Baby not feeding well

[Babyter]

My daughter is 4.5 months old. Her weight is around 5.8kg. We give her expressed breast milk. Her daily intake is around 600ml. On bad days, she can go below 550ml. Her PD said she has no issues, except for reflux issues. She prescribed reflux medication.
My baby looks healthy and alert. She has at least 5 wet diapers daily. She seemed to have a bad habit of sucking on the teat, but not swallowing her milk. We changed teat size to no avail. PD's advice is to give her a maximum of 100ml per feed due to her reflux issue. Every feeding session is a time of worry for us whether she is able to finish 100ml. Anyone has any similar experience or advice for us?

 

[Clksy]

Hello Babyter,

i saw your post & saw it so familiar to my niece when she was growing up back then. Now she is 18 months old.
my sister had the exact similar experience & i asked her about it for you.
Below is her reply for you.


“ Hi Babyter,

100ml can be quite a big volume for reflux baby, breastmilk baby drink usually 80-120ml, if the baby suck and drink finish the milk in 30 mins is fine. Dont stick to 3 hours feeding & let baby cry for the milk. Let the hunger cue kick in so she/he will enjoy the milk. Try your best not to force feed, i do understand you scared she is not getting enough nutrients or milk. But force feeding will make baby retaliate & not want the milk even more

Reflux will get better by 6-7 months so just hang on there!

My daughter is small , weight is really just a number, but she manage to hit all her milestone, you are not alone & i have been through it before, my daughter is small & mighty & loud now!

It is tough now, but you will definitely get through it, jiayou! “

Hope this helps!!

 

[Babyter]

Hello Clksy

Thank you so much for your reply. We are quite anxious as we are first time parents and we asked around but no one seems to have similar experience. Actually we still have some questions, and we hope your sister can help to reassure us.
Thanks a lot as we are really quite distressed over it.

1. is it ok for a 6kg baby to drink less than 600ml daily?
2. Our baby can seem to go for hours without hunger cues. So we are not sure if we should wait for it.
3. Did weaning helped your niece? When did she start weaning? Any tips for weaning?
4. Did she see any specialist with regards to her condition? if so, able to recommend?
5. After 6-7 months, did she 'automatically' feed better?

 

[Clksy]

Hello Clksy

Thank you so much for your reply. We are quite anxious as we are first time parents and we asked around but no one seems to have similar experience. Actually we still have some questions, and we hope your sister can help to reassure us.
Thanks a lot as we are really quite distressed over it.

1. is it ok for a 6kg baby to drink less than 600ml daily?
2. Our baby can seem to go for hours without hunger cues. So we are not sure if we should wait for it.
3. Did weaning helped your niece? When did she start weaning? Any tips for weaning?
4. Did she see any specialist with regards to her condition? if so, able to recommend?
5. After 6-7 months, did she 'automatically' feed better?

Hi babyter,
Below is my sister reply

its okay to just drink 600ml. My niece drink maximum of 520ml only.

actually baby dont have hunger cue is because parents are constantly feeding them on a regular basis. hence their hunger cue is so call not active mode, to really kick start it. U can read a book call feeding aversion by rowena. u can google it online. i really starve my daughter abit to kick start her hunger cue. it is really scary but it works.

yes we did see specialist. we saw nuh feeding specialist team inculde of doctor, speech therapist and even dietitian. they give some recommendations on how to put on weight only. feeding habit is they advice more of play instead of force feed on regular basis. But to me, i find that the basic works, and it is to kick start back the hunger cue. Because it is survival instinct- when a child is really hungry , they will eat.

Weaning did help in reflux cause food is heavy so she doesnt reflux much. she started weaning at 5 months as she can sit. we initially used spoon feeding method but again its like forcing her so it didn't turn out that well. But by 7 months when her grip is better, we let her explore herself more and we lead her abit on spoon feed.

Golden rule is. let her enjoy her meal. My daughter is only 8.5kg now at 19 months, but she is constantly holding food on her hand and asking us for snacks and food. As of now, she still drinks about 90-100ml per feed, and we accepted that that is the amount she is comfortable with, so we will just let it be”

if you need someone to talk to , my sis is open to give u her number so she can see if there is any way she can help you.