5months baby boy not drinking milk nor taking cereals.. help needed

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twisttwinkle

New Member
My baby boy is 5mths plus. After he turned 3mths he refused to drink milk. MY PD suggested to give him cereals. Started with rice cereals but he does not seem to take that also. its been nearly 1.5mths. Its like torturing him while feeding, He cries alot if we force him to eat. Dun know what to do . He is underweight and gripe water also does not seem to be of much help. Anybody can suggest how to cope up with it. appreciate
 


hi twinkle,
my gal also like ur boi when she is 3mths old.
what i do is to rock her to half asleep or when her eyes close then immediately put the bottle to her mouth and she suckle lor. its works well. now my gal 7mths old liao and we still do this sometimes. now sometimes she drink while awake so got some improvement already.

bb can suckle well while asleep. hope this method help u.
 
Thanks for your advise. I tried doing that when he is half asleep but he will drink only for couple of minutes and then sleep after that. After tt no matter how hard u try he will not drink. He will turn on his stomach and sleep. If you try to lie him flat on his back, he will wake up and start crying and throw away the bottle ...
since he has been on s26 gold since birth and avent bottles... did not try changing the formula but thinking of it since gg to be now 6mths old.. any recommendations?
 
hi twinkle,

my girl also start refusing milk since she turned 3rd mth... initially she still can drink when asleep. now adays kind of difficult, sometime can finish sometime only drink 2oz.
Me tried changing teat and formular but result still the same.
Maybe you can try giving yr bb puree sweet potato
 
twinkle,
ur boy how heavy now?

cant wait till too deep sleep...the timing must be just right.

ya...try changing bot n teats n FM. change to any other jus to try try
 
hi

i went thru this with my son too at about 3 mths. we fed him when he sleeping or distract him with tv. i still remembered that i let him watched "jewel in palace" on cable on the morning feed. my son will finished BM but not FM(he was on alternate BM/FM feed then).

you just have to be very patient, feed him little but often lor...
 
twinkle,
i remembered that time i started using similac.. then my boy started to refuse it, switch to friso and ended up w Nan1 in the end. Now my 2nd boy refused Nan1 which he took initially and drink similac instead...

headache... but anything to get them to drink their milk.
 
yes yes...just try every way to get them drink their milk. be patience. i also try a lot of ways... coax her, pat her, rock her... u name it, i try it.
no choice, i just want her finish her milk lor.
 
i had this problem too when my boy turned 4 mths... i also fed him in his sleep.. until one fine day i added fine cereal to his milk feed (can try dumex or frisocrem - both are very fine so will not get stuck at the teats).. he finished all at 1 shot!!! eversince then, i just add cereal to his milk... withdraw the cereal after some months and he is ok liao, but got to give him toys to distract him during his feed till abt 12 mths old. now he is 18 mths and he loves his milk.....
 
Thanks for your advises. Appreciate it. Will try and hopefully something works out. if anybody has any other suggestion, pl do so.
 
hi twinkle, my daughter is turning 3. b4 she turned 1 (fr 2mths to 12mths old), i had to feed her with syringes. be it milk or cereal. coax every mouth full. our problem is not unique. i had other mothers tell me same thing. u just have to put up with ppl staring at u, thinking u r weird or ill treating your child. but u just tell yourself that it will pass and the most impt thing is to make sure the child feeds. i cooked porridge and mash it to fit into syringe everyday. lots of work, but this is your child. hope this helps. email me if u need help. [email protected]
 
Hi twinkle,
As you can see, lots of mums have this problem too. Just presevere and be really patient. The baby will still drink when hungry or thirsty, though the amount may not be too much.

When my son turned 3 months, he also rejected milk. Used all sorts of teats and tried 3-4 formulas, all futile. Then found out that have to feed him sleeping. And he only takes about 50-80ml every feed. So got to rock him to sleep every 2 hours to feed him. Cannot allow him to nap in between, else wont sleep when time's up for milk. After feeding, gotta wake him up immediately. Very tough, but eventually, he took more milk and by the 10th month, he was taking about 120-160ml every feed. And he started drinking milk open eyes when he turned 14 months. By the way, he too doesn't take solids. Up till now still gotta distract him to make him eat. (he is 2 years old)It will be tough, but u are not alone.

