What's up with my baby refusing bottles?

stay

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 12:51 pm

I started my ds on solids while 4.5 months. The rest of the day he either nurses/bottles of expressed milk. Over the past week (he is almost 6 mos now) ds has been refusing bottles and when he nurses it's only for 2 minutes. When I call while I'm at work my sitter says he eats maybe 1-2 ounces and turns his head and refuses more (this kid used to eat a whole jar or oatmeal AND finish a 5 oz bottle in 15 minutes flat!). He isn't sick and doesn't seem to be teething (if he is he's not complaining about it). DS is on the bigger side and usually ate 4-5 oz bottles every 3 hours with food 2x/day.

Has anyone had such an experience with their infants? I don't know what happened to my happy chomper! Someone mentioned that with some babies once they start solids they like it and don't want milk anymore. He is eating his solids well but not liquids. Any ideas?

smss

Thu, Apr 25 2013, 9:58 am

I wonder if it would help to try a faster flow nipple? maybe he is getting frustrated now that he's had the experience of getting food really fast to have to wait so long to get the same amt of food through a bottle....?

stay

Thu, Apr 25 2013, 10:04 am

I actually switched to a faster flow nipple around the time that he started refusing bottles, but I don't think that's the cause because I switched back to an older bottle and he is still refusing.

Um, so this may sound ignorant of me, but I didn't know to give him the bottle before the solids. I thought you should offer the solids first and then he'll have like a drink afterwards, no? Regardless, during the meals where he's not eating solids (he's only eating solids 2x/day) he is still refusing his bottles, and in the morning he won't nurse either. But he's taking his solids well and he's acting fine otherwise so it's so confusing!

Is he too young for a sippy cup? He's 5.5 mos old. But if he's not too young for it I may try it just because I'm getting nervous.

smss

Thu, Apr 25 2013, 10:08 am

stay wrote:

I don't know if it's like a 'rule' or anything, but if he's refusing the bottles I'd definitely start with trying them on an empty stomach. at this age it's much more important for him to have breastmilk (/formula) than solids.

I don't see a reason not to try a sippy cup, but he might be too young to understand what to do with it.....

stay

Thu, Apr 25 2013, 9:09 pm

So I tried offering a bottle first tonight and he still refused it. I finally gave in and gave him a jar of food and he ate it without complaint. I can't stop worrying that he stopped liking breastmilk or something! I also took frozen milk because I thought maybe it was something I ate recently that got into the milk but he didn't have that bottle either. Dr said it's could just be a phase, but he's never refused a bottle in the past! He used to love eating - what's going on??? Could it really be that he decided he likes food better than bottles?