My baby is almost 6 months, and is refusing the bottle except for at night. He is losing weight, and the ped says he needs an endo if things don't change. I am so stressed out! How can I get him to like the bottle again? Can I flavor the formula? ANy particular bottle/formula that works best? How long does this last?! God, please tell me it gets better!!!!
thank you,
Mom to Deven (6 mo old AR, Axid and Reglan)

:hairpull: If you figure out a way to get him to take it let me know, we are going through the same thing. Jackson is 4 months old and has only been taking about 15 oz. a day, if I'm lucky, he just REFUSES to eat. I don't know what to tell you! {{{hugs}}} I know that you can use them!:hug:

thank you...i do need them
hugs to u too

Thanks!;)

Yay, you found it! I have been looking to see if you would make it here. I am sure you will get lots of more knowledgable responses than I can give in this area. Let me know if you try the powders we talked about, I would love to hear how it goes.

Sharmila, right??

This is a hard one that a lot of us have gone through or are going through. Eric never LOVED his bottle. There were times when he barely tolerated it and those were the good times.

We did lot's of sleep feedings. This is when he ate the best and got most of his cals. During the day I tried to give him a bottle as soon as he woke (or I'd wake him to eat) and in a quiet room without any distractions. But there are some babies that do better when they ARE distracted. You just have to figure out what works better for your little one.
I also would rub his leg with my thumb while he drank. I would rub in a rhythmic motion in the same spot so it was irritating but not painful. This made him concentrate more on what I was doing to his leg than what his eating felt like. I had some success with doing that, but it didn't work every time. I have also heard of people sucking their child's finger while feeding them. Same theory, to try to get them to concentrate on something besides how eating feels to them.
White noise helped too. Like if I turned on the drier so it was on while I fed him, or if DH was vacuuming in another room.
Also, helping his constipation made a huge difference in his eating. When things were going through his plumbing right he ate TONS better.
But really more than anything, time helped. Time, for us was the magic trick that worked. The only thing that really worked.
I know you don't want to get the scope done, but maybe you could find out something that could help him out. It can rule out lot's of things and uncover a lot too. Maybe it would help you to get down to the bottom of his food refusal.
I hope your baby starts to eat for you. It's so scary when they lose weight and won't eat. Eric made himself so sick. It was awful. The worst 6 months in my life. I'm sure Eric would say the same.

(((BIG I hope eats better soon HUG)))

Hi! That is the big question - how to get them to eat... I know how concerning it is especially when weight loss is involved. The other ladies had great ideas. We also would sleep-feed, feed with a blanket over his eyes, feed with no distractions, feed with lots of distraction (like Baby Einstein).

Something that worked well for us was switching bottles every few days. I would go from a wide-mouth, breast-like bottle to a skinny-nipple bottle, and the novelty made him interested, and he would accept the bottle for a while.

Also, we used a syringe to feed when our kiddo was losing weight. It took forever, and was sooo tiring, but worth it. We used a Monoject syringe (super cheap), and he didn't even have to open his mouth. The tiny syringe tip just fits right between baby's lips, and DS would just watch Baby Einstein while I fed him.

Every baby is so different, though. But hopefully he will start to eat better soon!

Lots of {{{HUGS}}}

HANG IN THERE!!!

It's really just a game of trial and error, and even if you find something that works, it may just be temporary and keeping things novel, as Sheila said, sometimes works best.

We relied on sleep feeding for my son, which adds extra stress like putting him to sleep for every meal, feeding him at home where it's absolutely quiet (phones unplugged), and worrying about the day when he wouldn't need so many naps.

Have you asked your ped for a referral to someone who can help, like a speech therapist or dietician? Usually they have good suggestions for bottle and nipple types, formula, positioning during feeds, etc.

We have finally conquered the bottle aversion for now at least. Noah started refusing at 2 months, and it became worse and worse until very recently. He used to beat the heck out of me and the bottle until it was out of sight. Now, the poor thing, actually covers his eyes when he sees a bottle if he doesn't want it. But, I've gotten him to the point that if he doesn't want it, its okay, and I can just try again in a few hours.

We flavored the bottles using puree. Its extra cals, and it doesn't take much. I used .5-1 ounce of puree per bottle. I used fruit because that's all that Noah can *somewhat* tolerate.

I'm so sorry to hear he's losing weight. I hope that you can find a solution quickly. Good luck!

Thank you all soooooo much. I want to thank you all personally, but as you can imagine, I am not getting great sleep. (Iguess at some point that'll be question #2 How do you survive on such little sleep for such extended periods of time?1 Ppl kept saying your child will sleep by 3 mo. I counted the days. Three months came and went. Now 6 months later I am right where I started, with no end in sight. I was really depressed yesterday, but thank God for all you moms. You have no idea (or maybe you do) how nice it feels to have support from those who truly understand.
Baby Einstien does work to distract him. And, I sing a lot while I rock and feed him. I just dread every feeding (like I am sure he does), and I just don't think I have it in me to do this 10 times a day indefinitely. I must sound like a terrible mom, but I am just exhausted. It has to get better. It just has to.
Thank you for all your suggestions. I will try the fruit adn some of ther other suggestions (sucking his finger). I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks again,
Sharmila

Yep, keep us posted! We can all relate in the sleep department :coffee:

It does get better though, my refluxer is 3 1/2 now!

:hug:

I just dread every feeding (like I am sure he does), and I just don't think I have it in me to do this 10 times a day indefinitely. I must sound like a terrible mom, but I am just exhausted. It has to get better. It just has to.

I used to bawl ever time it was time to feed Eric. I felt like I was torturing him. It was awful, and I felt like a terrible mom too. But I'm not a terrible Mom. I have never been a terrible Mom, and nether are you. It's the reflux that's terrible. We ARE awesome Moms because we have to do so much more than the average Mom does. Even at times when we don't think we can do it anymore, we still do it. Every day we still find the strength to get though it and help our babies eat. Help our babies get better. help our babies to thrive.

It will get better! Just keep being the terrific Mom you are and things will get better, and if things should happen to get worse before they get better, remember we are here for you, and most likely there will be at least a couple of us that have been through something similar with our little ones.
(((BIG HUG)))

Thnak you Minnie. I needed that. And, I'll probably need it again.

love,
Sharmila