7 month old now rejects breast but still won't take bottle

NewDadNH schrieb:
> Hi --
>
> My 7-month-old son is really giving my wife a hard time when
> breastfeeding -- he's never been great at it, but now will only feed
> once per day if lucky -- and still refuses a bottle. He drinks water
> from a sippy cup but won't take milk or formula from one. His weight
> is down and our doctor is mentioning scary stuff like "failure to
> thrive" (though he doesn't seem to be showing other symptoms) and my
> wife is at her wits' end.
>
> Any advice out there?
>
> Thanks much, Kyle

Has he been thoroughly checked for things like tied tongue and low
muscle tone in his cheeks.
Have you started solids? What is he eating/drinking?
What do you mean by "He's never been great at it(breastfeeding)"? Has he
started teething or does he have an ear infection? How long has his
nursing only once per day been going on?
Has something happened before he started nursing only once a day (has he
bitten your wife while nursing or pinched her or something similar and
she startled him when she said "ouch" or something?)

We really need a bit more information to help

cu
nicole

NewDadNH schrieb:
> On Aug 9, 3:42 am, NL <nlan....TakeThisOut@web.de> wrote:
>> NewDadNH schrieb:
>>
>>> Hi --
>>> My 7-month-old son is really giving my wife a hard time when
>>> breastfeeding -- he's never been great at it, but now will only feed
>>> once per day if lucky -- and still refuses a bottle. He drinks water
>>> from a sippy cup but won't take milk or formula from one. His weight
>>> is down and our doctor is mentioning scary stuff like "failure to
>>> thrive" (though he doesn't seem to be showing other symptoms) and my
>>> wife is at her wits' end.
>>> Any advice out there?
>>> Thanks much, Kyle
>> Has he been thoroughly checked for things like tied tongue and low
>> muscle tone in his cheeks.
>> Have you started solids? What is he eating/drinking?
>> What do you mean by "He's never been great at it(breastfeeding)"? Has he
>> started teething or does he have an ear infection? How long has his
>> nursing only once per day been going on?
>> Has something happened before he started nursing only once a day (has he
>> bitten your wife while nursing or pinched her or something similar and
>> she startled him when she said "ouch" or something?)
>>
>> We really need a bit more information to help
>>
>> cu
>> nicole
>
> Thanks Nicole. He actually just started eating again! My wife thinks
> she has it figured out -- wait until he's really tired. Thanks though.

YAY. Fingers crossed that he keeps it up. I'd still get him checked for
muscle tone and tonguetie though, just to make sure.

cu
nicole

NewDadNH wrote:

>
> Thanks Nicole. He actually just started eating again! My wife thinks
> she has it figured out -- wait until he's really tired. Thanks though.
> -- Kyle

I'm glad she has it figured out. If she is trying to add in more
feedings here are a couple ideas.

1) Take advantage of times he is stirring in his sleep at night to
nurse him. It seemed great when my boy was sleeping through the night,
but I ended up doing this since he wasn't growing well. It did get
more good feedings into him and seemed to help with growth.

2) Make nursing entertaining. Give him a hotwheels size car to drive
while he nurses, use a nursing necklace of toys on mom, or read board
books holding the book so he can see well while nursing.

3) If providing nursing entertainment doesn't work, take him to a
boring place where nursing has no competition from the exciting world.

--Betsy