Baby is not drinking as much and loosing weight

[princess1985]

I've posted this in baby club too as didn't really know where it fits!

My 5 month old baby is currently breastfed, but he has 1 bottle of formula at bedtime. He would previously feed every 3 hours during the day for around 10 minutes each side at every feed and take about 5oz in his bedtime bottle. This past week he has started taking less and less at each feed - i'm lucky if he feeds for 10 minutes in total now when breastfeeding and will now only take 2-3 oz at bedtime.

I know that babies appetite changes just like ours would but after getting him weighed again this week he has now dropped from 14lb 7oz to 14lb 5oz and now is 14lb 2oz in the last 3 weeks. He is always weighed on the same scales and naked but his percentile has gone from 25 to 9. The health visitor just said to start him on solids, which i have done today but thats not going to help gain much with the tiny amounts he will be eating!

Just wondered if anyone else had been through a similar experience, or how I can get him to drink more milk. Thanks

 

[eclipse]

Hmmm...I don't have much advice except maybe put him to the breast at bedtime and then give his bottle? See if you can't get a little more in him? You could always put some rice cereal in his night bottle (which for many is a no no but I did it with my son on advice of my GI doc and it helped a lot) and that should help him gain some weight back....I don't know what to tell you, hope it gets sorted out soon, I'm sure it is nerve-wracking

 

[Vinushka]

I'd also like to know why this is as my LO has practically stopped feeding properly during the day and he dropped a lot of weight at 5 months. We started trying him with a bit of finger foods but that's hardly going to help. He does eat fine at night though, every 1-2 hours in fact, and if he gets hungry enough.

 

[lynnikins]

solids wont help weight problems as they contain less nutrients than breastmilk but are harder to digest so baby is buring calories trying to digest them,
all you can do is keep offering boob, try feeding in quiet chilled out enviroments to allow your LO to properly settle into the feed as often around this age then they get so interested in the world they loose interest in food for a bit.

EJ piled on the weight till 5 months then it leveled out for 3/4wks then he started properly gaining again. stick with it

 

[kirst1805]

I don't know if anyone else experienced the same but Gemma always ate a lot less and lost a bit of weight when she was teething.. She does the same even now..

Try and offer him a couple of extra feeds during the day though if you can, Might start taking more milk little and often.

xKx

 

[Tacey]

I probably wouldn't bother with solids either as they may stop him having as much milk. Does he seem quite distractable lately? I found that from 5 months it was harder to keep Alice focussed. If so, maybe feeding somewhere quiet would be good, and keep offering even if he's not asking for it.

 

[princess1985]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I do think him teething has something to do with it, he's begun being fussy at the boob and bottle the past 10 days or so and he's defo having some real pain with his teeth. Im just going to keep feeding as much as possible and keep offering baby rice- he just keeps screaming whenever I put anything on or in his mouth so it's going to take some time I think!

 

[MelanieAnn]

https://www.nbci.ca/index.php?optio...ood-weight-gain&catid=5:information&Itemid=17 is a fantastic article.

IME often it's flow preference that is the core problem. When a baby gets used to a bottle, then mum's milk supply can drop and it's really really hard to reverse.