Forums  •  Classifieds  •  Events  •  Directory

 
Page 1 of 7 123 ... LastLast

Help! Baby refuses to drink milk

  1. #1
    limantari's Avatar
    limantari is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Kowloon
    Posts
    16

    Unhappy Help! Baby refuses to drink milk

    My baby is now 4.5 months and he started to refuse to drink milk since a month ago unless if he is half sleepy.
    This makes us have to go through long feeding time since we have to lullaby him to make him sleepy.

    His last meal is usually about 10-11 PM and he just want to take at most 5 OZ at that time since he will be too sleepy by then. He will then sleep through the night and wakes up at about 7-8 AM. We have tried to wake him up at night for feeding but we have no success to feed him since he's to sleep to suck the bottle.

    The problem is even though he has no feeding time between 10-11 PM to 7-8 AM, he still refuses to eat and again need to lullaby him to be half sleepy.
    We thought that he should be very hungry since he drinks nothing for 9-10 hours, yet he still refuses his milk.
    Until a month ago we are still able to feed him up to 32 ounces per day, but now he barely takes 25 ounces.
    His weight is now about 16 pounds and based on our knowledge he should take 2 - 2.5 times of his body weight in pounds, which is 32-40 ounces per day.

    Before this problem happened, he used to have 5 feeding time with 6-7 ounces per feed. His feeding time was 8 AM, 12 PM, 4 PM, 8 PM, and 12 AM, then he will sleep through the night. Now since he started to be difficult to be fed, his first meal which supposed to be at 8 AM delay until 8.30 - 9.00 AM due to refusal, the second one 12.30-1.00 PM, then the third one in afternoon is the hardest time to feed can be delayed until 7-8 PM (supposed to be 4.30-5 PM). This makes the 4th meal delay until 10-11 PM and just can drink at most 5 OZ. After the 4th meal, he will sleep and refuse to have midnight meal.

    This frustrates us a lot and we also worry that he will not grow well since we spend most of his time to feed him, where he supposed to learn and play. He is generally a happy baby and not too demanding. We notice that he is now teething since he has an urged to bite something or suck his finger and play with his tongue. Will this teething problem cause his difficulty to be fed? We doubt that this is the only reason since he has this problem since he was just 3 month + (when is too early to have teething problem)

    I will be very grateful to anyone that can help me to share some advice and experience.


  2. #2
    aussiegal is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Southside
    Posts
    660

    My 6 month old has been doing the same thing for a month. He barely drinks his bottle. We're lucky to get him to take 100mls. I'm not overly worried at this point because he is a big boy and doesn't seem to be suffering from it. We started solids after a few weeks of him refusing the bottle and he eats well so he's still gaining weight.
    The toughest part of it all is that we end up having to get up three times a night to give him 60 mls or so which he drinks then falls asleep without taking any more in.

    I'd love to hear of other people's stories if they've gone through this too. He is just not interested in the bottle. Mind you, he was breastfed for 5 months so i don't blame him but still!


  3. #3
    miaka is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Chai Wan
    Posts
    173

    you're so lucky your child sleeps thru the night. maybe you can try increasing the flow of the milk. then he would not have to suck so hard and easier on the teething pains. i use avent bottles and they have faster flows for older babies. u should check w/ the brand of bottle and nipples that you're using. good luck!


  4. #4
    LeahH is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Hong Kong, Mid Levels
    Posts
    579

    Hi, I'm having the same experience with my 3.5 month old.

    She refuses the bottle at lot and is very fussy to feed the rest of the time. She was taking much less than her normal intake for around 3 weeks and has only now started taking her bottle again, but only if we give it to her in bed for some reason! She plays as normal and when it's time for bed or a nap, we put her in her crib and feed her there (taking her out after for burping). She will also take it in her pram when we are out (sometimes). She still takes a bit less than she should for her body weight though.

    She's very oral also (lots of saliva, putting everything in her mouth etc.) so the reduced appetite may be a prelude to teething - which can happen early - with the symptoms showing up to a month before the teeth actually come through. Ped and Health visitor have said it's all fine - just to keep having her weighed regularly to ensure that she's thriving.

    Feeding out of the normal situation seemed to help with us, but after getting quite worried I have relaxed about it all now - she's generally a happy baby so not much can be wrong!


