6 month old lost appetite

[angelaspangela1]

Hi all. We've been starting to wean ds for the past 2weeks now (HV told us to start at 5 1/2 month). So far it's been going ok...we're doing a mixture of spoon fed homemade purees and BLW. There's been a few incidents with gagging and bringing what he's eaten back up but nothing to traumatic for him i don't think.
My problem is, this last week he's seemed to have lost his appetite...even for his bottle. He usually loves his porridge in a morning, will only have a few spoonfuls if that now and he has 1 or two ouces of milk then refuses anymore. I kept a diary yesterday (the worst day so far) of his feeds and worked out he'd only had 19 out of his normal daily intake of 32oz - i'd also refrained from giving him any purees yesterday due to him not taking in milk.
He seems his happy normal self, but i'm worried about him not getting enough?
Is this just a phase? Am i right to withdraw weening until his appetite returns? Could it be that he's teething? - i'm not sure that he is as he's always got dribbly chops, rosy cheeks and loves a good chomp on everything he can get hold of. His gums don't look or feel any different either.
I can't think of anything that's changed apart from weaning.....
Anybody any ideas?
x

Hi angel. Sorry can't offer advice - I'm a lurker on the weaning boards as DS just turning 6mo and we'll be starting our first foray into solids this week. Yikes! But I would say that your description (dribble, cheeks etc) sounds like my boy, and he's been a bit strange with his feeding patterns for the last week, possibly slightly longer. He just seems a bit off his milk (BF) and not overly hungry. Very distracted by everything (who knew that thin air was so fascinating?) Of course there's no way to measure with BF so no idea if he's taking less or just being more efficient. Hope you LO returns to his usual self soon.

Sounds like it could be teething. Have you put your finger in and had a feel around? Try a teething gel, dentinox worked for us, before his bottles and try him with some ibuprofen too. It's much better for dental pain than paracetamol IMHO, and I've had a lot of dental pain!

Think you are right to stop the weaning for a few days. Is there a particular reason your HV advised early weaning? I'd stick with the bottles for now but you could offer him a frozen banana to chew on, after his bottle, or some big chunks of cool cucumber or even a cold, clean wet flannel.

Have you changed his milk recently? Some babies start refusing bottles if they've been switched to follow on milk.

If you are keeping a diary, try to look at what he's taken over a week. It will stop you stressing over one meal, like his breakfast yesterday, and a day. If you look at it over a week it usually balances out

Hi, there's still no improvement with his feeding. He's still only taking about half the amount he usually has in a day :( He's always had a fantastic appetite. BUT he's still happy and alert so i'm taking that as a sign that there's nothing to worry about.
jiltedjohnsjulie I think the HV was just giving out the standard advice in our area. They organise a rountine visit from a 'weaning' lady when baby is 4month old - a bit strange really when they advise no solids until 6months, i suppose people will wean early and they want to make sure they do it properly ie not use powdered mash, pot noodles or as i read in the papers this week, liquidised Mac cheese burgers - She told us to start at 22weeks and slowly introduce him to thing building up to 3 meals a day by 26 weeks.....
The only thing that's changed regarding his milk is the way we make it up. Filling the bottles with water and storing, then adding the formula just before a feed.... that changed a few weeks before he lost his appetite so i don't think it's that but we are going to revert back just to see.
Had a look and feel at his gums and they don't appear any different. I'm starting to think it is his teeth tho just because he's being a bit cranky at the min. So... painkillers have been given and banana pieces are in the freezer :)

Really wouldn't advise putting the formula in cooled bottles. Lots of people seem to think its the bacteria in the water you need to worry about but its not. The water has to be 70 to kill the bacteria in the formula, not the water.

Hopefully he will be back to normal soon and its good news that he's bright and alert at times. Did you know too that the recommended amount of ff is 20oz a day from 6 to 12 months, so don't stress too much if he's not taking his 32oz