20 weeks and rejecting the bottle? advice needed.

[darlingbabs]

I have been introducing a tiny bit of baby rice and various veg and fruit purees since he was 16 weeks as he seemed very interested in food. He has always been a big baby, starting on 75th percentile and now on about 90th. He is now 20 weeks old and since about 15 weeks he has been gradually reducing the amount of milk that he takes at each feed. He used to have about 8oz at each, then went down to about 4oz (disconnected to time of introduction of solids). He now seems totally fed up with the bottle, i have tried different formulas to no avail, he plays with the teat in his mouth and pushes it away after about 1 or 2 oz. I stopped giving him solids for a week to see if that was preventing him from having milk and it didnt have any impact. However, when i brought the solids back in because i was worried he was going to starve he wolfed them down. Do some babies just decide they dont want much milk anymore and self wean. Is this normal? My doctor didnt seem to have a clue when I spoke to him on the phone. I am getting quite worried as I know theyre supposed to get most of their nutritional value from milk so I dont know what to do. He has been teething for the last 2 months, I dont know if that is having an impact or not but I dont know why he would reject a bottle but be happy to eat food off a spoon. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Seems early for self weaning.

Are his ears ok? ie no infection?

He hasnt been doing anything to make me think he has an infection like ear pulling. What other signs would you look for in an ear infection? thanks Mae

This could be me writing your post! We have exactly the same problem. DS (currently 20 weeks) has been having a little baby rice since he was 17 weeks, and we started on purees about a week and a half ago. He seems to eat loads of puree (I was about to post on the issue of how much/when etc), but is gradually going off the bottle. He normally has 5 8oz bottles a day - morning, 11ish, 3ish, 7ish (bedtime) and in the night. For the last week, the morning one is a struggle, he won't take more than half his bottle at lunch (with his solids) and the bedtime one is an absolute nightmare. He chews the teat, pushes it away, screams, etc.

I don't think there's anything wrong with him, as he saw the paediatrician last week and got a clean bill of health. I'd really appreciate some advice like darlingbabs as the bedtime one is getting really upsetting :(

HI amyboo, lets hope someone has the answer. My boy still appears to be sleeping through so i guess all i can assume is that he isnt that hungry anymore. happily he is huge so im not worried about him starving to death yet! today i am trying no food at all again and just milk to see if he still sleeps through this evening, but its difficult when he will be unlikely to have had more than about 14 oz of milk by the time he has his last feed at 10pm.....

My EBF DS wouldn't take a bottle when I tried to introduce one- sounds like yours is bottle fed anyway so a bit different. I tried loads of different things and in the end he just wanted to sit on his own and not be held. He will now wolf down a bottle if sat in his bouncey chair or pushchair with me or DH holding the bottle for him. He is almost 6m.

I am having exact same problem!

19 week DS has been having one meal a day of veggies for the last week (recommended by my paediatrician) and seems to be enjoying it, he wanted more yesterday when I stopped.

In the last 2 days he has cut his milk intake from 5 7oz bottles and will now only take a full bottle in the morning, then the rest are about 4 oz´s. He is happy to take 4 oz then gets very upset and wriggly and refuses to take any more.

He is still sleeping through with very small dream feed at 10.30 but is awake at 6am (entertains himself till 7) then wants fed. He used to take his bath at 6.30 then be desperate for sleep by 7 but the evening also becoming more challenging?

Has anyone got any advice for us, been through this too?

Amyboo and watty74, he suddenly started to eat normally again so it must have just been a phase! hope your two are as well.