You can try putting some brown rice cereal into his milk to make it slightly more nutritious and give him the carbo for energy. I would cook the brown rice cereal (from Yu Yan Sang) every morning and put in the fridge. Add 1-2 full table spoon to each feed. Can change the teat to a slightly bigger hole and this would allow the cereal and milk to flow through more smoothly and quickly. Enables my son to drink slightly more and faster too.
 
Hi chihuahua,
was yr boy underweight at that time? cos my baby is on the small side and she drinks only 120ml at a 3-4 hrs interval..
At 14 weeks, she is only 5.3kg..
Most babies at this time is about 6kg and above..
 
thanks for your encouraging words.. this helps because my morale quite down...

Tracy my boy is 6mths plus and his weight is only 6.5kg... so i think your baby girl's weight is very good.......
 
Hi twinkle..
are both u and husband on the small side?
that could be one of the reasons..
me and hubby not small, so really worried..
 
hi twinkle,

have you start to change formular for yr son ?
I've tried different brands but my girl still not drinking when awake. Even in sleep , it depends on luck. If she drink 4times a day, she only drink once 3-4oz. The rest of the time,if awake we'll feed her using spoon.
We started to feed her semi solid, she can swallow but also angry.
Weight gain very slow, fm 4th to 5th mth only gain 400gm.
 
Hi Sophia/tracy,

I am experiencing the same problem as u..my gal is on the small side. When she's born she was 2.9kg, she gained 1 kg as she was on TBM for 1 month. from 2nd month onwards i gave her S26.
3rd month her weight was 5.3kg
4th month her weight is 5.7..also only put on 400g..despite of me trying to improve her milk intake to 700ml per day..sometimes its worse only 450ml per day..she just turned 4mths and she is only taking 120ml...very stressed..

I have a friend's baby on Enfalac, her bb is 1 week older than mine..guess what's her weight? 8kg @ 4th month..i mean i am not trying to compare or expect my bb to weigh 8kg...but i dont understand why her weight increase is only 400g per month instead of 1kg per month..its such a big difference..at times i really doubt my capability as a mother..maybe i still did not catch her pattern..
 
Hi Mel,

I was wondering if my baby is small due to her early arrival.. I gave birth to her on my 36th week so she is considered a preemie but thank goodness that her birth weight was above 2.5kg at that time, so there was no need for her to be put into the incubator.
She is currently taking Enfalac and just turned 4 mths. Her weight is now only 5.5kg and her daily milk intake is less than 700ml.

Seems like we have the exact problem.. Really worried too.. But PD said she's ok and my HB has been encouraging saying that she's probably one of the small babies..
So i guess we just have to be more positive..
Mel dun doubt yrself, just remember that someone out there has a baby like yours and that is me..
happy.gif

I'm sure our babies are ok as they are..
 
Hi Mel,

Don't worry. My gal was born 2.38. She was barely 6kg at 6mths. Barely 8kg at 1yrs old. Now she is almost 3yrs old and only 12kg. PD says no prob as long as she is intelligent and alert. Don't use the charts, not rite for asians or breast fed babies. those charts were charting formula babies which grow much faster and of cos, charting ang moh babies. don't stress too much. u can't be a bad mother if u try. cheer up! it can only get better.
happy.gif
 
Thanks Tracy & dna,
Feel so comforting ...its true la..we should not compare..she is S size now doesnt mean she is going to be petite in future..
all we can ask for is a healthy & happy baby! Cheers!
 
hi all

I dun know really but my baby is now 7mths and he has just gained only 200gms weight only in 20 days. He is not interested in taking milk or solids. His daily intake of milk is abt 500ml only and sometimes only ard 300-400ml. anybody knows if there is a way i can make him drink more we sing and play and do everything put he gets bored with that and just turns his face or brushes the bottle aside.. dun know really has anybody given any medication or anything else which help to make them hungry. I have tried different brands of milk also but same with all brands (similac, promil, enfapro....) dun know really what to do.. very depressed actuallly....
 
