Baby won't eat

singingirl96

hello. My 28 weeker is now 8 months old. She weighs about 12 lbs. tiny!
When I was home with her, she preferred to nurse exclusively the doctors wanted me to fortify my milk by offering her a bottle, but she never wanted the bottle, only wanted to nurse. She was slowly gaining weight, but was gaining steadily, so we continued only nursing. I went back to work and she wouldn't take a bottle! I had no choice, I had to go back, so we had no choice but to keep trying. We even got infants and toddlers involved. Then, she would nurse at night but take bottles at daycare. That's when breastfeeding became a struggle. She had serious nipple confusion and preferred the bottle. We kept at it and she was still gaining.
FF >>> to about 6 weeks ago, she got a bad cold and ear infection, wouldn't nurse at all. I started giving her bottles, but she drank little. It got so bad that I resorted to a dropper. Then, she ended up dehydrated and was inpatient for 2 days. That was about a month ago. She got bronchioliltis and was very congested but eating better. However ever since then it has been a absolute struggle to feed her. She refuses every bottle. We have to keep trying till she starts to take the bottle. Most of the time she'll take 1-2oz, and a day she'll end up at an average of 16oz. We try to feed her constantly. We've tried different nipples, different formula (supplement to bm), just bm, fresh vs frozen... No avail. It is a struggle to get her to eat.
Her pediatrician said to keep trying often.

I should add that I have some reflux meds for her, but she won't keep it down. She throws it up.
During the time she was sick, she also threw up her antibiotic and her Tylenol. They ended up resorting to injectables.

Has anyone been in this situation? Any word of advice? Sorry this was so wordy.

singingirl96

I should add that she no longer nurses. Total rejection now. Plus she lost a whole pound when she got sick, so now she's off the chart and I'm trying to keep track of her intake, so I'm pumping, fortifying and feeding. She just doesn't want any of it. When she takes it, I have to try and try. Bouncing sometimes works, or tricking her to take the paci than replace it with the bottle.

KTZ17

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this! Does she take solids at all yet? If you give her any cereal (rice/oatmeal) you could try mixing breastmilk into the cereal. Since she's a 28 weeker, I don't know if she's too young for yogurt, but that could be an option. Or, this is random but worth asking, is there any way she has a dairy intolerance? Maybe eating is making her uncomfortable? And then I know some moms on here have gotten therapy for feeding issues. Good luck, I hope it improves asap!

singingirl96

Hi KT.  I've been trying to give her solids every other day for weeks, and she just spits it out.  She may be too young yet since she's 5 months adjusted.  One of the foods I've tried was oatmeal with breastmilk.  I think she got some of it, maybe a teaspoon.  I just don't know what's up.

LucyRicardo3

I'll ditto @KTZ17 , Ask your pediatrician for a referral for OT or a speech therapist. You may have to be very adamant on getting the referral and pushing for the eval to be scheduled, or it could take awhile for them to get around to calling you.  
It sounds to me like you are doing everything humanly possible.
I've been through much milder situations than yours and therapy has always helped...   HUGS
Keep us posted!