Help! Baby refuses to drink milk

Yes - all fine, fit and healthy now so don't worry!

Baby number one had silent reflux so the meds helped with feeding more comfortably in general, we then weaned off the sleepy feeding slowly as outlined above. She took to solids well which took the pressure off considerably. She was bottle fed with EBM.

Bub number 2 had the same silent reflux problem but it occured much earlier on, medication helped again as did a lactation consultant (he was BF).

If it is reflux, the oesphegus is relaxed when they are sleepy/sleeping which makes them feed easier. Distraction helps in a similar way.

We saw a raft of people trying different things (cranial oesteo, allergy specialists), but ultimately Dr Thondup was great together with a lactation consultant for number two.
 
Thanks Leah, so do you recommend Dr Thondup? I have seenat least 3 doctors before. Though they agree that my baby has refllux (obvious but not severe enough to prescribe medication according to them), they are reluctant to give any medicines as they believe the costs ie side effects of which will outweigh the benefits.

Is Dr Thondup's practice in repulse bay? did he/she mention anything about the side effects? So you did see significant improvement in feedings? No more struggling and sleep/dream feed?

Thanks very much for your help.

A desperate mom.
 
Hi, yes I would definitely recommend him. He is not one to medicate unless necessary, but his take on it was that their need to be comfortable and sleep was greater than the possible effects.

His practice is the Veritas Medical Centre at the Bank of America Building for half the week and repulse bay for the other half.

The meds made a big difference in our case.
 
Prem baby

Hi, I am so happy to find this thread knowing i'm not the only one going through this.

I am a 1st time mother and have a 4month old baby who refuses to feed. He is 1 month prem so quite small when born (only 2.6kgs). He is now still just 5.2kgs.

From 1 month old, he started to not feed properly while on breast during the day and bottle (expressed breastmilk) at night. he refused both bottle and breast. we thought it might be nipple confusion so we bottle fed him only with breastmilk. it didn't work. each feed is a battle. he needs lots of distractions to feed, or needs to be half sleepy. he cried a lot as well, didn't sleep well, cries after a few sucks. after over a month we saw the dr and they said he had colic. we've basically tried absolutely everything in the past few months. eg. feed a bit, play a bit, feed a bit, singing, music, tv, walking, going outside, toys.

it went on for another month and started to get better. he would average about 100-120mls per feed and about 720mls per day which is not too bad for his weight. but he has been gaining weight very slowly.

the issue is that last week, despite doing ok, he did not gain any weight. so the nurse advised us to see dr. his dr said to try to feed him more often - it didnt work, i think it made it worse actually. so 3 days ago, he had about 20-30mls each feed but wouldn't have it more frequently - even worse than when he was 1month old. so after half a day i got really worried that he might get dehydrated so we took him to the hospital. they said that he's healthy, just fussy.

easy for them to sit there and say it - they don't have to deal with the battle of feeding. they said that if he has about half of his normal intake then it's enough to survive. i got so angry!! i don't want my baby to 'just survive'!!, i want him to thrive!!

he did catch up later that day so it wasn't so bad. but then yesterday was the same again. i'm so stressed out! i don't know what to do. i don't want him to lose weight because he's already really small being prem. now we think that he has the dummy too much (but we only use it to get him to sleep at the moment) so since last night, we've gone cold turkey with the dummy. he was ok without it last night, and kind of ok today but with lots of crying. do you think it's ok to stop the dummy at 4 months old? i read that you shouldn't wean till at least 6 months. we are at our wits end and have spoken to lots of people about lots of ideas. i'm very stressed out at the moment trying to get milk into him. every feed is a nightmare! help! thank you!
 
hi babychino,
i'm also a 1st time mother. i also hv same problem too, my gal refuse to drink milk when she was 3mths old. nw she already 18mhts.
i can understnd ur feeling cos every feeding time is our nightmare too. we waste a lots of milk powder cos everytime all pour away.
v hd tried a lot of methods (including change the milk formula etc) to make her drink milk, but all fail. then end up v just feed her cereal which is advice by doctor. she prefer cereal more than milk. mayb u can check w ur doctor.
my gal started to request to drink milk when coming to 16mths. so dont worry too much.
my gal nw a bit underweight too but everytime v bring her to checkup doctor said she is ok.
mayb u can try to use spoon to feed ur boy. i used this method its last me for abt 6mhts. its vy tiring cos its take almost 1hr to finish the milk. but no choice.
hope the above can help u a bit.
 
