Infantreflux.org | daycare bottle refusal

This topic has 13 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 19 years, 3 months ago by Anonymous.

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June 20, 2007 at 1:12 pm #37366

Anonymous
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I would ask them for some details about what’s been going on at daycare and also what happens when he’s offered the bottle. Maybe they can offer him formula in a sippy cup and see if that helps. I know that for Hailey, she doesn’t eat/drink when she’s anxious, so the first while at daycare was disastrous for her eating.

The other thing I’m wondering is if he has a virus brewing, which is kind of expected for the first week back at daycare. Maybe that’s the cause of the bottle refusal. I’d just keep offering and hopefully he’ll start taking again. Does he take any fluids at the daycare at all? Good luck figuring things out.

June 20, 2007 at 1:34 pm #37376

Anonymous
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Lori,

They’ve been trying the sippy cup and he does take a little from that. He just starts whimpering when he sees the bottle. I think I am going to take your advice and see what process they go through when they offer it to him. I do know that it was too warm when I was there yesterday and tried. I let them know today to just barely heat it. He’s a pretty touchy guy and I know that stress can throw him off as well and I’m sure he’s anxious. He’s a silent refluxer too.

I’m going to call his ped and get him checked out. Perhaps there is something brewing.

Thanks and take care,

janet

June 20, 2007 at 2:09 pm #37385

Anonymous
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I just talked with the advice nurse for my ped and she said that I needed to stop feeding him the solids until he gets back on the bottle. She said that his hunger needs are being met by the solids and he’ll keep refusing the bottle until he’s REALLY hungry and doesn’t have any other option. That makes sense to me but I’m going to feel so cruel. She said he could go for a few days without liquid but then we’ll have to do something about it if he doesn’t take care of it on his own. Poor little guy. I really hope he adjusts. His provider said that he’s super tired and not doing well with all of the loud sounds from the other kids.

It just takes time, right??

janet

June 20, 2007 at 2:34 pm #37391

Anonymous
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Awww….poor little guy, and poor mommy. I imagine you must just be a wreck. It’s hard enough to leave them when all goes well, when things don’t go so well, it’s got to be very difficult.

It’s so hard to say for sure what happened and why he suddenly started refusing the bottle on the first day of day care, but having worked as a nanny and in daycare, and having anxious children myself, I could definitely see anxiety as being the cause. My children are anxious and clingy and it takes them longer than most kids to warm up to new situations, and if some little thing goes wrong that upsets them it can really set them back as far as adapting and adjusting goes.

I think cutting down on the solids or at least reducing them will probably help. Another suggestion I have is to maybe see if you can get to the day care at bottle time a few times and feed him there yourself. Maybe that would help him to settle in and feel comfortable with taking a bottle at daycare.

Also, I’d talk to the caregivers and ask them to tell you exactly what happened the first time they tried to feed him. Maybe something scared him or hurt him just as they were about to feed him and now he’s associated it with being fed.

Good luck. I hope things turn around soon.

June 20, 2007 at 2:48 pm #37398

Anonymous
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I don’t have any advice Janet, just sympathy. My little guy sounds like yours. He’s not at daycare, but he’s very touchy and anxious too.. sensitive to loud noises, etc. I could just imagine him doing the same thing.

I do think he will get used to it.. as hard as that may be.

I think Christine’s suggestion of getting there to feed him a few times is a good one. Maybe he’s just thinking.. “what, you want me to eat, here?” I know that Ben has a hard time settling to nurse right now and is very easily distracted. I think it’s an age thing too. Maybe Dylan is just so interested in all that’s going on around him, he doesn’t want to stop to eat.

June 21, 2007 at 11:48 pm #37553

Anonymous
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Hi. Just thought I’d add that when my son is bothered by teething pain (even a while before we see which tooth is bothering him), he does NOT want to suck on anything – the bottle especially. He will take solids and droppers / spoons / syringes of liquid. Sometimes it is just a bottle strike, but he has also done a full sucking strike for 3 days – no bottle, no nursing, not even any thumb sucking. And the strike came on quite suddenly, too. The tooth pain must be so much worse for him when he adds the sucking pressure, too.

