My 4 month old "good feeder' is not finishing bottles any more

Liara, who always was my good feeder and sleeper has done a total role reversal with her sister.

Up until a few weeks ago, she was taking 5 x 6oz bottles per day, now she struggles to finish 4 oz. Even though her weight hasn't dropped, she's only put on half of what she should have. I have to weigh her again in 2 weeks.

When she's feeding, the first 60mls will go down easy but after a burp, she turns her head away, and lets the milk dribble out, and she really fights it. This is almost every feed. Even the early morning feed at 4 or 6am, she will only finish 120ml (4oz) whereas you would think after sleeping 10/11 hours she would be starving.

I really don't know what's going on with her. She has had a lot of wind lately so I've been spending a lot of time burping her but even after that, she's just not interested in finishing the bottle.

Any ideas?

 

Did she recently have a growth spurt? Babies go through cycles of eat, eat, eat, grow, grow, grow, rest, rest, rest, repeat. It's true with my older kids, too. Sometimes they're great about eating anything and everything for weeks, then they might hardly eat at all for a little while. And in between they grow an inch in 2 weeks, it seems.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking growth spurt as well. That can mess with both their food intake and their sleep. Like Dielle said, it continues on throughout childhood. In fact, now I know when I need to buy more clothes, it's when I need to buy more food for them.

Or it could be teething, that could cause them to drool, and of course when you drool, a lot of it goes into your stomach, filling up your stomach. And if you're in pain, it's hard to sleep.

Or a combination, if you're really worried, you can contact your pediatrician, or any specialists you might see (from their diagnosis at birth).

Good luck Tas! :wub:

 

My first reaction was that she may be going through a growth spurt too.

She might also be teething, this can influence a baby's appetite a lot, or - even if you did not notice any other syptoms yet - struggeling with an infection which makes her feel unwell.

If the first half of a bottle goes down well and she is not interested afterwards, do you think something is hurting her once her stomach gets fuller? You wrote about gas and burping her, could something else be going on? I know you have been working hard on their schedules but I think I would try offering smaller bottles more often to see if this is more agreeable for her.
I was breastfeeding at that age, but if they had a rare bottle from DH or grandma, it was never more than 90-120 mls at that age. They nursed quite frequently, so they were used to smaller portions but their stomachs are still pretty small at that age.

If she has enough wet and poopy diapers I would not worry about her gaining weight more slowly for a few weeks, unless your pedi is concerned.

 

Yes I had thought of teething also - they both are definitely showing signs of it, Sierra drools a lot more than Liara so Bex you may have a valid point in that it might be filling her up as I don't see as much drool on her although she spends a lot of time with her fingers in her mouth - last week she cried out in pain a few nights so I know her gums were bothering her.

Growth spurt occurred to me except that her recommended daily dose is 180ml x 5 times per day.


I am tossing about taking them back to the pedi - our next appointment is not till March because they both have specialist appointments in Feb. They saw the GP for their immunisations on Wednesday and she suggested an additional feed during the day, but L really isn't keen on it. The GP suggested another weigh in 2 weeks.

Friederike, the thought has crossed my mind a few times that maybe it is hurting her tummy as she gets full, as she shows signs of discomfort (legs and arms kicking etc) so I think I might get another pedi appointment in before we go to the specialists.

Thanks everyone for replying.

 

Nathaniel used to do that. He was like Liara, my good eater and sleeper. Around 4 months is when I noticed he started to slow down on his eating, not finishing bottles etc. For him he just slowed right down, his weight gain also slowed but he still did the double his weight in 6 months. The girls gave you excellent suggestions. Hopefully it works itself out soon.

 

something I noticed too is that once they outgrew the slow flow nipples on the bottles they'd "snack" a few oz every 2 hours instead of draining a good 5-6 oz like they were...I upped to faster flow nipples and it solved the issue - I did have to feed a bit more upright for a few days until they got used to the flow so they wouldn't choke but it got them back into eating...

if it hurts to suck you could also try a little tylenol before a bottle