Teething 4 month old crying because hungry and refusing bottle

[LosingAtHumanBopIt]

Any advice how to get my 4 month old to feed? We are exclusively bottle feeding from birth, she's clearly hungry but teething pain means she can't drink more than a couple ounces.

We've got teething rings, gummee glove and so on but doesn't seem to make a difference. She screams with teething gel and teetha, even with calpol at first but obviously can't give that before every feed. Basically it's currently a vicious cycle of screaming, any advice gratefully received?

Teething is really horrible for them :(
Personally if she wants just a couple of ounces that’s what I’d give her and just give her more frequent feeds. Little and often feeds won’t do her any harm.
Anbesol liquid is really good for teething pain. As is ashton and parsons teething powder.
Ibuprofen always worked better for mine for teething pain obviously can’t be given before each feed but could be given throughout the day to keep on top of the pain if your sure it’s definitely pain related crying and not something else like reflux x

Can you get her to try and drink from a sippy cup? Sometimes the bottle tits are too soft for them...

What size teat are you using? Our little boy was having the same issue around 4 months old & we sized up from 2 to 3, we think he was having to work too hard on the size 2 teats which was making his gums even sorer, the switch has really helped & he’s pretty much back to normal feeds again.

Agree with @Poppop4 that ibuprofen works best if pain relief is really needed.

Sorry for the delayed reply only just sat down. We'll have a look at anbesol liquid, thank you for the tip. Will also pick up a sippy cup. I've tried squirting it onto her tongue but guess what, she screams at that too.

Ibuprofen she screams at even more than calpol but at least they're short lived! Just worried how long it means medicating her for before a tooth finally appears. I've only done it a couple nights so far when it's been really bad.

Ooo I like the teat sizing up idea. We're currently size 2 but do think she's taking slightly longer recently, originally put it down to being distracted.

Any tips on how to pour the powders into a screaming baby's mouth? I've tried just from sachet and using spoon, ends up mostly over her bottom lip face palm.

Thank you all!

@LosingAtHumanBopIt
Lie her on your lap squash her to cheeks together not hard obviously lol enough for her lips to do like an o shape and have the powder in the pack ready to just pour in the mouth, it desolves so she won't choke on it.

We never found the powders that effective but when we did try them I just poured the powder onto a clean finger & then into baby’s mouth, we always had the same problem with a spoon & powders down the chin!

Anbesol is for 5 months on but pharmacist in Boots told me we could use sparingly earlier than this, that they had only recently changed the starting age

Thank you lovely ladies, we'll give them all a try. Wish us luck 🤞🏻

Are you sure it's teething?

I use anbesol liquid. Small amount on the gums before a feed and they'd get it down before it wore off. They are so much grumpier teething when they struggle to feed.

Chill the bottle in the fridge
Feed her on a mat, weird but sometimes works
Bounce to almost sleeping on birthing ball and shove the bottle in

I've used all of the above for various issues xx

Check for thrush

Tbh unless you have genuine weight issues or reasons to be concerned about hydration levels I would not do anything to trick her into drinking more than she wants. At 4 months a few oz every few hours is fine. The last thing you want to do is force her to take milk that she doesn’t want which can very quickly turn into a situation where she associates milk with pain and causes major feeding issues. Follow her lead for a few days if it is teething it won’t last long.

Nelsons teething powders rubbed on the gums just before you put the bottle in. Worked a treat for our boy.