@whiteybeefcake We’ve gone through this with 3 kids now and here’s what I’ve learned:
-see an SLP asap, one that specializes in infant feeding. They can help diagnose issues and figure out what is actually happening.
-for our two younger kids, the issue was coordination, which was not something I would have been able to figure out without the SLPs help because the issues were manifesting like reflux/bottle aversion. It turns out that both kids were having issues coordinating suck/swallow/breathing so they were basically being waterboarded while drinking. Thickening feeds with either rice cereal or gelmix (personally I prefer gelmix) was a game changer. Our youngest was legit hospitalized for feeding and since adding gelmix, she now she takes all of her feeds calmly and awake. I wouldn’t thicken without the guidance of an SLP.
-feeding side lying on a pillow helped my middle child
-dream feeding when you’re desperate helps them get more in
-it may be worth it to try nutrimagen. It smells and tastes terrible, but was a game changer for my daughter. She didn’t have blood in her stool but our doctor thinks that she still has a milk sensitivity. Stick with it even though it’s sucks. We saw drastic improvement in 48 hours.
Good luck! Feeding issues have caused some of my darkest days of parenting, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and all of my kids took really well to solids. Bottle feeding is a temporary stage!
