Sierra has been having a rough time eating these last 2 weeks or so. Today she didn't even start to eat before screaming her head off, she screamed when I laid her on my lap to eat. What is the best way to get her to eat? I just wrestled with her for an hour to get her to even eat anything but I bet it wasn't more than a couple ounces. She continued to scream bloody murder until my husband was able to calm her down and got her to go to sleep. She had only gained one ounce in 10 days. I go in to weigh her again and am terrified they will see that she has either gained very little, nothing, or even maybe lost and will deem her failure to thrive. :*( I need serious help!!!

Beth

I didn't have an answer for you, Beth. Just wanted to send you a :hug:

Maybe give her some Maalox or Mylanta then try to feed? We did this with my son when he was super refluxing as an infant. Wait about 20min and then try to feed her.

I'm sure some of the b/f mom's will chime in too! :hug:

{{{HUGS}}} Noah was so hard to feed up until his first birthday (and now its still no picnic). Miori makes a great point about the Maalox before bottles. How old is your daughter, though? Are you using Mylicon with every feeding? I didn't bf, but I can totally relate to a noneater. Please keep us posted, and I hope you can find something that works better. What about sleepy/dream feeds? Noah, to this day, eats 100% better when he is drowsy or all the way out. I know it doesn't sound fun, but can you sneak in some more milk when she's sleeping?

Hi there! We did sleep feeding a lot and used mylanta.

If you really think she needs to get something in and you are afraid for her health, you can pump and try to feed her some through a regular cup, not a sippy. Our doc had us do this a few times because Eli was so frustrated with the breast that we coudn't get him to latch. As soon as we would pour some into his mouth, he would swallow like he was starving, very sad but it got something into him... (((Big hugs))) I hope you find something that will help.

What kind of meds are you using, maybe a switch is in need? Zantac made our son sicker while Prilosec helped us a lot.

I had a little non eater too...its so hard to watch....
I used Mylanta 20 - 30 mins before every feed. It did cause runny stools though so that's something to watch for. Isabelle was 100% sleep fed for 3 months straight. I nearly had a heart attack the first time I saw her take interest in a bottle and actually drink it awake... Unfortunately sometimes with non eaters sleep feeds are the only way to get them to take anything...sometime she would even wake from her sleep crying because it hurt, but when she was only getting 7 oz most days I have to get everything into her I could just to keep her hydrated....

I'm sorry your going through this...Your in the right place for support through this time. Let us know how the doctors apt goes!
Take care...Good luck!!

Thanks everyone! I do have to say that that she does eat MUCH better at night... Sometimes she cries right after a feeding at night too but with the combination of white noise, swaddle, and rocking her it doesn't last long... With my going back to work in a week, however, I just can't keep up with feeding her at night only.

I will give her the Maalox before feeding, I'm sure that will help, but she HATES it and screams bloody murder when she gets it... :(

I think I'll just keep swaddling her before a feeding, too, since that does seem to help calm her down...

She actually gained 6 ounces in the last week, amazingly, hard for me to believe since she is having a hard time eating, but maybe she is getting more of her nutrition at her night time feeds than I thought. As long as she's gaining I'm going to try not to worry too much...

Beth

Keep us posted on that, as long as she is gaining and maintaing I would just do what you can:wink:

When i was desperate i would walk round the room while feeding as it seems to distract my daughter!

Never try to feed once the screaming has started as they will never latch on!

We went and saw our pediatric gastroenterologist yesterday. She is 10 lb 12 oz, not 11 lb like her pediatrician weighed her at. She was being weighed on different scales at her ped... So she's not gaining what she should be, but is still not yet a failure to thrive... We have a feeding evaluation script, and a 'cookie swallow' script, and a script for Carafate. Has anyone used that medication, and if so, how did it work for you?

One the advice of the doctor, I fed her while she was sitting up in my lap - and it seemed to help. She nursed for 30 minutes twice yesterday, which she hasn't done in a loooong time, so it's an improvement! I hope that she continues that!

Beth

I hope the sitting up in lap continues to work for her to get some sustinance in her. I have no experience with Carafate but I know others do on here.