How do you make an almost 6 month old take a bigger bottle?

[FTMLuc]

UPDATE: At the 6 moths appt, DD was 14pounds 11 oz (25th %) and 90% for height. The doctor was not worried about her eating, told us to increase solids to 2 meals a day and really do meals vs. exploring as I was doing, and forget about her eating schedule (4 oz every 3-4 hours). Instead just let DD drink BM as she feels like it in 2oz increments or whatever she takes, since now she is too easily distracted by other things.

In the last week and ½ my DD has significantly dropped her BM/formula intake. When she is hungry, she will eat 2-2.5 oz and will refuse the rest. She will play with the bottle, blow back into it if we try pushing it, etc, but will not eat. She was never a big eater, averaging around 4 4oz bottles a day plus 1 at night, now it seems that she has dropped down to about 10oz from a bottle per 24 hour period. I nurse in the evening and at night, but my supply is pretty low, I pump on average 3.5 oz from both sides, so I can’t imagine she is getting a lot. I was almost exclusively pumping for the first 4 months, had supply issues and DD was very low in weight so I was scared to nurse her as I would not be able to tell if she was getting enough. Then with support of LC and my mom’s group at work I started nursing her more after her 4 month visit, when she reached 30th percentile in weight. But even with nursing she will eat for 3-5 min at the time, and then will play. We started solids about 6 weeks ago, but more for flavor and texture, she eats about 1-2 oz of fruit/veggies/cereal per day, so she is definitely not filling up on those. She seems happy, I do not really see a drop in poopy/wet diapers, but I am starting to really worry and stress about this. Anything I can do to make her eat more? Any questions that I should ask the pediatrician at her 6-month appt on Monday?

TIA


UPDATE: DH just called, DD had barely finished 4 oz in 1 oz increments since her 4:30 am nursing session, it is now 3 pm. I am really stressing, should I call the doctor now, or wait until Monday's appointment.

[PGTB]

In the last week and ½ my DD has significantly dropped her BM/formula intake. When she is hungry, she will eat 2-2.5 oz and will refuse the rest. She will play with the bottle, blow back into it if we try pushing it, etc, but will not eat. She was never a big eater, averaging around 4 4oz bottles a day plus 1 at night, now it seems that she has dropped down to about 10oz from a bottle per 24 hour period. I nurse in the evening and at night, but my supply is pretty low, I pump on average 3.5 oz from both sides, so I can’t imagine she is getting a lot. I was almost exclusively pumping for the first 4 months, had supply issues and DD was very low in weight so I was scared to nurse her as I would not be able to tell if she was getting enough. Then with support of LC and my mom’s group at work I started nursing her more after her 4 month visit, when she reached 30th percentile in weight. But even with nursing she will eat for 3-5 min at the time, and then will play. We started solids about 6 weeks ago, but more for flavor and texture, she eats about 1-2 oz of fruit/veggies/cereal per day, so she is definitely not filling up on those. She seems happy, I do not really see a drop in poopy/wet diapers, but I am starting to really worry and stress about this. Anything I can do to make her eat more? Any questions that I should ask the pediatrician at her 6-month appt on Monday?

TIA


UPDATE: DH just called, DD had barely finished 4 oz in 1 oz increments since her 4:30 am nursing session, it is now 3 pm. I am really stressing, should I call the doctor now, or wait until Monday's appointment.
:hug:

I would definitely discuss this with your ped, if your baby is not eating enough solids (and enough of high calorie ones like avocado, whole milk yogurt, cheese, oil, butter) and not drinking enough milk the weight loss or failure to gain weight can happen.

This is what happened to my DS. He was doing great until 6-7 months when he was EBF. Then we started solids - it didn't go so well, but DS stopped taking a bottle - at all. He would start drinking from straw cup or a sippy and occasionally a bottle, but amounts of milk were very low (1-3 oz at a time). He just didn't want to drink any milk (EBM) or formula in sufficient amounts the ped would recommend. We still nursed a lot, that was no issue and DS would nurse every 2 hours at night as well. But, he didn't gain weight and ped was concerned about him potentially getting into the FTT (failure to thrive) area. He is eating solids well now, but I am still worried, counting calories and trying to give him lots of fatty foods, because he is still underweight. (only a bit over 18lb at 13 months).

I don't think you need call your ped as emergency right away, nothing they can do over the phone probably, and it is not like your baby will starve esp. as long as your still nursing. it also doesn't mean your baby will not increase the milk intake again a bit later, some do and have no issues with weight whatsoever. But definitely bring this up to your ped and try to work on a plan of introducing enough high calorie solids (not just steam veggies and cereal like we did) if baby continues to take only small amounts of milk.

[infocrazy]

FWIW, she could be reverse cycling. All of my kids did this once I went back to work and they would only drink around 10 oz while I was at work (around 8 hrs). I nursed before I left, when I got home, and then repeatedly over night. The baby is more efficient than a pump so the amount you pump isn't necessarily what she is getting. I'm not sure how frequently you are nursing so that is something to consider as well. If you want, you could get one of the baby scales that measures in ounces. Weigh her, feed her, weigh her to determine how much she is getting when nursing, but that is probably overkill at this point.

Regardless of when you call the ped, they will probably have you come in for a weight check. Seeing how that goes will help determine what you need to do in the future. In the meantime, I would mix some breastmilk into the solids so she gets additional that way and maybe try some different methods of offering the bottle. I'd try introducing a sippy. My DS started refusing taking a bottle once he started solids, but he would take a sippy.

Good luck, I know it is VERY stressful! kellymom.com is a great resource.

[Tanya]

I think I'd call and leave a message at least and see if they want you to go to the ER or urgent care or something. 10 oz in 24 hours doesn't seem like much and that's coming from someone with a baby that doesn't always eat a lot. I have twins and my girl twin is on mostly formula. She has reflux and rarely takes anything more than 5 ounces (she's almost 7 months old). She was at 4 ounces per bottle for a long time. We've counted up the ounces in a 24 hour period and we've had a couple days where she only got to about 17 and I was concerned. When she flat out refused her bottles at about 6 weeks or so, I took her in and she was diagnosed with acid reflux (I was thinking ear infection).
I tend to panic a bit more with her since at one week old she was hospitalized because she was lethargic and I couldn't wake her or keep her awake to eat even an ounce at a time. She was later diagnosed as a lazy eater (I was breastfeeding her then).

Anyway, I think they can have off days and various things can affect them eating, but 10 ounces is really low and I would be really concerned if this is common. I'm glad she is having wet/dirty diapers, but my one week old was having those. Have you taken her temp? I would call the doctor and see what they say. It may be nothing, but it isn't a big deal to just make a phone call and leave an after hours message.

[FTMLuc]

Thank you for all your input. Inforcrazy I think you might have a point here about reverse cycling. She used to wake up only once during the night around 2, but lately she has been waking up around 4 also. I only nurse 2-3 times, evening, once at night and if she wakes up early enough, in morning.

Someone suggested that it maybe due to teething, it may also be true, DH had to change her couple of times today as her onesies were soaked with drool, which is new for her.

I feel a bit better, she ended up with 3 bottles today, plus nursed at night/ early morning, and then in the evening again. I will definitely bring this up at her appointment on Monday, and will also start being more consistent with solids, especially high fat ones.

Thank you again for your great suggestions!