Baby has bottle aversion and having trouble drinking milk from a bottle
October 5, 2020 6:14 PM Subscribe
Hello!
I am looking for some reassurance that this period shall pass too!
My baby is 6 months now and we have lots of feeding issue. He had really bad reflux early on- we suspect now silent reflux. The reflux caused bottle aversion. I am following a plan made by Rowena Bennet to feed him based on his hunger cues and to respect his wishes, but I am having such a hard time and baby still wouldn’t take a bottle easy- he hs to be in a very calm state, happy and content before he would take the bottle. Before he even needed to be asleep before taking the bottle but now I feel he is a little better. He is on omeprazole.
Any similar stories? What was the resolution?
My kid has had a ton of feeding issues, including feeding (bottle and solids) refusal. He was probably 18 months to 2 years old before he wasn’t getting the large majority of his calories through dream feeds because he would only eat while mostly asleep. He’s now 2.5 and doing much better but still on a restricted diet (see below).
A couple of thoughts:
1. As Eyebrows McGee mentioned, we had to keep increasing his reflux meds as he grew. There’s also something you can look into and talk to your doctor about called MarciKids dosing that essentially holds that PPIs and other meds need to be given at much higher doses than normally prescribed to be effective.
2. For our son, a lot of his issues were/are linked to food reactions - probably non-IgE allergies but we’re still not entirely sure. Our biggest improvements in his symptoms have been when we’ve found and eliminated offending foods from his diet, like when we switched from normal dairy-based formula to Alimentum Ready to Feed, when I went on an elimination diet and then a total elimination diet for breastfeeding (we combo fed from the beginning), and when we took out foods that seemed to be causing him trouble. Hopefully this isn’t the case for you, but definitely something to consider. This book is amazing on both reflux and (in less detail) food allergies and is written by a pediatric GI. We also started tracking *everything* (wet diapers, poopy diapers, bottles, solids, nursing, sleep, meds, mood, etc.) to try to find patterns - we still use the BabyConnect app for this.
3. An OT who specializes in feeding therapy has been SO helpful for this. We do ours on Zoom now with COVID. I’ve said this before but I really think OTs are the unsung heroes of parenting, especially parenting higher needs kids. Go with your gut and someone who fits your parenting style, takes you seriously, and whose ideas seem to work for your kid and your family, and switch if it’s not working.
Colicky/refluxy/feeding intolerant babies are SO SO hard. If you ever look at other moms with their happy, smiling kids who sleep through the night from infancy and feel like maybe you’re doing something wrong - You are not doing something wrong. It really is this hard. Your kid has challenges that legit make this whole parenting thing (which is so hard to begin with) many many times harder. You are a rockstar. Give yourself grace if you can and hang in there. This internet stranger is sending hugs and all the coffee if you want them! Also more than happy to chat more via MeMail if you want.
posted by bananacabana at 7:54 PM on October 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
A couple of thoughts:
1. As Eyebrows McGee mentioned, we had to keep increasing his reflux meds as he grew. There’s also something you can look into and talk to your doctor about called MarciKids dosing that essentially holds that PPIs and other meds need to be given at much higher doses than normally prescribed to be effective.
2. For our son, a lot of his issues were/are linked to food reactions - probably non-IgE allergies but we’re still not entirely sure. Our biggest improvements in his symptoms have been when we’ve found and eliminated offending foods from his diet, like when we switched from normal dairy-based formula to Alimentum Ready to Feed, when I went on an elimination diet and then a total elimination diet for breastfeeding (we combo fed from the beginning), and when we took out foods that seemed to be causing him trouble. Hopefully this isn’t the case for you, but definitely something to consider. This book is amazing on both reflux and (in less detail) food allergies and is written by a pediatric GI. We also started tracking *everything* (wet diapers, poopy diapers, bottles, solids, nursing, sleep, meds, mood, etc.) to try to find patterns - we still use the BabyConnect app for this.
3. An OT who specializes in feeding therapy has been SO helpful for this. We do ours on Zoom now with COVID. I’ve said this before but I really think OTs are the unsung heroes of parenting, especially parenting higher needs kids. Go with your gut and someone who fits your parenting style, takes you seriously, and whose ideas seem to work for your kid and your family, and switch if it’s not working.
Colicky/refluxy/feeding intolerant babies are SO SO hard. If you ever look at other moms with their happy, smiling kids who sleep through the night from infancy and feel like maybe you’re doing something wrong - You are not doing something wrong. It really is this hard. Your kid has challenges that legit make this whole parenting thing (which is so hard to begin with) many many times harder. You are a rockstar. Give yourself grace if you can and hang in there. This internet stranger is sending hugs and all the coffee if you want them! Also more than happy to chat more via MeMail if you want.
posted by bananacabana at 7:54 PM on October 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
"Colicky/refluxy/feeding intolerant babies are SO SO hard. If you ever look at other moms with their happy, smiling kids who sleep through the night from infancy and feel like maybe you’re doing something wrong - You are not doing something wrong. It really is this hard. Your kid has challenges that legit make this whole parenting thing (which is so hard to begin with) many many times harder. You are a rockstar. "
ALL OF THIS
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:58 PM on October 5, 2020
ALL OF THIS
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:58 PM on October 5, 2020
We found that putting a few drops of simeticone syrup on the teat helped. They sell it in Europe but maybe you have it too?
posted by pairofshades at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2020
posted by pairofshades at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2020
My situation was unique and complicated by other health issues, but my micropreemie's reflux and bottle aversion were so bad she had to have a gastrostomy tube placed. This is really rare without other medical complications! She was dependent on it for about three years, and for one of those years refused everything by mouth until she became willing to explore tastes again. She completely lost her hunger cues due to this.
