Forum Feeding

Not wanting to drink

11 replies

judithv
Good afternoon everyone,

I’ve been struggling with a problem for quite a while and maybe someone here recognizes it or has some tips for us.

Our Tygo was born on August 15, 2018. So he’s 5 months old now. From the very beginning, he just wasn’t doing well. When he was first born, he was way too quiet and calm. We had to feed him with a cup, and it wasn’t until a week later that he let out his first cry.

Eventually, we did manage to get him breastfeeding, but then he cried all day and night and wasn’t gaining weight properly. We went to doctors and pediatricians a lot and finally switched to Neocate (due to a possible cow’s milk allergy), and he finally started to improve.

Unfortunately, the feeding problem didn’t resolve with that. Tygo really just doesn’t want to drink. Often he won’t even start, and other times he stops after drinking, say, 50 ml. Because the provocation test for cow’s milk only showed a small reaction, and because they thought he didn’t like Neocate, we switched back to regular formula. Unfortunately, that didn’t help with his poor drinking either. We’ve tried everything… distractions, just a quiet room, laying him down, holding him in every possible way, different bottles and teats. But he refuses everything. Because he drinks so little, he’s really not gaining enough weight. His growth curve is constantly dropping, and every time I see a baby his age, I’m shocked by the big difference.

Combined with his terrible nights (he doesn’t want to sleep and often just cries for 3 or 4 hours straight in the middle of the night—so not waking up, but just staying awake and not sleeping), I’m completely overwhelmed by it all. Every bottle is a battle with my own child. I’d love to enjoy these moments, but the days are filled with feeding times that aren’t enjoyable at all. Solid foods aren’t going well either. He takes a few small bites and then he’s done.

The pediatrician doesn’t know what to do anymore. We went to a physio for his neck, but that didn’t help. We have an appointment coming up with a speech therapist to look into the problem.

Does anyone have the golden tip?

Replies

  1. Mamu Guest #2

    Wow, that sounds really tough! This isn't what you expect from your own little baby...
    We’ve had a good experience with the osteopath.
    I don’t have any bad drinkers, but maybe it helps to add a little thickener to the milk?

  2. judithv started this #3

    It's indeed really tough. What exactly do you mean by "diksap"?

  3. Anonymous Guest #4

    Wow, that sounds really f*cking awful. You're probably extremely worried about your little one and completely exhausted. Our daughter had silent reflux. She also cried for hours at night and only drank tiny sips because (with reflux) it comes back up and brings acid from the stomach with it. We also had doubts about a cow's milk allergy, but she didn't have that in the end. Nexium was a lifesaver here; maybe it'll help you too, girl.

  4. floydi #5

    I was anonymous

  5. Anonymous Guest #6

    I can only wish you all the best and hope everything gets better soon! My son still doesn't want to drink at 9 months old.. I always gave it to him when he was asleep and he drank it on autopilot. Now he still drinks 6/7 bottles just because I think he should only drink a little bit. The health center doesn't think this is very good because he should actually only get three bottles, but well, I decide for myself, so that's why the tip is to give milk while sleeping.

  6. judithv started this #7

    We did consider silent reflux too, especially during the period when he was crying non-stop. We even tried Nexium for that, but it didn’t help. Meanwhile, he’s been quite cheerful and hardly cries during the day, except when it’s time for a bottle. I think silent reflux would involve more crying than that.

    Dream feeding does often work better, but then he wakes up quickly, and unfortunately, he doesn’t get six naps a day. Too few to dream feed all the bottles, unfortunately.

  7. judithv started this #8

    Has anything ever come up with your son that made him not want to drink?
    And how is he doing with solid food?

  8. Mamu Guest #9

    By "diksap" I meant rosehip juice or other fruit juice for little ones.
    Hope you'll find a solution soon; it sounds like quite a battle...

  9. judithv started this #10

    Can they do that already? Tygo is only just 5 months old. We're also hoping for a solution, indeed. At least, the speech therapist is coming to take a look next Thursday.

  10. Mamu Guest #11

    Your baby can already have fruit bites at four months. This is pure fruit juice, so I think it's fine! And I think you'll be especially happy when he starts drinking...

  11. An Guest #12

    Oh, I so relate to this story! Our girl is already on a feeding tube because otherwise she doesn't get enough. Just seeing the bottle causes panic. Feeding times take so much energy; you really wish it could be a nice, calm moment together. We're doing speech therapy too, but I don't notice any difference yet...

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