Teething, won't eat, won't take bottle, sad baby & mama

StefandTodd · January 2012

...all while I'm trying to transition to work this and next week...I'm totally losing it.

I can't even tell if he won't take a bottle b/c he hates the bottle, hates the milk, misses me, is teething...

He will not take a bottle...right now, I've got 4 oz in each a Dr Browns, a Tommee Tippee bottle, a Tommee Tippee sippy cup, and a Medela bottle...that's 16 oz of BM I'll probably pour down the drain here in a few hours (tossed 14 on Tuesday, 8 yesterday). At this point, after the last couple days of trying, he screams when the nipple comes near his lip. Practically screams at the site of them. He will nurse, but barely. He keeps pulling off to cry (from the teething pain?), then he'll do a shallow latch and just comfort suck to sleep.

He's SUPER congested...a cold? Or the teething? So eating is extra hard for him on top of everything else. He used to be fine with the Nose Frieda...the last two days, he screams when I try to clear the congestion.

I don't know what I'm asking here...advice, stories of how you got baby to take a bottle, the standard "it gets better" stuff or maybe reassure me this could just be the teething...all welcome. I finally got him to sleep in his crib instead of on my chest (elevated on a Boppy b/c of the congestion ), and now all I want to do is cry...

I feel like I failed him by not getting him super used to a bottle...but again, I can't even tell if it's the bottle he hates, or just all of this is happening b/c of teething. He's taken only like 4 bottles in his life, but he took them all just fine so I never would've expected him to have such a hard, hard time with it.

Ugh...hard day

NotSharknado · January 2012

Maybe ear infection? It hurts to suck when they have one. Dd had one a few weeks ago and it also caused a lot of congestion. HTH

tuluwen · January 2012

Could be wrong, but if it's teething OR a sore throat, you might try leaving the milk cold in the bottle. Worked for my LO, and when I suggested it to my friend, it worked for hers as well. My mom heard what I was doing and said, Ew! But hey, whatever works!

StefandTodd · January 2012

tuluwen:
Could be wrong, but if it's teething OR a sore throat, you might try leaving the milk cold in the bottle. Worked for my LO, and when I suggested it to my friend, it worked for hers as well. My mom heard what I was doing and said, Ew! But hey, whatever works!

Ooh, will try that. I've been thinking it had to be warmed for sure.

Ear infection, huh? How would I know? Wouldn't he have a fever? Maybe?

Thanks for the response

NotSharknado · January 2012

Mine didn't get a fever the whole duration of it so not always. I would go to pedi just to rule it out. Sometimes they tug at their ears too mine did do that.

StefandTodd · January 2012

shanado:
Mine didn't get a fever the whole duration of it so not always. I would go to pedi just to rule it out. Sometimes they tug at their ears too mine did do that.

Oh no, that's possible then...I thought it might be a sleepy sign, but he has rubbed his ears a couple times that I've noticed recently. (My best friend's son has always rubbed and pulled on his ears when tired, so I didn't even think ear infection).

Thanks again

legaleagles · January 2012

Big hugs, mama! Are you throwing out the milk b/c its frozen and mmore than 24 hours since thawed or because its heated and he hasn't taken it? I think, though someone correct me if I'm wrong, that you can hold over milk for the next feeding, so if he doesn't take it the first time, you can keep that bottle until the next feeding. That might save you a few ounces.

Harper doesn't need her milk heated either, my mom does heat it, but if she's really hungry, she just gives it to her right from the fridge. I think she's teething, too, though I think she has for a bout a month now and there still isn't anything popping through and she likes the cold nipples so when I make her bottles I keep them in the fridge with the nipple on and she sucks and bites the bottle nipple.

Right before Christmas Harper was refusing the bottle, Alex and I went out and she went maybe 6 or 7 hours without eating. We had to work hard at it and eventually she started taking it from my mom (she would take it from Alex or I, but not my mom, I know this is a bit different). I do really think that a baby will not let themselves starve. All of this could be exacerbated by teething, a cold, or just not feeling up to par, since it sounds like he's got something else going on.

I don't have tons of advice, but hugs and love headed your way.

StefandTodd · January 2012

Thank you M. Ugh...I've just been crying all day. So pathetic.