hi twinkle,

can ask your pd for vitamin drops. too young to eat commercial vits, but pd can give the drops till 2 yrs old. my gal had till 1+. just put in milk or straight (but difficult lah, got taste). cheer up, shd be alrite by 1 yrs old. mine did.
 
hi Dna

Do you know which vitamin drops? Any name or brand? If yes, then will ask PD... becos my PD keeps saying babies are like that cannot help much ...
 
hi,

i go to mt.alvernia. baby and child clinic. u can call and ask them if u want. don't remember the brand anymore. strange. even raffles hospital will give if the mum is really concerned, cos my 2nd one from there. y don't i ask for u and see if i can get back to u this week.
happy.gif
 
would really appreciate it. thanks.
BTW did you see any improvement in your baby in terms of eating after taking those vitamins.. at what age did you start giving those vitamins.
 
i am not sure. but it's sometimes the peace of mind. she started at abt 6mths to 1 yr plus. she started eating better after turning 1yr. so i stopped giving her vits after that. maybe your pd don't think your kid needs, but shd still give u cos mummy stress a lot more without a placebo.
happy.gif
 
hi twinkle,

my gal acts like yr boy too when drinking milk, drink only2oz-3oz (sometime even only 1oz) then stop liao.
so what we did is put her in the bouncer, put her hands below the belt then we feed her by spoon into her mouth. If she fuss half way thru'.we'll burp her then put her back to the bouncer again. Currently she turns 6mths, we give her 5oz of milk (4feeds a day) because she started to eat alot of cereal (half a chinese bowl )2-3 feeds a day.I'll mix with 2-3oz of milk to the cereal).
 
hi twinkle, i try to get back to u later today can abt the vits? i a bit tied up. daughter sick
sad.gif
 
Hi mummies,

I am rather concerned that my baby girl is also not drinking milk. Her intake of milk was 24oz in a day for her 2nd month, but now 4 and half month, her intake fluctuates from 15oz to 24 oz. And most of the feeding time is a like a battle. She will cry non-stop until I take away the bottle and let her sit. I have tried changing the teat, changing the formula milk, none succeeded. 4 oz of milk can last her up to 9 hours. Is this normal?

My husband will stop me from attempting to feed her once she starts crying, coz he cannot bear to see his baby cries. This is now affecting my relationship with my husband. I am also receiving pressure from my FIL with his comment that baby is thin. He wants to feed the baby with western medicine in order for the baby to drink more. I have checked that the baby is not having ulcer nor having wind in her stomach. I think she simply hates to drink, coz sometimes after I scolded her or beat her on her tight (only when my husband is not around), she finishes her milk.

My babysitter has warned me of the baby drinking problem. She said has to be careful else the baby may have health and behavioral problem (not eating) in the future. And that I have to insist feeding the baby at interval not more than 5 hours for 4oz of milk (except at night), else, the stomach may shrink. But my husband will snatch away the baby from me to stop the feeding, and ends up not feeding the baby for 9 hours.

What is your advice? Should I just let it be when the baby doesn't want to drink? For your info, my baby doesn't cry for wet or dirty nappy. She seldom cries for milk too. She only cries when she wants to play or sleep. She doesn't sleep much as well, only 12 hours a day the most. hyperactive?
 
hi mummies,

my elder boy coming 4 years old refused milk when he is 4 month old...so inorder to give him milk, we mixed with brown rice cereal..around 1 chinese bowls every 4 hours...5x per day..since he 4 months, we did not use any bottle..i did tried other brand of bottles, FM and none succeedd..feeding time was a nitemare to me..messy..he will pushed my hand..and spilled everything...
But thing was different when he turns 2...he only takes cereal in the morning,so during the day and nite..i simply just use straw and cup..and finished everything.