  5. #5
    limantari's Avatar
    limantari is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Kowloon
    Posts
    16

    Thank you all for the reply.

    Miaka, I also use Avent bottle to feed him. He seems to like it a lot. I agree that the hole in avent bottle is bigger than other. I also use pigeon bottle with medium size hole. He has no problem with it altough we find that he likes the avent more.
    However, he still refuses to drink. He moved his neck vigorously once the bottle nipple inside his mouth that makes the milk spilling everywhere on his face and neck.

    He is generally a happy baby. He plays normally, smiles a lot and sometimes even laughs out loud. He also babbles quite a lot. Other problem is he doesnt want to take a daytime nap at all. He always sleeps less than 12 hours a day. This also makes us worry. He is active, doesnt drink and sleep enough, that's why he looks thinner that other baby.

    We called the peadiatric yesterday and he said making him into half sleepy before feeding is not a norwal way of feeding. We will find even more difficulties later when we want to start introducing him solid. He suggested to starve him during the day by skipping 1 meal after the other and see if he's asking for it and wants to drink without fuzziness. I personally feel that is rather cruel to starve him, especially he is already not drinking enough.

    Other way of feeding him is turning on the TV. He loves to watch cartoon and he'll drink his milk while staring at the TV. Research said that it's harmful for baby to watch TV since he'll be mentally attached to it and becomes lazy, also the eyes of baby under 2 years are generally still sensitive to TV. That's the reason that we wont let him watch TV, even though our life will be easier with it.

    Please share more of your experience. I am a new mom and all my family and friends are overseas.


  6. #6
    Konradsmom is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    HK
    Posts
    195

    Same problem with me - baby is only 3 months old and he's making feeding time v difficult. On good days he'll empty the 5oz soon but more often than not, he'll turn his head to and from both sides and refusing his milk.

    he was sleeping through the night for a while but has regressed back into waking at night for a feed, drink a little, go back to sleep and getting up again in the next hour for another go at the bottle. I'm not sure whether he's growing at the right pace....

    Any advice on why this is?


  7. #7
    miaka is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Chai Wan
    Posts
    173

    i BF my baby until about 11 mos. and now that she's on formula she still has her days where she doesn't eat much (solid or milk).

    i have heard that teething pains can cause loss of appetite. and i don't think it would hurt to try the doctor's recommendation. maybe the baby just isn't hungry enuf?

    in my short experience w/ formula is that my baby can easily be 'overly full'. kinda like after a big meal, you don't feel like eating more. or when you've eaten a lot but not passing as much (mildly constipated maybe?). i'm not sure how to explain this very well. but for my baby we used 'hoi nai cha' to mix w/ formula instead of plain water for about 1-2 days to help cleanse her GI tract. it worked for our baby.

    (however, i should mention that my baby has never been consistant w/ her intake of milk. sometimes she finishes, sometime she doesn't. i don't push for her to finish her bottle. i figured she knows when she's full. my point here is that my experience isn't exactly the same as yours, so i don't know how helpful my suggetions will be.)

    another suggestion i have is to let your baby bite on a cold teething ring or try teething gel to relieve some of the pain right before offering the bottle.

    good luck.


  8. #8
    eyt
    eyt is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Yuen Long
    Posts
    14

    Hi limantari

    My 4.5 mth old is about the same weight as your baby (over 7kgs) and he looks very chubby. At his 4mth check-up, the nurse said that it is more important for them to play more than eat and put on lots of weight at this age. If your baby seems happy and is not losing weight, maybe you don't need to worry yet. Is your paediatrician concerned about his weight?


Page 1 of 7 123 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. 5-month old baby does not want to drink milk
    By juniechan in forum Feeding Baby
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 02-02-2010, 03:44 PM
  2. Baby Refused to Drink Milk
    By jaz1311 in forum Feeding Baby
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 10-05-2009, 02:16 PM
  3. Help! My baby refuses to drink water!
    By Katebabe in forum Feeding Baby
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 02-03-2009, 08:07 PM
  4. Help! My baby won't drink milk!
    By soon2bmom in forum Feeding Baby
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-02-2009, 09:05 PM
  5. baby refuses to drink vanilla flavoured Enfagrow
    By happybilly in forum Feeding Baby
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 02-05-2008, 05:44 PM
Scroll to top