurring to hear both of your LOs got past this. It's so draining and my heart just breaks for DD as I hate to think I'm force feedinhg her if she's sick or in pain but I still need to get the formula into her. She only took 400ml last Friday and woke up Sat morning with a completely dry nappy. That was 12 hours without a pee. She really needs to be getting 550-600 mls into her a day to stay hydrated. I may also buy a weighing scales. That's a good idea.

Thanks again so much for the advice. I'll keep you posted over the next day or two.

Good luck 🤞 with the move.

Mmmm probably not helpful but my LO still has issues with feeding.... I resigned myself to it. If she doesn't want it I don't try and force anymore 🤷🏼‍♀️ . But now she's 6 months I can get actual food into her.... It was a tough couple months.

For example 6 months today-
150mls - two sittings
Porridge - half a dozen spoonfuls

140mls - two sittings
Baby snack as my lunch wasn't baby friendly.

120mls - 2pm ish

Puree for dinner half a jar
120mls before bed.

530mls she still has her dream feed to go.... But that's low intake and this was about average before solids started.

Don't stress just keep an eye of LO weight as long as not losing that's the main thing, and if you encourage as much as possible that's all you can do. Some babies just don't need a lot and the guidance is a guide only xx

How many oz’s and how often are you attempting to feed?

Do you do a dream feed? It's a good way to get an extra 100 to 150mls into my LO. I really suggest it, I wish we done from the start xx

@CourtneyCox2021 thanks for the breakdown. A nurse in the hospital told me it will get easier when DD is weaned. I don't want to wish away the months but I'm also looking forward to that stage. Feeding time is just so upsetting. If it weren't for the 6 feeds a day, she would barely cry, she's such a happy little girl.

@WaterIsBest hey there, I don't go by ounces but I'm to give her a minimum of 660mls per day on this new formula. The plan is 6 feeds of 110ml but can be more or (usually) less per feed.

@Petal2021 for the past 5 weeks, since the stint in hospital, DD has been sleeping through the night. There's honestly no point in trying to wake her to take a dream feed in the middle of the night as she would take 3 sups & go into a deep sleep. I've tried it. Also, the last feed of the night around 9/10pm & the first feed of the morning around 5.30/6.30am are the least successful because she always falls asleep during them and I cannot wake her to finish them 😭

Ideally, I'd love to give her 5 feeds of around 135ml per day more spaced out so that she's hungry for them. But because she only takes about 80ml at the first morning feed, it messes the rest of the day up and I find I have to feed more often with less.

Sorry, I tagged @Petal2021in the last post and I should have tagged @CourtneyCox2021 🤭

😂 Oh dear tagging wrong person 🙈🙈your welcome for breakdown, thought it may help and reassure.

Honestly go with the flow with your LO. 9/10pm till 5am ish is good.

As long as LO isn't losing weight, and LO is happy smily and seems well go with it. LO may just be a bubba that doesn't like milk 🤷🏼‍♀️ or doesn't need that much.

Strange to do, but have you tried holding off on 5am ish feed.... Just offer comfort instead? Hold off until 7am? Or increase by 15/20 mins a day so ends up being 7am. my LO does this wakes at 5am and I used to feed. I know it sounds mean, but she would only take a small feed of about 60mls and then messed her whole day from 7am. Which then only takes a small feed here too. And then whole day snacking.... She went through a growth spurt so I fed her when I felt she needed it and took a feed at 5am ish then another 7am - it was like 350mls she took in 2 hours 😳😳during her growth week.

But when she isn't going through a growth spurt I do everything to get her to sleep or just relax in her cot which works fine now, and she drifts after cooing for 45mins or so. Maybe as your little one is so young give lots of cuddles then should be really hungry by 7am? Then do as you prefer either 3 or 4 hourly. Meaning 5 bottles 🤷🏼‍♀️

I stretch my LO as long as possible between feeds - no more then 4 hours and it helps as she takes more and much contented (obviously I do not starve her at all, as she will let me know if she really wants a feed )

I really hope that makes sense 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

My LO never crys either literally gets grizzly when tired or is getting bit hungry and she may squeeze one tear out 😂 . I seen her have one full meltdown and that was cause she hadn't seen my dad in 5 weeks 🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Hello,

A little update. There's been a big improvement over the past few days. I'm crediting it mostly to the new formula for CMPA babies. @Petal2021 thank you so much for telling me about this.

Another thing that's helping I think is stretching out the time between feeds & having fewer feeds per day. So we were on 6 feeds a day before & now we are on 5 & she's taking more. For her last feed she took 160mls! The most she has taken in nearly a month. @CourtneyCox2021 thank you for this tip!

I'm afraid to jinx it as it's still early days but I really feel like we have turned a corner. What a relief 🙂

No further advice OP as it seems like you've cracked it, but I just wanted to say that my DD was just like this and it was CPMA. Once she realised the milk wouldn't hurt her, she started taking more. It took a little while though. She was hospitalised with dehydration and it still took me 3 months to get her diagnosed.

Anyway, she's now 3.5, 50th centile for weight and 98th for height and thriving with a completely normal appetite and able to have dairy again. Sending you and your DD lots of luck.

Your welcome 😁 hopefully it will continue 🤞🤞

Oh so glad OP. I know how stressful it is xxx

@peachgreen thank you for this, it is super reasurring! I'm glad your DD is doing so well now, but horrified to hear it took so long to get a diagnosis after she ended up in hospital. As with me, I can't understand why they didn't suggest CMPA, silent reflux, or anything else as a cause of the feeding issues. I was literally sent off from the hospital being told "some babies just go through this non-eating phase" and when I rang the dietitian a few weeks later to tell her the feeding was getting progressively worse in terms of volume & how distressing it was becoming for DD, the only response was that she may have to come back into hospital to be tube fed. Like until @Petal2021 suggested CMPA on here & I pushed & pushed for answers from the dietitian, did she prescribe the Nutramigen & what do you know, it seems to have been the problem all along. HOW is this not something they should have explored on day one? I don't get it. Anyway, I'm glad everyone is doing well. @CourtneyCox2021 I hope your LO picks up too but you're doing so great & seem to have come through the worst of it. Thank you all again so much.