A lot of my milk tossing is due to the metal smell issue I mentioned awhile back. I don't know if maybe I have high lipase or my milk freeze-life is just really short...so a lot of it is not necessarily about him not taking the bottle but that I keep thinking the fresher it is, the better chance he'll maybe take it?...like, I'm so worried that he is refusing a bottle because it's a bottle that I'm trying to make every other variable as "positive" as possible...warm, fresh-as-possible milk, different bottle, different flow nipple, etc etc etc. ...and none of it is working yet.

Fortunately, we have a weekend at home with no plans so I think T is going to be working on bottle feeding a lot this weekend. He is the only one who has been able to get him to take a bottle yet, so maybe we can figure out the magic trick to it this weekend before he has to start daycare next week

Thank you again.

kjgilhoo · January 2012

Big hugs Stef!

Are you the one giving him the bottle? We tried to give DD bottles before I went back and she was never a fan. Once I went back to work SO was home with her and she still wasn't a big fan and would only drink 3-4 oz. a day for the first couple of days. She was hungry and it was heart breaking for me, but it started to get better. Now she's up to almost 9oz. a day (3 weeks later).

My LC told me that if it was high lipase then my milk wouldn't taste sweet at all after pumping. Have you tasted it to see? DD is very picky and likes her milk really warm. I leave SO bottles in 2 - 3oz increments to cut down on the wastage. If he'll take it room temp. then you can leave the bottle out between feedings.

Every baby is different, but I do believe that they won't let themselves starve. I think you're right in saying that the congestion may be adding to the problem. DD had her first tooth break through this morning and she didn't drink much today. You might just have to wait that part out unfortunately

It will get better though. I would try letting someone else give your DS the bottle if you're not already and see how that goes. It takes babies practice to learn to BF and I think the same goes for bottle feeding.

Good luck and keep your chin up - you're doing great

StefandTodd · January 2012

Thank you so much for the encouragement, advice and responses

We went ahead and went in to the pedi today to rule out ear infection. It's just a cold, thankfully.

And he was a smiley, happy, giggly little guy the whole time we were there, lol.

The good news about going in without really needing to is that the NP we saw is also an LC and she gave us 2 latex nipples and some glucose water to practice with. He does seem to enjoy chewing on the harder latex, and obviously enjoys getting a little sweet water.

Re: my milk, I tasted it yesterday and it is definitely sweet, even with the metal smell/taste so I'm glad it doesn't sound like a lipase issue. The NP/LC had never heard of metal smell so we'll just keep trying with it, I think.

And I'll have my H work with him with bottles this weekend, and I'll make them small. Like your LO kjg, even when he has taken them for my H, he always took only a couple ounces at a time.

Thank you again, all!

smile4cristina · October 2012

Hi, i have a 5 month old who seems like she's been teething forever! She's always been on the bottle and lately is refusing to eat. Similar like your situation - i don't know if it's the milk ( i recently transitioned to formula from BM) or is the temperature of the milk ( she's always been SUPER fussy with milk temp), is she teething...is it me, is she not hungry, etc etc....i'd love to say it gets better ( i keep telling myself that every day), but so far, same thing every day. Nurse/pediatrician says she's teething and sometimes loss of appetite is normal and extra fussiness, but seriously - for how long? She's never eating/drinking her minimum requirement of milk a day and i've had to toss MANY oz each day because she refuses to eat...so i know what you are experiencing....i've cried every day for the past 4 days because she is not eating and already she is not gaining enough from the BM to formula transition....i just pray that the teeth will sprout and she will return to my little angel; sleeping, eating, pooping, playing &always cheery & laughing.....

smile4cristina · October 2012

Hi, I had high lipase in my milk and had to throw about 20 litres of frozen milk. My daughter was refusing the milk and crying hysterically and one day i decided to smell/taste it and i nearly puked! Dr. told me if she didn't take it to toss it...so i did and by that point i had stopped breastpumping so i had to transition to formula quickly which was hard too....

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha · October 2012

Late to the party here, but I still wanted to send you some major e-hugs.

I would have suggested ear infection, too, but seeing as that's not it, I don't know what to say.

Have you thought about maybe trying frozen food in a mesh feeder. I found that really helped when DD1 was teething. Maybe you could even try frozen BM in there?

StefandTodd · October 2012

I just have to say - blast from the past! lol. I think I wrote this when C was not quite 5 months old! And it reminds me how strong my momnesia is and now I'm slightly more terrified to have another newborn in 6 weeks, lol.