3 Month Old - little appetite. Help?

[KenReeves]

Our 3 month old boy has never been a great eater. He was exclusively breast fed up until 10 days ago. During the breast feeding time, he underwent a tongue tie fix which helped somewhat - but he was not a good latcher and spat up a fair amount. We switched to formula about 1 1/2 weeks ago -- tried 1/2 breast milk, 1/2 enfamil premium lipil...then all formula...but he continued to spit up a bunch and was fussy. About a week ago, we switched to 100% formula, Similac Soy based. Spit up has significantly decreased but his appetite just isn't strong. He eats about 20 oz of formula a day (on good days) when he should be in the low 30 oz. Days like today (the bad ones), he ate about 16-18 oz. Anyone else deal with a baby who doesn't eat??? Try another formula? Try the hyperallergenic ($$$) ones? Thanks for the help.

[JBaxter]

Did your ped recommend switching to the soy? I'd give your ped a call and see what they had to say.
We ended up with the Similac Sensitive ( lactose free).

What bottles are you using?

[kijip]

Did your pediatrician suggest the soy? Unless the baby truly CANNOT have milk, soy formula should be avoided.

I would try offering small bottles often and maybe try a different bottle.

[Betts6]

i know what you are going thru ... it was really hard getting our last child to drink formula after being totally breastfed ... we used the curved wide nipple bottles and we had to go with the $$$ organic milk ... only sold at Safeway ("O" for Baby Organics) .. Good Luck ..

[KenReeves]

Thanks for the comments...we are currently using the Playtax drop-ins with latex nipple....worked much better than the Avent (leaked) and Born Free (silicone nipple). We are awaiting allergy results so we may switch from Soy in the future.

[L'sMommy]

Your baby just may be a small eater. My DS has never taken to a bottle and to this day (8mo) never has drank more than 26 oz in a day. I had to stop BF at 10 weeks (long story). Most days he does 18-24. On bad days he's down to 14 oz. He is small on the growth chart but growing steadily so ped is not concerned. Now that he is on solids, he perfers fruit/veggies to a bottle. DS is on Similac Sensitive and we went thru a lot of formulas before settling on this one. We use Playtex drop ins and dr. browns - he does not show a preferance.

I know I'm not really offering a solution here, but just wanted you to know there are babies out there who do just fine even if they are not eating as much as the literature says. Don't make yourself crazy over it. It used to make me so upset and I finally had to let it go because he is growing fine and has hit all the milestones to date.

[drako]

Maybe he has acid reflux? My daughter was very fussy at the breast (and fussy in general) in her younger months and spit up a lot. I never thought much of it but when we were at her 4 month well visit our ped. witnessed her spitting up a lot during our visit. We were given samples of prevacid and were told to call in a month. After the month was up it was recommended we come off and see how she does. Within the first three days of being off she got fussy again and refused to nurse and went back to her fussiness. So we are back on the prevacid and will come off in a few days to see how she does.

My ped. said the anti-acid (prevacid) isn't supposed to stop the spit up but it keeps stomach acids from developing and going up the esophagus which causes the burning which than leads to fussiness.

If you google info on acid reflux you will find some babies will not even want to eat even a bottle because of the pain.

Just something you may want to bring up with your ped.