Please help:( 7 week old drinks 30 mil (1 oz)

[Elisemum]

Please help me I’m at wits end, my 7 week old stopped drinking his milk. He was on Aptamil and suddenly started drinking 30 - 60 mil (1-2oz) and after that he spits out the bottle and cries and there is no way on earth he will drink more! I tried everything! He won’t touch it and kick and grunts. Once u put him down he is smoky happy and content but will not touch the milk. He goes to sleep and wakes up in 2,5-3 hours hungry and the same story again… drinks 1 or maaaaybe 2 oz and that’s it. I tried infacol, colief, gripe water. Aptamil and now HIPP, mam and NUk bottles - all the same effect :(

So you've tried Hipp and Aptamil formulas? Maybe try a different brand, see if he prefers the taste?

Have you changed teat size? The next teat size up is recommended from 2 months. All of my DC began to do this whenever they needed to go up a teat size, the midwife told me it’s as the flow gets too slow for them.

My boy went through an incredibly fussy eating stage from 7 to 9 weeks. Feeds took ages and I had to reeeeeeally comfort him by standing up, walking around and shushing until he was finally taking the bottle, multiple times during a feed. It also helped putting his dummy in to settle the crying during fussy spots.

I blamed on a mixture of colic and reflux but to be honest I do wonder if it was just age related fussiness. Got better overnight when he turned 9 weeks!

As you know, 30 ml a feed is significantly less than your little one should be taking and if I were you I'd probably be getting HV involved in case they want to weigh him for reassurance (and may have ideas to help)

I tried the bigger feet but same effect really… it seems like it’s silent reflux to me and in that case I ready that the slower tests are better for it. I just don’t know what to do, I’m going to GP today I’m extremely worried

Teets* sorry autocorrect

When my little one at 9 weeks old started refusing feeds I was at my wits end.

He would only feed for short amounts of times (breast) and then start crying, pushing away from me and every feed was a battle.

After various trips to the GP he was diagnosed with a dairy allergy and the doctor explained that babies will take the bare minimum to take the hunger off and then refuse to take anymore. He said it’s animalistic behaviour, they know they need something but they don’t take a drop more.

He said that dairy allergies can cause the babies a lot of stomach pain so that’s why they don’t want to drink it. He said babies learn the association quite quickly after a month or so of age that feeding = pain.

I’m not saying it is that with your little one but just something to bear in mind possibly.

@DontWantTheRivalry the HV suggested the same but I don’t understand I have to say… would dairy allergy not be from birth? I mean they drink milk from birth… why would an allergy developed at 7,9 or whatever weeks? My son sounds exactly like yours… so what you are saying makes perfect sense I just don’t understand how an allergy would happen at such late stage

Allergies can start at any age, even in adulthood. All your life you eat a particular food , and then bang several years later you can become allergic to it. Not sure about Milk allergies but food allergies can start at any age, so i am guessing that'll include milk too.

Thank you. I’m seeing a GP today, I’m starting to think maybe it is allergy or intolerance and not a silent reflux. I don’t know anymore

I hope you get to the bottom of it soon x

Has he been checked for a tongue tie?

He hasn’t been… but he was eating 120 mil all the time until now (7 weeks) so I would presume he doesn’t have it

@Elisemum

He hasn’t been… but he was eating 120 mil all the time until now (7 weeks) so I would presume he doesn’t have it

It's worth getting it checked anyway. My friends bottle fed baby had one and managed ok but he had awful reflux because he couldn't for a proper latch and took in too much air.

How did it go?

My son (the one I spoke about above with the allergy) also had silent reflux and was treated for that for about 3-4 weeks before the allergy was then suggested. It was suggested he had silent reflux because he always seemed in pain/discomfort and cried quite frequently around feeding times it was only when he started dramatically reducing his intake that the GP suggested it was in fact a dairy allergy which it did turn out to be.

I was kind of fobbed off by the GP… he said my son is big (5kg) and is gaining weight so he doesn’t see a problem. He can eat whatever much he likes/need.
I tried to explained that the issue is not that he is not hungry but the fact that he IS hungry but seems in pain while feeding! He said every baby has a reflux and as long as he is gaining weight it’s fine. I feel fobbed off… he gave me gaviscon (after me begging for it). So far baby had 4 bottles with gaviscon and I feel it improved a bit, he’s been taking 3 oz for the last two feeds…not sure if gaviscon supposed to build up or work straight away though so could be coincidental.