Even with that level of difficulty, it resolved itself. She outgrew her reflux. We worked very closely with speech and occupational therapists on her oral skills and teaching her to be calm and open to textures, flavors and the sensations of hunger and eating. She's now eight and a super adventurous eater, willing to try anything the first time she sees it and with a huge range of favorite foods.
If you are not already working with an OT or speech therapist who specializes in feeding, I highly recommend it. They have so many tips and tricks! We were able to get both private therapy through our insurance as well as support through early intervention services through our public school system. The pediatrician made both referrals.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 5:42 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Even with that level of difficulty, it resolved itself. She outgrew her reflux. We worked very closely with speech and occupational therapists on her oral skills and teaching her to be calm and open to textures, flavors and the sensations of hunger and eating. She's now eight and a super adventurous eater, willing to try anything the first time she sees it and with a huge range of favorite foods.
If you are not already working with an OT or speech therapist who specializes in feeding, I highly recommend it. They have so many tips and tricks! We were able to get both private therapy through our insurance as well as support through early intervention services through our public school system. The pediatrician made both referrals.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 5:42 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Nthing the above commentors who recommended OT and trying lots of different nipple shapes. You didn't mention in your post what you're feeding, so I will give you our story. Mrs Naib couldn't breastfeed due to medication, and we bottle fed from the start. About 3 months of what you're going through, we figured out that our kid was allergic to casein, the protein in milk. The only formula we could feed was Neocate, an amino-acid based formula. Soy milk and other animal milks were too similar, and of course lactose-free didn't help at all. We could never get either kid to take medicine for the reflux, they just screamed and spat it back out.
Our now 8-year old still deals with that allergy and reflux, although our 6-year old who went through the same process (except we figured it out much earlier) can now tolerate milk OK and has almost entirely grown out of the reflux.
The bad news is that there isn't specifically an allergy test for this, we just switched to a non-milk based formula and the problem resolved. Additionally, the formula was super expensive. We ended up claiming some of the money back through a provincial drug program (Ontario, Canada). If you aren't formula feeding, an elimination diet might help resolve a similar issue in breastmilk.
posted by Naib at 8:56 AM on October 7, 2020
Our now 8-year old still deals with that allergy and reflux, although our 6-year old who went through the same process (except we figured it out much earlier) can now tolerate milk OK and has almost entirely grown out of the reflux.
The bad news is that there isn't specifically an allergy test for this, we just switched to a non-milk based formula and the problem resolved. Additionally, the formula was super expensive. We ended up claiming some of the money back through a provincial drug program (Ontario, Canada). If you aren't formula feeding, an elimination diet might help resolve a similar issue in breastmilk.
posted by Naib at 8:56 AM on October 7, 2020
Nthing seeing if you can access an OT or SLP who does pediatric feeding. On nipple shapes, switching them around seemed to help, though I have to say I felt bad if it was a Charlie Brown football situation. We believed that sleeping on a ~30-degree foam wedge helped, not a controlled experiment, but by 6 months they may be getting too mobile anyway. (It involves velcro straps to avoid flipping over and clonking on the floor.)
If 1) you have questions about whether the reflux is fully mitigated, and 2) your child has any respiratory symptoms, and 3) you have access to a pediatric pulmonologist: pulmonologists seem as a group to have a higher level of suspicion about reflux, compared to neonatologists or gastroenterologists. (Fricking PubMed is fricking down, I blame Trump?)
One of mine had reflux and was ~80% NG-tube fed until about six months, and we were looking at G-tubes, when they just... started taking a bottle more often, no idea why really. And now likes trying new foods. No guarantees, but kids can develop past a *lot*.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:05 AM on October 9, 2020
If 1) you have questions about whether the reflux is fully mitigated, and 2) your child has any respiratory symptoms, and 3) you have access to a pediatric pulmonologist: pulmonologists seem as a group to have a higher level of suspicion about reflux, compared to neonatologists or gastroenterologists. (Fricking PubMed is fricking down, I blame Trump?)
One of mine had reflux and was ~80% NG-tube fed until about six months, and we were looking at G-tubes, when they just... started taking a bottle more often, no idea why really. And now likes trying new foods. No guarantees, but kids can develop past a *lot*.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:05 AM on October 9, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
You've probably already tried this, but reflux-y babies can be picky about bottle nipples/shapes. Mine VASTLY preferred one of those really wide, fat bottles that more closely mimics the shape of a boob, and swallowed less air that way too. Six months is also old enough to experiment with sippy cups of various sorts, see if maybe he'll drink from a cup (even an open-top cup held by a parent!) when he resists a bottle.
Also I would note that reflux can really fuck up a baby's hunger cues, because eating causes so much discomfort, so do be sure you're working with your pediatrician as well. (I think Rowena Bennett actually has great advice for refluxy babies, but be sure you're staying in touch with your pediatrician about it all.) The other tip that I got with my refluxy baby was to make sure the bottle nipple touches the roof of the baby's mouth, WAY back -- far enough back to trigger a gag reflex in adults -- to stimulate the sucking reflex. That actually helped a lot! (Although 6 months may be too old for this, I don't know.)
But yes! This too shall pass! My refluxy baby is now 11 and ate tacos tonight and then demanded a "big mom snuggle" before putting himself to bed.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:13 PM on October 5, 2020 [2 favorites]