freaking out!

the other day i posted about dropping to 3 bottles and was reassured to know that lots of y'all had done it, well, now i have a new problem....

DD and to a lesser extent, DS are trying to refuse ALL bottles! all bottles yesterday were a struggle and last night they would only drink 3.5 oz, and their last solids meal had been 2.5 hours earlier, so surely they had to be hungry.. fast forward to this morning, DD drank .5 oz and totally refused any more formula. i tried it in a sippy, mixing it with cereal and she absolutely would not open her mouth for it, the one spoonful i got in made her gag and cry... so i gave her a sippy of water, which she gulped down and fed her yogurt and pancakes, which she did just fine with. DS drank 5 oz, which i guess is fine and ate his solids well, but he usually drinks 8-9 oz for his morning bottle...

i did give DD some motrin just in case she is teething but it didn't make any difference, and the formula aversion has me really concerned. i have a call in to the pedi(who we have never seen, just moved to new mexico for the summer, so hopefully they will see me today) to rule out an ear infection or something else, but she is acting totally normal when i am not trying to give her a bottle, no fever, runny nose, cough, etc... and i don't suspect her reflux because she is not exhibiting any other symptoms, but i guess i could be wrong, but that doesn't explain DS...

she is on alimentium, which tastes and smells disgusting, so maybe she just hates it now that she has had more delicious things???

oh, what do i do??? i hope the nurse calls me back soon!

thanks for listening to my freak out and if you have any advice at all it is totally welcome!

 

I think you are doing just fine. You are checking with the doctor, which is good, and you are offering her formula regularly & giving her other food too. If she is acting like she feels fine, then I wouldn't worry too much. I don't have any real advice about why she is refusing the formula & hopefully someone else will have some experience, but I do know that if she is eating & drinking regularly (even if it isn't formula) then she will be just fine while you figure out what's going on & fix it! :hug:

 

QUOTE(ohjojo @ Jun 26 2009, 11:43 AM) [snapback]1369954[/snapback]
she is on alimentium, which tastes and smells disgusting, so maybe she just hates it now that she has had more delicious things???



I have heard that stuff is gross. Maybe you're right. You should ask the doc if you can try something else. Let us know what they say.

 

Nate developed a bottle-aversion a few months ago. He refused all bottles and would only nurse or eat from a spoon. We've gotten to the point that the nanny can now bottle feed him (THANK GOD!!), but he still won't take a bottle from me or my DH, and we have to feed him formula on a spoon.

I would definitely talk to the ped, but I'm hoping this is just a phase for you. It seems like a lot of babies go through this after starting solids, but most of them get over it relatively quickly. I'm actually surprised that babies will drink formula at all after tasting real food!!

Keep offering bottles and see what the nurse has to say. But don't let the nurse bully you. I called after Nate started eating more solids than bottles, and the nurse yelled at me, telling me to stop feeding any solids so that he'd drink more. Well that totally backfired, and he wasn't getting *anything* to eat. So I took him to the ped who reassured me, and gave me some suggestions on how to adjust his diet to make up for the lack of formula.

Best of luck, and I'm hoping that this is just a transient teething problem for you!

 

QUOTE(tinalb @ Jun 26 2009, 10:49 AM) [snapback]1369961[/snapback]
I think you are doing just fine. You are checking with the doctor, which is good, and you are offering her formula regularly & giving her other food too. If she is acting like she feels fine, then I wouldn't worry too much. I don't have any real advice about why she is refusing the formula & hopefully someone else will have some experience, but I do know that if she is eating & drinking regularly (even if it isn't formula) then she will be just fine while you figure out what's going on & fix it! :hug:


Ditto what Tina said. The number one indicator of a baby's health is how they are acting. Mine started losing interest with bottles around 9 months as well. It just became harder and harder to keep their attention.

 

we're going through this too, at the same age. except in our case the baby who resists bottles the most also resists spoon feeding and he's not yet willing to feed himself. so we've got an all around food strike going on that makes every meal a struggle.

no advice here, just some commiseration.

 

QUOTE(tinalb @ Jun 26 2009, 11:49 AM) [snapback]1369961[/snapback]
I think you are doing just fine. You are checking with the doctor, which is good, and you are offering her formula regularly & giving her other food too. If she is acting like she feels fine, then I wouldn't worry too much. I don't have any real advice about why she is refusing the formula & hopefully someone else will have some experience, but I do know that if she is eating & drinking regularly (even if it isn't formula) then she will be just fine while you figure out what's going on & fix it! :hug:



I agree with Tina! :hug: It's never easy with babies!

 

QUOTE(piccologirl @ Jun 26 2009, 02:20 PM) [snapback]1370166[/snapback]
we're going through this too, at the same age. except in our case the baby who resists bottles the most also resists spoon feeding and he's not yet willing to feed himself. so we've got an all around food strike going on that makes every meal a struggle.

no advice here, just some commiseration.


My ped told me that "9-month-olds and 12-year-olds" go through phases. I can attest to the 9 month phase, and I'm not looking forward to the next one!

 

How frustrating that must be. Is the can a new one? Did maybe you get a bad one and his one just really tastes sour? Have you tried it? Have tried making it hotter or colder? Maybe their tastes/likes and dislikes is changing. Are they ready for a sippy? Just some extra thoughts

 

Mine are 8 months old and they dropped down to much less than they were drinking. I think it was because they were too distracted and wanted to play. I switched to fast flow and they finish up their bottles more quickly now. This probably isn't much help.