Dada..dun listen to your bbsitter..every bb is different..now my elder boy just can't stopped eating..snack and snack the whole day..

Btw, teething also casue bb refused milk.
My 10mth bb refused milk when teething..just need to be abit more patience..
 
DADA,

Did you try feeding her when she is sleeping ?
It works for most kid... otherwise if her milk time is up when she is awake, spoon feed her.
 
hi mummies,

my daughter took vitamin drops when she didn't feed well. checked with my pd at baby and child clinic, mt. alvernia. the vitamin brand is Polyvisol. she say can buy from pharmacy. good for 0 to 12 months.

ps. twinkle, pm u already.
happy.gif
 
dada,
9hrs no drink milk how can?????
try to feed at least a bit lah.
maybe ur bb teething? last time my gal also like tat...then we start to intro cereal lor and she take. so we gave 1x cereal 1x milk like tat...
now my gal 9mths old n she like milk liao but hor become hate solids leh. cant get her to eat porridge...haiz and even cereal she also refuse liao...just keep drinking milk...its another worry manz... endless worry..

oh ya... u try feed her milk while she sleeping or abt to sleep. should be able to drink more.
 
hi mummies,

sbcc pd @ mt alvernia also gave my gal this vitamin w/o iron. I gave her for about 1 mth..seriously i do not know if there is any improvement after taking the vit as mygal's weight has only increased 400g from 3rd to 4th mths...so i started to mix EYS brown rice into her milk, twice a day..she likes it and take up to 150ml..(afternoon & evening)(fyi previously she has difficulty finishing 120ml)..As for rest of her feeds, milk intake ranges from 90 to 130ml ..so my conclusion is that she is prbably sick of drinking the same milk for 4mths...introducing her brown rice stimulates her appetite and to my surprise her weight gain for last 2 weeks is 300g already. I pray hard she will grow well..

Mummies, do not worry too much, my gal also has got a period of time 7hrs no milk feed..if this continues, suggest visit pd and maybe intro some cereal.

And also if our gal doesnt put on much weight, do not worry too much as long as bb is getting smarter day by day, baby is fine. My pd ask me not to worry says my gal is a small chili padi, although small on the outside, is very strong..
 
Hi mummies,

I will try to intro cereal this weekend. maybe once a day enuff. afraid her digestive system not fully developed yet.

EYS brown rice got si shen powder. this is to improve appetite. i wanted to try that but my hubby refuses wor. he doesn't trust chinese med. his family more pro western. i wanted to start brown rice first coz more yuckky compared to plain cereal. again, mil doesn't agree.

Mel, your ger 1 mth gained 400g, mine 250g only.

babylon, i hope my ger can grow up like your boy ... starts to like eating after sometimes.

sophia, yeah ... i tried. but she is only in deep sleep around 1am to 4am. other times during the day, if i try to feed her, she will wake up and cry. if i start to feed her when she is about to sleep, she won't suck at all. i tried to squeeze some milk into her mouth when she is about to sleep, and hope she will swallow it, after a few times, either she chokes or she wakes up crying angrily. So, i stopped this method liao.

smiley, haiz ... i will try other methods, if i can think of any. a lot of ppl commented my ger too playful. she laughs a lot, cries a lot too. maybe she feels bored when drinking milk. i try singing songs to her next feeding. let you know if this can work.

Thanks mummies for your advice!!
 
hi Dada,

Don't be dishearten, I was once like you too...
I changed formula, mix cereal ( I bought serveral kinds of cereal) also doesn't work.
Even sleeping, even at night, she may not wants to drink too.
So the only way is to spoon feed into her mouth when she is awake and start semi solid on her since 4mth (she is currently 6mths).
Initial stage, she was not keen on semi solid too. After trying for 1mth, then she starts to enjoy eating. As for milk, improve a little now, arnd 3-4.5oz. In law said can feel teeth on her lower gum. Therefore, my collegue is telling me her milk rejection probably due to her teething process.
We had gone thru' a real difficult time,I was so depressed during that stage. Though spoon feeding takes longer time but at least she is drinking some milk.
As for the brown rice si sen, we've been giving her, but I dont' think the si sen works on her appetite.

