On a whim I decided to see if he would eat from syringe and tonight after stopping at 5 ounces from the bottle, he happily drank 2 ounces from syringe and when I tried to offer the bottle he would not take it. It was beyond time consuming but what is going on???
@prophoss This sounds like bottle aversion. Look up Rowena Bennetts book. It is when babies have inadvertently been pressured by parents to finish bottles and they develop an aversion where they scream and arch away from the bottle because they expect to be overfed. My twins have this and I am telling every person who bottlefeeds. Do not ignore this, tackle this now. Read that book!
@fx1 Seconding this. Also, OP, referencing your original post, maybe just stop at 5oz if you’ve offered twice and they declined. Re-offering over and over only makes the aversion worse. My LO was also having 32oz at one point at went as low as 16oz when he had an aversion, now he’s back to normal and I never try to push it that high again, even though hes 6 months and it’s been 3 months since we addressed it. He hovers at 28-29oz daily, which is ok and within normal limits.
@alysson Sorry you went through this too. It's so so so stressful and I'm amazed at how few people know about this. Myself included. It can get so severe. I am glad your boy is now aversion free.
@fx1 I know, it’s so scary to watch them not eat for weeks and weeks. We didn’t even know we were making the problem worse by re-offering, and my mom who was helping out at the time was obsessed with feeding him because of his low intake. After she left I properly followed the book and he was back on track in 2 weeks, thank god lol. We’re just starting solids and I’m now better equipped to not force anything on him, making food a fun experience rather than focusing on finishing it.
@alysson Ugh that sucks! Glad you managed to resolve it so quickly. I am also determined never to force with solids. My girls are still a little away from that but we have had such a crap experience that I just want them to absolutely take the lead!
@fx1 Thanks for this. I bought the book last night and have been up reading until midnight. This morning he had 4 oz In total after implementing the methods. This is going to be so hard but I’m hopeful
@prophoss It is incredibly tough and takes a lot of patience and willpower. But I always ask myself - what is the alternative? The alternative is you force your baby to eat more and make the aversion worse. You got this. Stay strong.
@prophoss You can do it! Be strong. After painfully trudging through the mud with it, the more strictly you follow the guidance, the sooner it will resolve.
@prophoss Been through the trenches with this with my son, now 9.5 months old. Offer the bottle once, let him guzzle how much HE wants to, and let him be. If you feel that wasn’t enough, offer the bottle one more time after gap. Offer small feeds more frequently. DO NOT pressure, babies know what they’re doing, they’re not gonna starve themselves. After my experience and post having living this nightmare with my son, I realised that only their bodies get to decide what quantity makes them happy. Sometimes he’d take 4 oz, sometimes 2 oz, sometimes a full 8 oz and I let him be. As long as the total throughout the day is 24-32 oz you’re all good (keep a check on his weight gain). Like others advise, do follow the Rowena Bennett’s book protocol for dealing with this.
Additionally get baby checked for silent reflux (commonly known to cause aversions), upping the nipple size if applicable, temperature of the bottle (some babies prefer lukewarm formula) etc.
@prophoss Have been there: bottle aversions are nightmares WOOF. For my son it turned out to be horrible silent reflux which turns out to be aggravated with larger feed volumes. So he preferred smaller volumes for frequently. That was MUCH better than totally avoiding the bottle and not eating at all
If I felt, after adding up his total volumes that it’s not in the 24-32 oz range, I’d give him some dream feeds. I kept a watch on his weight.
@prophoss How old is your baby? If they stop at 5 ounces and are content they may just not be that hungry anymore. Babies will sometimes have periods where they eat slightly less in a day or want less formula more often.
@sleeplesswhite Yea my 1yo has only ever drank 5oz consistently for a feeding. Sometimes 6 but usually just 5. I’m sure baby is getting enough if they are drinking 5oz
@prophoss Just chiming in to let you know that if you think nipple size 3 is inadequate, upgrade to size 4. Making holes in the nipples on your own can cause choking and not recommended. It may be hugely uncomfortable for baby to gulp down such high amounts of milk due to a very fast flow. This way you’re unintentionally forcing baby to eat more. Do look into other causes of aversion (nipple size isn’t the only cause)- silent reflux, milk temperature, formula consistency (sometimes thickening works), taste of formula.
my 10 months old drinks 6 oz at most (before starting solids, even less).