 

thanks for the pep talks! i really needed it. :thanks:

the nurse called and said not to worry too much about it, that they may be trying to quit the bottle and as long as they are eating their solids well and drinking water that all should be fine. i'm really glad that she didn't tell me to stop feeding solids all together, i was worried that she would say that. i am also happy to report that DD drank 7 oz of DS formula, so maybe she just decided that she thinks alimentium is gross. the nurse also said it was fine to switch, she has eaten yogurt and cheese with no ill effects so she may have grown out of her milk problem.

as far as freshness and fastness of flow, yep, it was fresh-we use ready to feed and it smelled/tasted just the same as always and i just moved her up to the #4 nipple a couple weeks ago(and she was downing her bottles) so i can't go any faster than that. thanks for the ideas though, it is exactly what i would have suggested if i was reading my post..

valerie-what kind of ideas did your pedi give you to help make up for formula loss? i am trying to do lots of protein rich and fatty things but it is hard when your choices are limited..

piccologirl- :hug: i feel your pain

thanks again, i will keep y'all posted to any new developments.

 

Our pedi had us add extra scoops of formula powder to the water. Instead of 1 scoop for 2oz, it was 2 scoops for 2oz. It really helped. Even when we switched over to milk at a year, we added Carnation Instant Breakfast to it for extra calories. My boys are still pretty small weight wise, but you wouldn't know it just by looking at them.

 

I'm glad the nurse was able to reassure you & that your DD took some formula for you today. :Clap:

 

ugh. the baby day is finally over. :banana: our tallies for the day are DD-16 oz and DS-17 oz.

not great by any stretch, but i guess it could have been much worse...

i wonder what would happen if i put a scoop of carnation instant bkfst into their formula??? it would definitely make it tastier.. i think i'll ask the pedi.

thanks again for all the support! just another fine example of why you ladies rock and i can't live without twinstuff!! :bow2:

 

My twins were doing that at 9 months also, and the ped had us go ahead and switch to milk at that time. They did great.

Also, according to my ped, at 9 months they should only be getting around 16-20oz of formula/milk, so they did good!

 

Glad your day is over. Their totals are not that bad at all. I am glad that you have a great nurse who reassured you that everything was fine. :hug:

 

QUOTE(ohjojo @ Jun 26 2009, 07:03 PM) [snapback]1370490[/snapback]
the nurse called and said not to worry too much about it, that they may be trying to quit the bottle and as long as they are eating their solids well and drinking water that all should be fine.


I'm so glad the nurse was supportive and gave you some reassurance!! When I called, the nurse just yelled at me to feed more formula; easy to say, but not easy to do when your baby refuses!!

QUOTE(ohjojo @ Jun 26 2009, 07:03 PM) [snapback]1370490[/snapback]
valerie-what kind of ideas did your pedi give you to help make up for formula loss? i am trying to do lots of protein rich and fatty things but it is hard when your choices are limited..


My ped said to really make the solids count for nutrition. Whole milk yogurt mixed with fruit instead of just fruit, add melted margarine to veggies, mashed up meats, avocado, etc. He said that yogurt will give them the needed calcium, and you can offer water for hydration if they're not getting enough formula. I also add formula to stage 2/stage 3 foods to thin them a bit (and boost the nutrition) and make Nate's rice cereal/oatmeal extra runny with more formula than Jack's.

In the couple of months that we've been doing this, Jack has certainly gained *more* weight than Nate, but Nate is gaining well and still on his curve. Now if we could only get him on the growth chart....

Best of luck on the new formula, and I hope your LOs keep eating well! Sounds like you're doing a great job.

 

I have found all this info very helpful since I am dealing with this too. The ladies here are great!!

 

QUOTE(Nate and Jack @ Jun 29 2009, 09:04 AM) [snapback]1373439[/snapback]
I'm so glad the nurse was supportive and gave you some reassurance!! When I called, the nurse just yelled at me to feed more formula; easy to say, but not easy to do when your baby refuses!!
My ped said to really make the solids count for nutrition. Whole milk yogurt mixed with fruit instead of just fruit, add melted margarine to veggies, mashed up meats, avocado, etc. He said that yogurt will give them the needed calcium, and you can offer water for hydration if they're not getting enough formula. I also add formula to stage 2/stage 3 foods to thin them a bit (and boost the nutrition) and make Nate's rice cereal/oatmeal extra runny with more formula than Jack's.

In the couple of months that we've been doing this, Jack has certainly gained *more* weight than Nate, but Nate is gaining well and still on his curve. Now if we could only get him on the growth chart....

Best of luck on the new formula, and I hope your LOs keep eating well! Sounds like you're doing a great job.


thanks for the ideas, i had been considering adding butter or olive oil to their veggies, i'll give it a try...

we are going to see the pedi today as their intake of formula is totally in the toilet, yesterday DD had 4 oz!! and DS had 8 oz. so i am going to ask her about switching to whole milk and for more ideas to make sure they are getting a balanced diet. i tell ya, these kids are so clever, anything i put formula in they refused! it is crazy, but as soon as i gave water, it was gulped down... i am afraid they have gotten my stubborn streak... what is it they say about payback?? :unknw:

thanks again for all the advice and while i am sorry that others are going through this same thing, it is nice to know that i'm not alone!