Refusing milk for past 3 days

[Amanda]

Ben is now 4 and a half months and has suddenly started refusing his bottle.

4 weeks ago he was taking 8oz bottles every 3 hours during the day, and sometimes every 2 hours. After he also started waking in the night, so we started weaning. He's been doing great. Until Friday, his routine was:

6am - 8oz
9am - 3 tablespoons baby cereal mixed with water and 4oz milk
12 noon - 8oz
3pm - savoury and dessert (about a baby jar amount in total) and 4oz milk
6pm - 8oz
9pm - 8oz

Then suddenly, Friday morning, it went:

6am - 2oz
9am - cereal and refused bottle
12 noon - slept through
2pm - savoury and dessert and 2oz milk
5pm - 3oz
9pm - 4oz

Saturday:

6am - 3oz
9am - cereal and refused bottle
12 noon - 2oz
3pm - savoury and dessert (refused bottle so I gave more dessert on top)
6pm - 4oz
9pm - 5oz

Today:

6am - 5oz
9am - cereal and 2oz
12 noon - refused anything!

It's now almost 2pm and he's not interested at all. If I put the bottle anywhere near him, he screams a blood curdling scream and stiffens and fights.

I'm worried I started weaning him too early, although he's later then Kayleigh and Charlie were. Whatever food I offer him, he clears it. He opens his mouth ready and makes yum yum noises the whole time. We always have an empty bowl. But at his age, he still needs his milk, but won't take it! Has anyone else had experience of this? I can't cut out the food as he's been having it for a month, and it's practically the only thing he has at the minute!

He's a big boy (91st centile), not fat, but just big, so I'm not concerned with him wasting away, but need to find ways of getting him to drink more milk again...

 

[Amanda]

I meant to say that he's sleeping more than usual too at the minute. Could they be connected?

 

[Vickie]

Hannah was a nightmare to get milk down at that age, she was more interested in playing and looking around than anything else. That could be part of it, have you tried feeding him in a dark, quiet place? That sometimes helped with Hannah. Or is it possibly teething? We sometimes had to give Hannah milk out of a sippy (and sometimes even out of our glasses) to get her to drink it, it's messy but at least we got some down her

 

[Amanda]

You know what Vickie? I did comment earlier on to DH that Ben's cheeks were really red. There's no sign of teeth yet, but maybe they are on the move.

Also, it can tend to be a bit noisy in our house with Charlie, so maybe taking him upstairs for a feed might help.

I'm also going to take your advise and go and buy him a sippy cup tomorrow.

Thanks hun. You see, I never thought of any of those things!!

 

[x-Rainbow-x]

im having a nightmare with this at the moment to , he just started refusing we tried all the teething stuff but at the min does not seem to make any difference he will take 2oz no problems then fight and refuse anymore and moves the teat side to side in his mouth. it took me 2hrs to get 3oz in him the other day .

this will be the second week , i get him weighed tomorrow if he hasnt put on i am going to comtemplate getting him some nutriprem stuff

 

[Vickie]

Hannah was a nightmare milk drinker, she never drank the recommended amount even when she wasn't on three meals a day I had to resort to all kinds of things to get the stuff down her

 

[Happy]

I posted the exact same problem about Phoebe the other day. She started taking 2-3oz instead of her normal 7oz feeds and it was becoming a nightmare, she would have a small amount of milk and then start chewing on the teat, thankfully she is on solids as well so she was geting some food.

I would def put it down to teething, Phoebe's cheeks are so red and she is constantly dribbling and pulling at her gums. She has just started to take more milk after 5 days but is still in pain with her gums. Just keep an eye on him but I am pretty sure its the same issue.

 

[AHB238]

Having a very similar issue with Grace!!

She was going 10 - 12 hours a night but for the last few days she's been waking at 3.30 - 5am again and taking a full bottle but then the rest of the day have a real chore trying to get anything down her. Feel like I am force feeding her most feeds. We started with baby rice about 2 weeks ago, even that now she's not too interested in, tried her with baby porridge too, she's still not got the hang of the chewing motion so don't think she's ready to move on to anything else yet. She was on 5 7oz bottle a day and then dropped a feed so went to 4 7oz bottles a day, now shes back on 5 a day but won't take anymore than 6oz.

BUT.... she too has developed really red cheeks, is sleeping more (during the day) and is dribbling for England!

So could may well be their teeth.

 

[Amanda]

It's good to know I'm not alone in this, thanks ladies.

Ben is still refusing milk. Exactly the same as you are saying- just pushing the teat from side to side and chewing on it. He had 3oz before bed at 9.30pm last night, and then nothing till 6.30am this morning, and he's took just under 3oz and is now gurgling happily on his playmat after refusing any more.

I'm going to get him weighed tomorrow and see if the hv can advise anything else. I'll let you know what she says.

 

[Happy]

Did you manage to speak to the HV?

 

[k8y]

Have you tried giving the bottle before the food?

 

[Happy]

We have taken a backwards step with Phoebe again, this morning all she has had is 8oz from 2 feeds. We always feed her milk before solids but she still wont take much, I now dread milk time because its such a battle to get her to take any.

 

[Amanda]

Did you manage to speak to the HV?

Not yet unfortunately, the drop in clinic is closed for the holidays!!

 

[Amanda]

Have you tried giving the bottle before the food?

I do hun. I always offer milk first, and if he refuses, I give him food, then offer milk halfway, and also at the end.

He's just woke up and had 3oz milk. That's after his last bottle of 5oz at 10pm last night.

I'm adding some dairy into his food now though to try and help. He has a heaped teaspoon of dairylea mixed into his savoury puree. And I'm giving yogurt mixed into fruit puree too.

 

[pictureperfect]

We have taken a backwards step with Phoebe again, this morning all she has had is 8oz from 2 feeds. We always feed her milk before solids but she still wont take much, I now dread milk time because its such a battle to get her to take any.

I know EXACTLY what you mean Happy - Chloe is the same its like a battle that I know i'm NOT going to win, every now and again she will shock me and take about 6 oz's but for the last week I don't think 1 bottle has been finished completely.

How often do you feed Phoebe?

I do Chloe roughly every 3 and a half to 4 hours during the day between 6am and 8 pm but the other day she slept through her 6am bottle and woke at 8.00am so I just gave her 4 bottles that day and she didn't seem too botherd - I am hoping she will be a better eater once I introduce solids!!!

 

[mernie]

Brianna's done the same thing here recently. It is teething I'd say cause it started right after her first tooth broke through the gums with the tooth next to it right behind. Poor girl is gonna teeth two at a time. And she just chews on her bottle and pushes it around in her mouth. She did have like 2 days of a break between the first one cutting through the gum and the second starting to and during those two days she was fine with her milk.