Anyone have any idea.. feeding issue

Hi girls, Im completely confused... Two GP visits, gaviscon and a truck load of bonjella., teeth and calgel later... DD wasd taking 8oz at ev feed and was drinking it in 20 mins... then she hit 4 months, started drooling, chewing fists and all of a sudden would drink 3 oz and refuse the rest. Now shes 5 months and is still every feed refusing the bottle ... every feed is a struggle until she falls asleep for naps when she then dream-feeds and her 7pm bottle 8oz no problem.. she then sleeps til 6.30am.... shes getting 20oz max per day, isnt on solids yet and just is not feeding while awake.. her ounces are dwindling away now and GP just says feed her on demand and stop fitting her into a routine but there is no demand if I dont try initiate feeding. shes def teething as shes chewing both fists together at this stage but would this stop her being able to suck the bottle?? Im really so worried now that shes going to lose weight.. gp has also tole me not to start solids til 6 months... does anyone have any experience at all of this happening??? Ive been told by various friends n family its, shes ready for solids and sick of bottles but its more a physical thing I think. she drinks 2-3 oz hungrily then thats it... wont take any more but I know shes starving.. Nobody in the medical profession can help me.. feeds taking 1hr 45 mins

Yep, my lad was a great drinker until he hit 11/12 weeks and it was a struggle. It used to take 2 hours to get a 6oz into him. Now he was happy out really apart from chewing the hands off himself. Ive no advice really only they all seem to go through this. I stuck it out til 19 weeks and started him on solids. Oh, also i found that if i propped him on a pillow and gave bottle he took it better, could have been because he could see me or he could look around. Also he drank great sitting in his bouncer. Other times i'd put his soother in then whip it out really fast and replace it with the bottle. Trust me when i say she wont starve, i promise and there is no fun in force feeding. Maybe space out the feeds a little longer, maybe every 4 hours. I feel your pain, i really do cos i was so worried when he happended to my lad, couldnt understand it. Now ive baby no. 2 on the way and really dont think i'll stress this time like i did last time.

Couldn't read without replying, God love you. That's really tough going. Does she have any wind problems? Have you explored an allergy to the formula? A friend of mine had huge difficulties with her little one until finally a paediatrician told her that she has a severe allergy. She started her on solids before she was the 'required' 6 months and is definitely improving now. Maybe it is worth exploring. She was demented also, very hard going. Especially as her GP told her that there was nothing wrong again. Good luck & remember, it'll pass . . .

z

[quote="ructions":1v6swe0s]She's sleeping from 7pm to 6.30am is that right? I don't think she's hungry! I'd say roll with it for a while longer, she will start to drink more.[/quote:1v6swe0s] Exactly. If she is hungry she won't be long telling you. Once she has wet and dirty nappies and is sleeping ok she will be fine. Everything is a phase and it doesn't last forever

If she seems happy then I'd imagine you could rule out any allergies or wind as I'm sure she'd be upset. DD went through something similar around that age, not as much but generally losing interest in bottles, fussing at feeds etc. we tried teetha and changing teat size and after a week or so she got back to taking her bottles, to be honest I think it was just a fussy phase, maybe because they are getting more alert and noticing more around them? As sassy and ructions said if she's happy, sleeping and having wet and dirty nappies then I'd just go with the flow, maybe try next teat size up, I'm sure it'll pass. I'd be reluctant to start solids because of it, milk is more nutritious at this stage than solids.

Sounds to me like acid reflux or silent reflux? Look up the symptoms online. Gaviscon in the formula worked for us.

Get her weighed to see if she's losing weight otherwise I've seen this before and the advice given was to start weaning but be careful it has to be wheat, dairy and gluten free before six months.

dS1 was the same, except it started earlier and it didnt improve either. I lasted til 5.5mths before starting solids but in hindsight I wished I'd started earlier. His weight plateaued and he we already on the low centile range for weight so I was worried. He was sleeping ok at night too. He's now 5.5yrs and eats like a horse but he's super skinny, he has a high metabolism but he HATES drinking milk! He just doesn't like the stuff.

thanks girls for all your replies.. its going on a full month now. shes drinking a max of 20oz per day.. at 21 weeks.. shes in good form though. This morn I picked her up in her sleep at 6.30 and dream fed her four oz in about 10 mins when that usually takes 1hr 45min on a big teat too.. It just kicked in at 4 months.. I cant fig out why she'll take the feed no prob in her sleep or when its her 7pm bottle.... Ive been putting in gaviscon too.. I think maybe at 23 wks I'll start baby rice? is it good to start with that?