I found at that age longer became incredibly nosy and more interested in anything but feeding. Feeding them in a bouncy chair really helped

This is very similar to both my DDs. DD1 was trialled on hypo formula for six weeks to rule out allergy, but that made it worse and she was diagnosed with severe reflux. She had the highest dose of ranitidine possible, plus the gentlest milk I could find at the time and Carobel to thicken feeds. Improvements upon early weaning, learning to walk and at 13 months when it went away entirely.

DD2 is not as bad but dropped weight more quickly. Now on omeprazole, Carobel to thicken and goat milk. Great improvement in feeding, though ill at the moment so that has slowed again.

May be an allergy, may be reflux, may be a bottle/teat/milk issue but hopefully lots of people sharing their stories will give you some avenues to try.

same happened to DD at 3.5 months.She would happily drink 120-150 ml till 2 months and loved her milk and i was worried at some point that I was over feeding her and then at 2.5 months she started spitting out the bottle and at 3 months if she got distracted with a little noise of dropping a pin while feeding, She would refuse the bottle and cry until I stop feeding her. at one point I was holding her with one arm standing up, walking and feeding her and she would drink the milk. Now at 4.5 months she drinks 150 ml every 3 hours (6 times a day) while watching cocomelon. I am slowly gonna increase the amount to 180ml this week. she doesn't drink all at once so I will have to take a break and hold and walk her and burp her for 10 minutes and feed again. She has a reflux since birth and can not stay flat after the feed but It has been improved a lot since past 1 month. I have also been giving her gripe water 3 times a day since she was 1 month old and started bringing out big burps.
So my point is, sometimes there are any medical issues but babies get bored and distracted easily so you will always have to try new things but its always important to get them checked with GP first and get some advice.

Thanks everyone, I’ve been using gripe water too and infant gaviscon since yesterday and last night and today things have improved. He now takes 3 oz at every feed. Still not ideal but much better than 1 oz! Fingers crossed it will get better

How do you give gripe water and when? Thank you

2.5 mil, 3 or 4 times in 24hrs - after a feed. There is a little syringe in the package. babies love it, it tastes great

I had this on my second child with reflux, and was at my wits end. Eventually dr checked in her mouth and she had thrush, needed nystatin drops and she was better after a couple of days. Did the gp look in baby’s mouth? Might be worth a look if you’re still struggling

If he is happy and content inbetween feeds like you said in your OP, has wet and dirty nappies and gaining weight then he may just be taking what he needs. Feeds are no linear and they don’t always take the same amount every day (same as adults really) there are so many things that affect appetite that we may not be aware is going on with them. Personally I would go with it and just feed on demand. If you make it into a bigger issue he will absolutely sense the anxiety from you and will most likely refuse harder!

@Elisemum

Please help me I’m at wits end, my 7 week old stopped drinking his milk. He was on Aptamil and suddenly started drinking 30 - 60 mil (1-2oz) and after that he spits out the bottle and cries and there is no way on earth he will drink more! I tried everything! He won’t touch it and kick and grunts. Once u put him down he is smoky happy and content but will not touch the milk. He goes to sleep and wakes up in 2,5-3 hours hungry and the same story again… drinks 1 or maaaaybe 2 oz and that’s it. I tried infacol, colief, gripe water. Aptamil and now HIPP, mam and NUk bottles - all the same effect :(

Hi @Elisemum, my DC2 had silent reflux and dairy allergy and her symptoms were similar to what you have described. The pain of the reflux eventually led to a bottle aversion where she would only drink very small amounts in order to stave of hunger- it was exhausting for everyone!!

In regards to the reflux and intolerance hypoallergenic formula and omeprezol worked but the aversion was still there.

There is a brilliant book by Rowena Bennett called "Your baby's bottle feeding aversion" - we followed the advice in that that and it resolved the issue in a matter of weeks. Unsure if this is the same case for your baby but there is a great Facebook group which might be worth checking out

www.facebook.com/groups/babycarefeedingaversionsupportgroup/?ref=share

Good luck 😀