Hi,

My daughter is 5 months old. She was never a big eater, but used to drink couple of ounces from bottle per feeding when she was hungry, and I fed the rest in her sleep. From last month or so, she is completely refusing bottle when awake. If she does take the bottle it is when she is highly distracted by music/ toys. Even then she will stop after on oz or so. My pediatrician says she should drink at least 20 ozs, and we can barely get it in. She is not a big spitter up, and does not vomit, so it was really hard to detect her AR. We have started her on Pepcid for almost a month now. Will this bottle refusal ever go away? Has anyone experienced it? The doctors don't seem to have any advice on how to get her interested in bottle again. But any tips from Moms who have been through this will certainly help me and my baby. Thanks for listening.

Hello, Welcome!

Does your daughter see a GI? Have you tried any other meds? Has she always been refusing or is this something new? How old is she?

Also, alot of kids sleepfeed on here. If your doc doesnt seem to have more advice could you see someone else or be sent to a GI, who is a specialist in dealing with reflux, or a feeding specialist?

(((hugs))) I feel for you, I know how frustrating this is, Hang in there, it will get better :hug:

Thanks for responding. It felt really good to nkow that someone is listening, and that there are more babies who sleep feed. My adughter is 5 months old. She was a fussy eater till about three months old, but used to drink when she was awake as well as during her sleep. However for last month or so, she is just drinking in her sleep. I am seeing GI but he does not have much advice on how to get her to drink when she is awake. He has suggested concentrating the milk so she gets more calories from the same amount, but she seems to drink less after concentrating the milk. I have tries every possible bottle, various formulas, even added banana to milk, to give it some flavor, since she likes bananas. But nothing seems to work. I am hoping this is just a phase and will pass soon...at least it keeps me going.

Okay, we did sleep feeding here.. it was the BEST feed of the day for us. :roll: Not the best, I have to admit, but whatever works.. right???
We also resorted to distraction.. which was usually a Wiggles DVD. This continued for some time. SOme days I just "let it go" and let the boys drink what they wanted.. I needed some time where I wasn't always fighting to feed them.
Have you tried a faster flow nipple.. sometimes they appear not to be interested becasue they can't get the milk out fast enough, get tired and frustrated and won't drink anymore...
It will get better hon.. hang in there :hug:

Hi-
Sorry you are going through this. Your daughter sounds similar to Sarah. Sarah is almost 8 months old now. She will also only eat from the bottle when distracted- you should see how many toys I have nearby to distract her, I am constantly buying new things that will hold her interest while I try to get her to eat. I also do sleep feeds. I don't know what to tell you because for us it hasn't gotten much better. Hopefully for you things will improve. I sit Sarah in the Boppi pillow facing the TV. I first try to get her to eat with minimal distraction like a book she can look at then as she is refusing to take more- usually starts at 2 oz then I try other musical toys then I turn on baby einstein. Sometimes they can have a milk soy protein intolerance which causes problems and can be the cause of resistant reflux.

Oh, boy. My little guy went on refusal binges, but would get interested again in a few days or weeks. We kept up the night feeds for a long, long time. I think I finally stopped giving them sometime in late November? So, he was over a year old. I fall in the "do whatever works" camp. There were days when I just offered a bottle every hour or so, just so that he'd eat SOMEthing. Those were rough days. I don't guess that helps you much, lol, but you aren't alone!!!