Bear with it, but do not let the bb empty stomarch for more than 5hrs. If after 5hrs, she still doesn't take bottle, then just spoon feed her.Probably is due to her gum that make her reject bottle doesn't want to suck but she may still hungry and wants milk.
 
Hi Sophia, thanks for sharing. Feels better.

I tried singing, doesn't help. maybe she is teething. haven't seen any tooth though. gotta check her gum if it's reddish.

Sophia, did you spoon feed whole of 4oz? how long does it take? my ger impatient and very active. i wonder if she will sit still and let me finish the feed.
 
Hi Dada
First, I suggest getting your hubby to accompany you and baby to see a GP and let the GP tell your hubby that letting his precious cry is better than letting her go without milk for 9 hours. If she continues not to drink milk, she won't even get the strength to cry.

I feel that if your girl can finish her milk with a scolding or light slapon the thigh, chances are she is able to finish the milk you given her. Just tt she rather not to. So I recommend you be consistent in your manner to get her to drink. not at times scold, at times let her be..

Adding milk to other food can also help. Or letting her try fine cereal from Heinz... Very good for toddlers just starting on solid. you might also wish to puree vegetables, meat once she is able to take cereal so to aid in her intake.
 
Dada,

I'll offer botttle to my girl first, see how much she is willing to drink .If she only drink 1oz and left 3oz, it took me 20mins to spoon her 3oz. It all depends on her speed of drinking because sometime she juz kept in her mouth and she fuss alot too.
If the milk turn cold in 10mins, we'll put it into a cup of hot water. Then, in a mean time, we'll try to burp her. By the way, we put her in a bouncer and put both her hand under the belt then spoon feed or syringe her.
Due to spoon feed takes longer time therefore bb definitely will be impatient. Hence, it need 2person, myself will feed her and my maid will keep her entertain.
Is really a tough job every milk time ,sometime i even cry thinking why i have such a difficult bb. But i still need to endure as I can't probably see her not drinking and not gaining weight.
But thanks god, she is starting to improve now.
Since she reached 6mths, she is more willing to accept bottle (yesterday heard fm inlaw she can drink 5oz now).
As what Linda suggested, probably you try to bring her to doc for a check first. Sometime may due to some ulcer in mouth which my girl initial had too.
My girl gained avg 1kg every mth fm her 1st to 4th mth then fm 4th - 6th mth is 400g per mth.
This is my contact#9792-4700, if you need any further advice.
 
Hi all,

My son also having the same problem of not wanting his milk. After he hit 180ml each feed (5 feed a day), he just refuses to drink as much. That's when he's almost at 3 mths old. Like what some of you mentioned, he'll start crying once we stick the milk bottle into his mouth. He'll drink if it's plain water though. As such, he ended up drinking lesser than what he used to when he was younger. I was also worried that he'd be hungry, but he don't cry for milk. Once he falls asleep, we'll give him his milk. That's when he'll drink in peace. He put on only 400g from 3 mths to 4 mths. The PD said not to worry and that he'd prob sick of drinking too much milk.

I tried changing FM, was giving him Friso, then bot Enfalac. Started introducing new FM by mixing smaller proportion of Enfalac to more Friso until all Enfalac. Concluded that he drinks most when the milk is half Enfalac & half Friso. So now, he's drinking both brands. In the meantime, we managed to let him drink when he's awake rather than when he's asleep. He is coming to 5 months now and drinking about 600+ml each day. Still less than what he used to drink but I guess 600+ml is better than not drinking. I've also started giving him rice cereal. Luckily he likes it.

I was very worried too, but discovered from this forum that i'm not alone. Many babies seem to have this stage of not wanting milk. I guess as long as we do not reach the stage of forcing baby to drink such that baby relates milk drinking as an unpleasant experience and is healthy then we should be fine. Let's not get overly worried about their weight.
 
