5 mth old losing interest in milk during the day

[LdS39]

Hi Ladies

Ou LO Adam has never been a big drinker but in the past couple of weeks Adam seems to have lost interest in his milk during the day. At night, when hes half asleep he seems to be ok finishing his bottle or at least having a fair bit of it but during the day we're lucky if we have 100ml during a feed.

So far today hes only had 260ml (9oz) since early this morning.

Is this some sort of phase he's going through and should I just persevere or is it a sign of weaning? I think hes also teething as he drools over everything.

Im worried hes not taking in enough nutrients

 

[Eternal]

Sam is intermittenly been like that, but I am weaning him and he is on Extra hungery baby milk on HV advice as he WAS taking 9 ozs every 2 - 3 hours :S ... he is now taking a lot less but eating a lot more lol!

 

[OmarsMum]

I think it's teething. I'm struggling with putting some milk in my LO. I had to use a spoon to give him his formula 2 days back. I already started giving him baby rice 3 wks back, & he's more interested in spoon feeding than taking his bottle. Omar has never been a big drinker & until now his maximum is 28 oz in 24 hrs. He's a big baby (82nd percentile). Yesterday he only took 25 oz with no solid feed, & the day before he only managed 20 oz.

 

[aimee-lou]

A lot of things can affect the amount of formula they want/drink. As has been said, teething is a biggy so try a bit of teething gel about 10 mins before a feed to see if this helps. The weather is warming up and formula isn't as thirst quenching so maybe try giving a little water between feeds to keep him hydrated. Are you weaning yet? If you are they may be concentrating more on the solids (much more exciting lol) and therefore not really interested. At about 4-5 months their appetite can fluctuate to start to come towards 3 larger meals a day, ready for taking on solid food, so this can make them less inclined to want milk, especially during the day.

Earl is currently on a bit of a rollercoaster - for us a drop in milk intake is almost always followed by a massive rise in appetite (calm before storm lol) but he really isn't that bothered about his milk in the daytime at all. If he's being of I try to offer some at a 4 hourly interval and try to get him to just take what he wants. If he only takes 3-4oz of his 7oz bottle, I'll try to offer him the rest 1hr later. If he still doesn't want it, then I let him be.

 

[LdS39]

Thanks Ladies - yes I think teething is the issue and the warmer weather has been bothering him.
I have the Ashton powders/ Nelsons teetha AND Bonjela (well equipped so will try one of those and def see if he wants to take some water (hasnt really showed much interest in that before)
I have started him on Baby rice (1 tablespoon a day) and he loves that.. but will persevere with the milk more

Thanks again!!!

 

[Raven24]

william started to be like this and he was fighting his bottles for over a month so i decided to start giving him some baby rice and baby food and he actually drinks more milk now than he did before i started weaning i dunno whether he was bored with it or it just wasnt satisfying him, he might up his milk intake now you trying him on baby rice x

 

[OmarsMum]

I think it's a 5 mnth phase then

 

[Mynx]

I think it's a 5 mnth phase then

Agreed! Evie has been much the same! It's so frustrating!
Interestingly, we went to Wales last week and I dunno what it was, but her appetite soared! One day she had 35oz in a 24 hour period lol!
I think it must have been a combination of the cleaner air and the softer water - we live in NW London and our water is soooo hard whereas up in Wales it's much softer!
But yeah, definately a 5 month thing as now we're back in London, Evie has cut her intake again

 

[OmarsMum]

I think it's a 5 mnth phase then

Agreed! Evie has been much the same! It's so frustrating!
Interestingly, we went to Wales last week and I dunno what it was, but her appetite soared! One day she had 35oz in a 24 hour period lol!
I think it must have been a combination of the cleaner air and the softer water - we live in NW London and our water is soooo hard whereas up in Wales it's much softer!
But yeah, definately a 5 month thing as now we're back in London, Evie has cut her intake again

Omar seems more hungry when we'r out. yesterday he drained two 7 oz bottles in 3 hrs. Today he went back to rejecting his bottles

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan is doing the same and she is 5 months today - the past 2 weeks she isnt interested in bottles at all & if I get her to drink any its usually 3oz at the most. She comes off the bottle a lot too right now & seems not happy with the bottle in her mouth. Teething gel really hasnt done much & I tried different teats but didnt help. When she is sleepy she is more willing to drink so I'm trying to give her a bottle right before naps. She is on 2 meals a day of baby rice (1-2tbs) and a small amount of veggie but even the days that I stopped meals to see if it helped increase her formula - she still wasnt interested in the bottle. I'm feeling like I'm pushing the bottle too much now as I feel like she's not getting enough which doesnt seem right either.

 

[mrskx0x0]

Scarlett won't drink during the day either. Only way I can get any in her is to wait until she is asleep or very drowsy and relaxed and them pop it in her mouth! I think it is teething.

 

[DaisyBee]

I talked to Megans dr's nurse today about this & i mentioned it in someone elses thread - but thought I'd add here too..

