Hunger Strike!

Hi all mums! My LO is just shy of 6 months and for some strange reason he's not enjoying his milk anymore.. He has boob, formula to top up and he started on solids around 4.5 months. The last week or so he loves his solids but has some bottle but not much and even the breast he isn't that keen on. I have wasted so much formula its driving me nuts!
So which leads to every day him having not much to drink! And to make things worse I think this is why he's waking 2-3 times a night..?

He is showing all the signs of teething but no teeth yet.. So not sure of this has something to do with it?

I hope there is some of you out there that is or has gone through the same thing and has some good answers or solutions.

Talk soon ;o)

How much solids is he having?

The problem with topping up with formula is that some babies then prefer using a bottle. Drinking from a bottle is much easier then from the breast. Formula is also more filling so it can mean they drink less often. When you then introduce solids - especially quite young, they then get full on solids instead of milk. Their tummys are tiny, so you need to be very picky about what you put into it. Solids are only for experimenting with up until around 1 yr. A baby does so much growing, not just their body but their brain and organs that they need a heap of goodies that are found in bm only. Worst case scenario would be formula. There is no solid in the world that can provide them with the nutrients, fats, minerals etc then milk can. One of the reasons they say to hold off on starting solids is because they can fill up on it. At that age especially you want to get as much bm into them as you can.

As much as he loves solids, it isn't nutritionally sound or a whole food for him at that age. It sounds as though its actually compromising his milk intake which completely defeats the purpose of solids.

So my guess is its a conflict of foods! Their gut is extremely sensitive. The combination of milks could be stressing it, then the addition of foods may also be stressing it - so he might actually not be feeling red hot. That plus the formula and solids filling him up so he doesn't want the milk.

Not sure how much solids you are giving though, so it might be something else. smile

As PP said, perhaps you're overfeeding solids. While some people swear by starting solids before 6 months, it is not nutritionally necessary especially when bub is a bit apathetic about milk. If I were you I would ditch the solids for now and start again in a month or so. The other thing is that while he's not drinking much formula, he may actually be getting a fair bit of breastmilk, but of course there is no way to measure that other than observing for wet nappies and weight gain. Perhaps you could try offering the breast and then instead of giving formula top up, offer another breastfeed 20 - 30 mins later. If you do this for a day or two you will probably notice a supply increase and if he is being lazy, it will possibly encourage him to make more of an effort.

The other thing I was thinking is that maybe he's just gone off his milk for a couple of days because he is getting sick or has just finished a growth spurt. They are like us - some days they will have a big appetite and other days just want to graze. So if this has only just started in the last couple of days perhaps give it a few more days to see what he does.

Thanks so much for your replies! I feel you may have hit the nail on the head.. I might just stick with BM for a week and knock off the solids and formula to see of there is a difference.. I noticed today his nappies were not that full in fact not much wetness at all! So I will be watching that very closely tomorrow. He had bad silent reflux at 2 months so our paediatrician suggested solids from 4 months.. Which is why we started him early.

I will keep you posted on how we go!
Thanks once again!