hi littlefish,

thankyou for your reply. unfortunately we have already tried spooning. we've also tried syringing and tricking him with the dummy. each new trick works for a couple of days until he knows and everything goes back to how it was. his tongue is also very strong now and can push the bottle out. he can also push the bottle out with his hands. he'll twist, turn, wriggle, cry, scream, arch, do anything to not have the bottle.

he's currently on breastmilk mostly. we've only introduced formula a few days ago to help with his weight. but it's the same with formula. we think we might keep this up another week or so then ask the dr about solids at the next appointment which is next week.

i'm just relieved to know that this is a common problem. i don't know anyone who has the same problem so thought i was the only one. thankyou for letting me express my feelings. it's good to talk to someone who has the same problem because other people don't seem to understand how hard it is...
 
Hi Babychino,
Don't worry you are definitely not alone. A lot of us have been in the same boat. I suspect we may have the same paedeatrician as I was also told my baby was just fussy and that I should give her formula to help with the weight gain. Unfortunately she put on exactly the same amount per week as she had with BM so I was disappointed we went down that route. Some babies are just meant to be skinny. As long as she is growing consistently don't worry.
I was also advised to "slip" in some extra feeds. When each feed is a battle, this is impossible to do.
In the end I changed Paeds as I wanted someone who would actually try to diagnose the problem. She is now on meds for silent reflux which has helped with the feeding. She also has calorie powder added to her milk so I don't have to worry about the volumes so much. She took 180mls for the first time last night ever (she is 6.5 months and 6.5kg). I also started solids at 4.5 months to take the pressure off and we haven't looked back since. She was on three solid meals by 5.5 months and she loves it! Once she was on solids, I stopped regularly offering the bottle too and just offered it every four hours - the feeds were so much happier after this and she tended to drink more too. She now feeds at 7 (breast), 11,3, 6.30 (breast) and 10.30pm and we are all so much happier so hang in there!
 
hi starebear,

sounds like we have the same problem and trying to deal with it similarly. well, i'm hanging in there for 2 more days when we get him weighed and assessed. i just hope he gains a decent amount of weight.

to let everyone know, we couldn't go cold turkey with the dummy but have reduced it significantly. we still only use it to get him sleep but not all the time and we also take it out after a few minutes once he's asleep. but the feeding didn't improve. i knew the dummy wasn't the issue because i didn't think we were over using it. he still has just about 20-40mls then doesn't want anymore. it's then another hour of torture trying to get more milk into him. we get to about 80-90mls max.

2 more days and hopefully we have a plan!! thanks everyone!!
 
Maybe use the dummy to space the feeds for a couple of days? I got in this downward spiral of constantly offering the bottle so of course she only took 20mls every time. Once I stopped offering all the time, she was hungrier when I did offer it. On average she takes a total of 320-350mls out of her three bottle feeds a day. with two breast feeds and sneaking milk into her meals I figure she is getting enough. My baby is very alert and active for her age so although she is skinny, I can tell she is healthy. Trust your gut on this one. Good luck for the weigh in!
 
hi babychino, like wat starebear hd said dont worry, u r nt alone cos my frenz also hv same problem too... her bb refuse to drink milk til 1yr old but after tt she started to drink too n vy healthy nw n she coming to 3yrs old nw.
so good luck ya!
 
thanks everyone for your reassurance. i feel much better! and the weigh in today showed some results - he gained 130grams!! not all news was good though - his platelets from his blood test was a bit high. we also have a referral to a pediatrician to look at the weight, feeding and platelets. and for some miraculous reason, the last 2 feeds have much better!!

i just hope this keeps up! i betcha when we see the pediatrician, his feeds will probably good just so we don't have any complaints!! hahaha... i'm much less stressed now... thanks everyone :)
 
Hi. I have deciced to write here becouse I have tha same problem as many mothers here. My son is 3 and a half moths old and he is refusing to drink milk for over a month. I can only feed him while he is sleeaping and when he is awake, he is refusing the bottle. I took him to the doctors, and thay don't know whay is wrong with him. One doctor eaven said that my son has infantile anokeksia but I think that he has silent reflux. Some doctors eaven said that some children are like that and that it is normal for some children to be sleep fed, and that I shoul star introducing solids when he turns 4 months. Im desperate, and also I started thinking that I could give him medications my self, but in my country Zanatac and other medications for infants can not be found. :(
 
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