Nurse said a lot of babies start slowing down their milk when they start weaning &/ or could be teething. She said as long as she gets 24 oz in 24 hours (or close) then not to stress too much over it.

Suggestions were to try milk a different temp than what we're doing - so if she's used to warm - try cold... if used to cold try warm.
Try different teats or bottles and see if she will drink more.
Offer every 2 1/2 -3 hours to try to get her to drink more oz throughout the day so she isnt getting into a bad habit of waking all night to eat.
Try giving tylenol (calpol?) and try feeding again 45 min after and see if they take the bottle better then.

 

[Mynx]

I talked to Megans dr's nurse today about this & i mentioned it in someone elses thread - but thought I'd add here too..

Nurse said a lot of babies start slowing down their milk when they start weaning &/ or could be teething. She said as long as she gets 24 oz in 24 hours (or close) then not to stress too much over it.

Suggestions were to try milk a different temp than what we're doing - so if she's used to warm - try cold... if used to cold try warm.
Try different teats or bottles and see if she will drink more.
Offer every 2 1/2 -3 hours to try to get her to drink more oz throughout the day so she isnt getting into a bad habit of waking all night to eat.
Try giving tylenol (calpol?) and try feeding again 45 min after and see if they take the bottle better then.

Today Evie had 23oz which is her lowest in aaaaages Last week when we were on holiday in Wales she was polishing off 5 7oz bottles a day so was having 30+oz per day.. now we're back to the half finished bottles I'm wondering if it's the different water as ours in NW London is proper hard water and in N.Wales it's much much softer

I'm thinking of switching to MAM bottles seeing as we cant do anything about the hard water .. atm we use Tesco bottles with Avent teats. I never thought it could be the bottles or teats but I'm willing to try anything lol!

 

[DaisyBee]

I'm willing to try anything too..... but we messed around with her bottles/teats a couple weeks ago and it didnt make a difference. Im thinking of trying harder to get her onto fastflow though if it would make her drink more. I tried a few days ago - she still stopped at 3oz and she gulped lots of air so was having to burp her after every ounce! The nurse said it would be worth burping more often til she was used to them if she drank more with faster flow but said since she still stopped at three she didnt think it would matter

I wonder if when you were gone she was more distracted? I do think Megan's issue is her teeth cause of how she acts with her bottles - annoyed & mad & if she's not refusing them she's biting on the teat. She tends to do better when she's been more distracted or when she's almost asleep which even then I would think being sleepy would be a distraction from the hurting gums?

 

[OmarsMum]

I'm willing to try anything too..... but we messed around with her bottles/teats a couple weeks ago and it didnt make a difference. Im thinking of trying harder to get her onto fastflow though if it would make her drink more. I tried a few days ago - she still stopped at 3oz and she gulped lots of air so was having to burp her after every ounce! The nurse said it would be worth burping more often til she was used to them if she drank more with faster flow but said since she still stopped at three she didnt think it would matter

I wonder if when you were gone she was more distracted? I do think Megan's issue is her teeth cause of how she acts with her bottles - annoyed & mad & if she's not refusing them she's biting on the teat. She tends to do better when she's been more distracted or when she's almost asleep which even then I would think being sleepy would be a distraction from the hurting gums?

I'm adding 2 oz to fruit & veggies to puree instead of water as he seems more interested in spoon feeding to reach the 24 oz per day

 

[Mynx]

I'm willing to try anything too..... but we messed around with her bottles/teats a couple weeks ago and it didnt make a difference. Im thinking of trying harder to get her onto fastflow though if it would make her drink more. I tried a few days ago - she still stopped at 3oz and she gulped lots of air so was having to burp her after every ounce! The nurse said it would be worth burping more often til she was used to them if she drank more with faster flow but said since she still stopped at three she didnt think it would matter

I wonder if when you were gone she was more distracted? I do think Megan's issue is her teeth cause of how she acts with her bottles - annoyed & mad & if she's not refusing them she's biting on the teat. She tends to do better when she's been more distracted or when she's almost asleep which even then I would think being sleepy would be a distraction from the hurting gums?

I dont think the change in bottles will help much either tbh but I'm gonna get some MAM bottles today as they're cheap in Mothercare at the moment.
I wondered too if changing the size of teats might help her. She's on Avent Stage 2 which are for 3+months apparently so I might get the 6+month ones and see how she goes on them.
This morning she had a grand total of 4.5 oz On holiday she was drinking nearer 8 (once the 7oz bottles are made up, the milk comes up to the 8oz line!) She's eating her baby rice in the afternoon no problems, I make that up with 1oz of milk as I dont really want to overfeed her solids when she's not drinking quite enough milk.
It's a real puzzle! It may be that she was distracted enough on holiday to guzzle down more milk but tbh, I think it was probably the fresh sea air out there..she was sleeping more too.. altho that could have been a growth spurt GAAAHHH!!!