Refusing bottle at 9 months - what could it be??

[neeter]

Hi ladies, I just wanted to run something by you and see if you had any insight or suggestions! DS is 9 months. For a long time he was refusing bottles, until about 6 months when we figured out that he liked the BM to be hot - about 98 degrees.

He's been in daycare for the past three months, and now suddenly he's refusing the bottles. He will have maybe 1-2 bottles (8 oz total). We're not sure what the problem is. My DCP has been good about warming up the BM. We've poked extra holes in the nipples, to speed up the milk flow. He is getting two meals of solids at daycare (1 jar of Earth's Best plus cereal), plus a snack of cheerios.

When I pick him up at the end of the day, I nurse. We play a little, then start the bedtime routine, where he nurses again before going to bed. He will eat 1-2 more times at night.

I'm not sure what the problem is, since he is nursing fine, I don't think he's self-weaning. He is teething (lots of drool) but he is fine with the nursing and solids.

Should we cut back on the solids? Tomorrow I'm going to give our daycare provider our digital thermometer, to make sure she is getting the milk hot enough. I'm not sure whether to try new nipples, or if there might be something else going on. We are worried that he's not getting the milk he needs (he used to take 14-16 oz during the day).

Thanks for any advice!!!

[sntm]

It may be the solids, or it may be that he prefers to wait and nurse. And bottle nipples feel different than breasts or spoons, so it still may be the teething. Jack actually preferred his bottles cold when he was teething, since the warmth was resting right on the tender swollen gum. Probably made it throb.

One thing to consider is switching to a sippy cup. We switched around that time and Jack took more temporarily. When he slowed down again, we switched to a straw cup.

I'd try those things, and if nothing works, then just consider that he may be saving his milk intake for when he can get it from the tap. Not a bad thing, necessarily.
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shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 16 months and counting

[neeter]

Thanks -- I will try the sippy cup idea. Sofar he only chews on the sippy. He can drink directly from a cup, but its not that much.

A friend said that her 9 month old is reducing her milk intake generally - she takes about 12 ounces a day. Could it be at nine months, babies generally don't need as much milk?

[sntm]

Breastmilk (or formula) should still be most of the calories through the first year, as solids are not nutritionally complete (especially as eaten by babies and toddlers!)

My opinion is that by 12 months, solids should make up about half the caloric intake. BM/formula has about 24 Kcal/oz, so that would be 288 calories. Babies at 12 months should get roughly 1000 Kcal per day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 16 months and counting

[californiamom]

Thank you for this info! I've been wondering about the caloric intake for a while.

DD is giving me a hard time taking bottles as well. My ped told me she should drink at least 24 oz of breastmilk or formula per day for brain development. She's probably getting half that amount!

We've tried sippy cups and straw cups with no success. She nurses in the evening before dinner and then before I put her in bed, and she also wakes up to nurse 2x per night (after a couple months without waking up at night at all). But my milk supply is really on the low side so I don't think she's getting a lot from tap.

She eats really well -- cereal and fruit in the morning, a vegetable and a fruit for lunch, YoBaby for snack, then a vegetable, a fruit and another cup of YoBaby for dinner. I've been introducing cheerios as well... She just doesn't want anything to do with the milk.

I though about mixing something in the milk or formula to get her to drink it. Do you think it would be OK? I know we're not supposed to introduce honey until past her 1st b-day, but maybe the organic chocolate syrup from Trader Joe's? Or sugar? Anything????

I am so lost. She's been like this for about 4 weeks now, so I am to the point that I am not considering this a "temporary" thing anymore. Thank goodness somehow so far she hasn't showed signs of dehydration.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Thanks.
Ana

[neeter]

Yes, my DCP suggested trying formula - its better than nothing. Oh and my friend's baby's daytime intake is 12 oz - we're not counting early morning, evening stuff in this b/c my baby will still BF (thank goodness, hopefully that doesn't give way either). My DCP will also try giving him really soupy cereal, mixed in with lots of BM - essentially BM on a spoon. Whatever works. I'm just glad she's willing to try whatever!!

[sntm]

I think you'd be surprised at how much she gets while nursing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 16 months and counting

[californiamom]

I hope you're right! :-)

It's just that I had cut down to pumping only 1x a day (I get about 3 to 4 ounces per pumping session) and nursing her in the evening. I have not seen an increase in my milk supply from pumping in the past couple weeks, even though she's nursing more frequently and I have replaced the valves in my PIS pump. That's why I thought I might not have enough left...

DH and I will start keeping track of her weight weekly again, just for peace of mind (she has dropped from the 95th percentile to the 25th-50th)between her 6 and her 9 month appointment.

Thanks for the reassurance, though! :-)