Hi all,

I tried cereal today. My ger likes to eat with spoon, but she is not ready for that yet. Tongue reflects still there. In the end, wasted as all milk and cereal ended up on her shirt and wash cloth. I think she just doesn't like to lie down and drink. She wants to be like adult. I tried to lie her down to spoon feed, and she made a fuss. Even her favourite toy could not distract her from that.

My ger started to reduce milk intake since she was 2 months old. Her weight gain 250gm from 2nd to 3rd month, 300gm from 3rd to 4th month. She is thinnest of all months now.

Maybe like what rodeo mentioned, sne is sicked of drinking milk. She can drink more when she is half asleep, sometimes can hit up to 200ml at one go (only for 5am feed). If she is slightly awake, she will only take up to 90ml.

Sophia, my ger had ulcer and stomach wind when she was 3 months old. ever since that, i have been constantly checking for ulcer and stomach wind. i dun think that's the problem causing her to reject milk. maybe becoz of the bad experience of ulcer and stomach wind that BB rejects milk?
 
My child used to like that. Maybe you can try other flavours or frest fruit puree. Do not be worry. Will eat evantually when hungry.
 
Hi all...I'm another mother hit by my son who have drinking problem since 1 month old. He is now coming 5 months and I still have to rock him or distract him when he take his milk. His intake per time is around 120ml since 1 month old. It's so tiring for every feed and we have to sling him & move around to make him drink.

Becos of this, I started him on solid since 4 months and he is taking it fairly well. I oso add rice cereal into his milk. Haiz...I don't understand why now most baby don't like milk. Oso when this phase will pass?!! Can't wait for it. Hope tat one fine day..he will ask for milk! *cross fingers*
 
Hi all, was watching the Chinese program, First Steps last night and it mentioned that kids around 4 to 6 months may start to dislike drinking milk. This is because their taste buds change during this period and it is a cue to start them on semi solid foods. You should feed them one type of food each time so that if an allergic reaction occurs, you'll know what food caused it. Also, do keep changing the type of food to keep them interested.

I'm still a MTB so not sure if the above really works but hope the information is useful.
 
Hi mummies, my 5 month baby also refuse milk. On normal day, she drink around 600ml only. These few days, she down with cough/phlegm and refuse to drink milk at all. Her intake dropped drastically to 200ml - 300 ml for these few days. I'm really depressed. I try to increase her milk intake by giving some her cereal (1 tablespoon + 60ml milk) but after eating cereal, it took her more around 5 hours before i can give her her next feed. What should i do. HELP!!!

(P.S. and she refuse to take her medice : ( )
 
Hi Isis, I totally understand how you feel. It can really affect our mood so much if our baby refused any milk intake. Usually to make my boy to drink, I will sling him and move around the whole house to distract him. On good days, he will polish off the whole bottle in short time..but on somedays he will leave behind 30ml or so...but it's better than not taking any. You can try lying your baby on a pop up pillow and feed her. Try to distract her by singing song to her or letting her grab onto her favourite toy. Try all ways cos I did too. It is definitely very hectic but we have no choice. Good luck to you and remember you are not alone. Let's hope things will get better when they grow up.
 
hi isis,

may i know how do you feed ur bb the medicine?

if she's refusing milk and taking cereal well, you can feed her more cereal instead to substitute her milk intake for a few days. then try giving her the usual milk again.
i give my bb Frisocrem (rice cereal, which has milk already added into it).
 


Hi Winnie Lim,

Thank for your encouragments. Yes, i also find she drink more when i carry her walking around and sing to her. But she getting heavier by the day so it is a bit tiring. Will try the sling method as you suggested. : )
She is feeling better today and start drinking milk. HAPPY!!!

Hi Cheers,
When i inject the medicine into the mouth, she will just spill out the fluids. But last night we found a way. When she is crying (mouth big big that time), we will then inject the fluids slowing, bit by bit,into her mouth. But then has to make her cry first : P .

Winnie and cheers, really appreciate your help. I guess i really panic when she simply refused milk last few days. But it seem that the worst is over. : )
 
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