My 5 month old daughter cries at every bottle feed for last 3 weeks. She is happy otherwise. She is bottle fed from 3 months - I mostly pump. She takes 50/50 bm/formula. Nothing has changed in her diet. She will cry during bottle feed, arch her back, resist feeding. After 15min, when she is tired of resisting, she will start eating. She is always low side on weight (15%) and tall (75%). I have taken her to peds twice on the feeding issue - they say no problem, baby is healthy. But this is getting very frustrating for us to watch her loose weight for fussing over food. We haven't started solid yet.
Does anybody know of any nutritionist if they can help. Once I stop feeding her, she is happy and laughing again.
BTW, initially we thought it is teething - but it turns out she is happy with pacifiers. How can pacifier won't hurt?
Thank you all for your replies! I really appreciate it. The night I posted my question, I started thinking hard what has changed. I discovered that I have stopped adding Mylicon in her bottles for last 1 month. I thought she was not that gassy anymore and she might have outgrown gas issues. So, I have started Mylicon again. Lot of replies here said it is gas - so that gave me confidence as well. I also made an appointment with the pediatrician. Surprisingly, the next day she was much calmer. Took her to doctor, he weighed her and said she has no problem. He actually jumped on us saying we are over-feeding her. He asked to do an experiment of not giving my daughter any food for 5 to 6 hours unless she asks for it and not cry during feeding. I told him about starting Mylicon - he said that medicine is just a soap - it breaks one big bubble to million bubbles and won't do any good.
ANyway, I came back and kept doing Mylicon. My baby is back to herself again - she does not cry or fuss the way she was doing it for last 3 weeks. Poor soul, she suffered from gas for these past weeks and very happy and smiling all over again.
Thanks all for your help.
My son is 4 1/2 months now and he would do the same thing at every feeding and we took him to his peds and he ended up having acid reflux and is on Prevacid now and is doing much better now.
Maybe she has an ear infection?
I think someone already said this but check the nipple flow, at 5 months, they usually need medium to fast flow nipples. Also she may have gas, i notice bottle feeding gives them more gas and I actually have to stop feeding to burp them if they look really uncomfortable and then continue feeding again until they finish. She may also be ready for solids at 5 months.
There are two things I would check....first is it possible you are pregnant? My oldest daughter had this same problem (except it was direct not bottle) and I found out I was prefnant with my second. If not that, I would talk to the doctor about possible acid reflux...my second had this and didn't usually refuse to eat but would have some back aching and ended up gassy as well.
Good luck to you and I hope you find out what the problem is without any more issues to your baby!
I agree with Anne C. My daughter had those same symptons at 2 months. I took her to the pedi and it was GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease). Her doctor prescibed Zantac and it helps. She is 9 months old now and she is doing great.
We had similar issues with my son when he was 5 weeks old. It was very difficult as he was only breastfed. We tried everything, switching to formula/bottle, bm in bottle and nothing seemed to help. We did get help from a breastfeeding consultant at the hospital where I delivered and she referred us to someone she knew who specialized in infants as an osteopathic physician. After an evaluation, the physician concluded our son had severe muscle trauma from the birth experience (he was born sunnyside up and his left collarbone was all out of whack). We took him back to her for several treatments (kind of like chiropractic help for infants) and she also suggested starting him on a probiotic. I still give him probiotics and mix it into his yogurt everyday. We use Natren brand (Dairy Formula for infants and toddlers), but infant/toddler probiotics are out there for all ages. I order online and it is shipped with ice packs since it has to remain refrigerated. When he was an infant, I measured 1/8 of a tspn and mixed it with a little bmilk, and then I put some on his pacifier and he took it willingly prior to feedings. We did this twice a day for a few months and now I give it to him once a day unless he isn't feeling well, then I give it to him twice a day. I'm a big fan of chiropractic care for infants and beyond, especially if you find a good one. My son got noticebly better and less fussy within two months. I also agree with the ideas from other moms about keeping baby as upright as possible for feedings and sleep. My son is now three and we still occasionally take him to the chiropractor like when he comes down with colds, ear infections, etc. to be sure he is aligned to help the drainage. It has worked wonders since he started getting frequent ear infections when he turned 20 months and we finally thought to take him in and he has done great. I'm sure his growth has something to do with it, but his frequent colds/ear infections ended up being related to developing allergies. He's doing great now and I use homeopathic remedies for the allergies. I hope you try what you feel most comfortable with and check out the probiotics too. All the best to you!
she has gas.
The body stiffening/arching, is often indicative of gas.
Or about to have a poop.
My daughter was like that.
Try Mylicon infant gas drops.
She may also be teething.
Or, maybe she wants to direct nurse?
Or the bottle is flowing too fast? Or too slow.
Arching the back is usually a sign of discomfort. Maybe be more "aggressive" with the pedi to figure this out. Reflux maybe? Especially with the arching and weight loss/slow gain.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but these symptoms:
"cry during bottle feed, arch her back, resist feeding" are classic symptoms of acid reflux.
I would suggest having her looked at by your pediatrician asap. If your ped. is like ours, she will try to get you to try non-medicinal treatments - which did help somewhat w/ our son, but not enough - such as keeping the baby elevated while feeding (baby's head a few inches higher than her bottom), keeping the baby upright for 20-30 min after each feeding, and raising the mattress of the crib to 30 degrees. Zantac, Tagamet & Prilosec are prescribed for some cases, but definitely check with your child's doctor.
It could be acid reflux. My baby had that and she lost a lot of weight at first. We had to put her on medicine to help. When they eat, the acid runs up their throats causing them to be in pain. I would definitely talk to your doctor about it. There are three different kinds of medicine you can try. Two kinds were really expensive on our insurance, but one was reasonable. I hope you figure it out!
You could try a different flow bottle nipple. She might not be getting it out fast enough. Also, just the bottle might not be enough. Both of my kids started the rice cereal at 4 months old and after a week or so on the cereal we started the veggies and then the fruits. Babycenter.com gives some guide lines on what and when to feed.
Have you talked to the pediatrician about acid reflux? As soon as I told my son's pediatrician that he was crying in the middle of feedings and arching his back, she suspected reflux (arching back is, apparently, a big clue). She told me that usually, infants only need to be on medication for a few months, until their digestive systems mature more. That worked in my son's case - as soon as he was on medication, he was fine, and after a couple of months, we were able to discontinue it.
Best of luck.
