My 4 month old baby is not drinking his formula! Please help

[Albabell1981]

I have a 4 month old who in the first 3 months would drink his milk every 3 hours and the full 150ml bottle. In the last 1.5 months he started drinking only 60ml, or 90ml. We are at the stage now he’s only drinking around 500 ml in a whole day. He sticks his tongue out to push the bottle away and seems to be in pain if he drinks more than 90ml and scrunches his stomach. He had a cold a few weeks ago, so we put it down to that. It got worse over Xmas and we took him to hospital as it looked like it hurt to swallow. We were told he had oral thrush and tonsillitis. He was put on medication and we were told to dream feed him to get his milk up, which we did.

The thrush and tonsillitis has now cleared up ( it took a few weeks of exhausting hell trying to feed when asleep etc but he managed to gain weight and now at healthy weight.

We had our 4 month check up last week. I explained to doctor he’s still not drinking much milk and finding the windows of sleep to feed him was sending me insane and doctor told me to follow his lead on wanting milk. I’ve started to do this, but this means he’s now only drinking 500 ml a day, which does not feel enough when before with dream feeding I was getting to around 700.

I’m just wondering if anybody else has been through this? We are on teat 2, still on Aptimal and feed him in quiet room with no distractions. He’s not underweight and has more than 2 wet nappies a day but I worry now he’s only drinking 500 as I am following his lead he will start to lose weight in the coming weeks. Any help is much appreciated

Have you tried a variflow teat? The have an x on the teat as well. Baby can go to their own pace then. If he’s giving up the feed might be taking too long for him,
It can be really worrying but look for the hunger cues and follow your instincts

Teeth? Mine is four months and is starting to take a lot less milk than before

Hmmm I'm thinking maybe teat size? What teat size are you on at the mo?
I changed teats from size 1 to 2 when I discovered baby was stopping after a little bit of milk and now he drinks quicker and most of it now. I'm thinking we need to move up to size 3 soon. Sorry if you've already tried this..? X

Just moved my 4MO up to size 3 teat and it's meant she also takes an ounce more milk, she's now at 7oz. Made such a big difference!! Feeds done 10 minutes max start to finish and she just seems much more content. It's worth a try, OP.

Mine also has a tooth popping through the gum and some days she does take less, I'm guessing when it's a bit tender she's not really in the mood! But just keep an eye on wet nappies like you are and if you're concerned your LO is taking less than half their usual amount in a day, seek professional medical advice 😊

Good luck and stay strong, it's hard work and challenging but you've got this!!

Move to Teat 3.

Hi, my LO is EBF but has recently developed a feeding aversion. He will be very hungry but scream in the feeding position. Not sure what started it but started with him getting fussier and fussier at feeds to outright refusal. Perhaps your LO still associates feeding with pain even though the problem is resolved, so has a slight aversion? Of course it could not be, but just a thought. I bought Rowena Bennett's bottle feeding aversion book (even though I'm bf), and am working through her advice now. I've stopped feeding him asleep in the day and follow his lead, he's barely getting anything but it's important not to pressure them. I'd recommend reading it as could be relevant for you. You can get the ebook on amazon and read it on your phone to save waiting for delivery. It's absolute torture watching them refuse to feed or not take enough when you can see they're hungry. 😭 Good luck!

Thanks for your super quick comments guys. I tried the teat 3 this morning, he drank 110 which is actually pretty good as the mornings are the worst and he drinks nothing. He usually starts to drink more in the afternoon. I’ll keep trying this teat. (Frazzled ) your comment about aversion has just hit a chord !! We were desperately trying to get him to drink before the thrush and tonsillitis and he was screaming in pain pushing the bottle away, I’m now starting to think we might have stressed him out and the pain he must have felt swallowing has had an impact on him ☹️ But we didn’t know what was going on at the time and we panicked that he was not drinking !! Ok I’m going to download this book now. Thank you all again ❤️

@Albabell1981

Thanks for your super quick comments guys. I tried the teat 3 this morning, he drank 110 which is actually pretty good as the mornings are the worst and he drinks nothing. He usually starts to drink more in the afternoon. I’ll keep trying this teat. (Frazzled ) your comment about aversion has just hit a chord !! We were desperately trying to get him to drink before the thrush and tonsillitis and he was screaming in pain pushing the bottle away, I’m now starting to think we might have stressed him out and the pain he must have felt swallowing has had an impact on him ☹️ But we didn’t know what was going on at the time and we panicked that he was not drinking !! Ok I’m going to download this book now. Thank you all again ❤️

How are you getting on now it's been a the days?

So we moved to teat 3 and also changed his milk to goats milk and this seems to have helped a lot. We think he might have some issues with Aptimal as we could hear it making some weird sounds when it went into his stomach. The goats milk seems more gentle. We’ve also not made it stressful for him when drinking the milk, I’ll admit we have been pretty stressed about this and I think he’s been been picking up on this. We are up to about 750/800 ml now which seems a lot better ! I was meaning to post an update on this in case this information helps anyone in the future and you are frantically googling why your child is not drinking. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody.

My eldest child did the same. He had silent reflux and ended up with what I can only describe as a feeding aversion to formula. We ended up weaning him at 4 months on the advice of doctors.

That seems like such an improvement. Hope it continues 😊 not nice at all seeing your little one struggle!!

I’m a mn and never recommend aptimil any more. Used to

They changed the ingredients slightly and most babies I cared fir on it had digestive issues

Got his age I usually suggest going up a size teat per month so would expect a 4mth to be on size 3 teat

And I find hipp organic the best for babies tummies. Plus cheaper

@Blondeshavemorefun - although my LO is drinking his bottles now, I’ve noticed he keeps scrunching his stomach every about 20 ml. He looks like he’s in some sort of pain in his stomach. I’ve just been out and bought the Hipp as you mentioned. I think it’s worth a try and I would love for him to just relax and enjoy his bottles again. I will keep you updated

@Albabell1981 sorry to hear baby is in discomfort

Hope hipp helps - do let me know. Try for a good 2w to get other out of their system

An update on this. My LO is just not showing any interest in milk now. My doctor has advised today to speed up the weaning process and introduce more food. He was already eating maybe 2 spoons of mashed banana for breakfast and I’ve started introducing some blended chicken and carrot etc which he seems to enjoy. I give him milk when he wants it , but he will drink around 60 ml only, max. @TimmyNook did you stop giving your LO milk completely at 4 months? I am now giving mine solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner and milk when he accepts it. Interested to know how you did it? It just feels so young to be doing this, but I am following the doctors advice and he seems to enjoy food.

Hi there