Thought I’d just mention this as another possibility.

June 22, 2007 at 9:01 am #37568

Anonymous
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All good advice ladies,

He’s REALLY interested in his solid foods and starting to drink a little from his sippy cup. I went to daycare yesterday and fed him the bottle in the morning with little struggle. However when I tried to feed him there in the afternoon he wouldn’t have any of it. As soon as I got him home (10 minutes later) he sucked the whole bottle down.Took a bottle this morning as well before daycare.He seems to be adjusting to daycare in every other way….sleeping, sounds, other children.

My peds nurse said that he should be drinking a minimum of 24oz a day (yeah, like he even did that at home). I asked if he could get a little from the sippy cup and no bottles at daycare and did 3 bottles when I have him home would that be okay. She said NO and that we’d have to figure out an alternative. Her suggestion was a slower transition where I can feed him there for a few weeks.

Now I know that babies transition from bottle to sippy cup around the age of 12 months…I wonder if we could transition him a little earlier. Or if he’s doing that himself essentially. Teething could be the culprit as well as a little runny nose. You just never know. ugh…wish they were born talking. 🙂

Any thoughts?

Janet

June 22, 2007 at 9:06 am #37571

hellbennt
Keymaster

I’m not sure why you can’t do the 3 bottles at home? dehydration reasons?

get him to drink water out of a sippy while at daycare?

how long is he at daycare?

June 22, 2007 at 9:27 am #37574

Anonymous
Inactive

I just wanted to let you know that according to my pediatrician 18 – 24 oz a day is normal. 24 is the high end. So if he at least gets three bottles at home, I’m sure you are fine. After a year old, they only need 16 – 20 oz a day, so babies gradually wean down. I know you are concerned with weight. Do you mix his cereal with formula? That might help them get a little more calories in his solids at daycare.

June 22, 2007 at 9:37 am #37576

hellbennt
Keymaster

if it’s weight then some ‘good fats’ are great- avocado, things cooked in olive oil & avocado oil…he’s 9 months now right? he can start to eat proteins like beans, meat, poultry…

June 22, 2007 at 2:33 pm #37611

Anonymous
Inactive

My son thrived on 15-18 ounces of breast milk or formula a day. All babies are different. Also my son gave up the bottle at 7 months (a long story….probably due to untreated reflux for the first few months and a mild feeding aversion). He was only drinking one bottle a day (at bedtime), and he would not take a sippy cut either. So, all day I fed him by spoon. I’d make his oatmeal with tons of milk….it was runny and messy but he got his fluids that way. Also I added formula to his baby foods and I spoon fed him 4 ounces of breast milk once a day. I gave him straw cups or sippy cups at every meal and eventually he began drinking water from a straw cup at 13 months.

So, in my opinion, if he won’t take a bottle at daycare, but he drinks three of them at home, or he gets his formula from a cup/spoon/mixed in cereal/or whatever, it shouldn’t matter. In three months they’ll be telling you to get him off of the bottle anyway!

Find what works for you and him, and as long as he’s happy, growing and hydrated, that’s all that matters.

June 24, 2007 at 7:53 pm #37805

Anonymous
Inactive

Ladies,

you have made me feel so much better about my little guy. Here I was

totally worried that he wouldn’t get enough hydration because my ped

said that 24oz is what he needed. He’s never been on the high end of the

liquid consumption but it really worried me that he was taking 1 less

bottle a day because he’d been doing so well when he was home with me.

I’m going to start putting formula in all his foods and then thicken with

oatmeal if it’s too thin….fantastic idea. He loves avocado and we’ve been

giving him meats for a few months.

I guess it’s all just so frustrating because of the flat out refusal. I try and

try to feed him his bottle and he just doesn’t want it. Before it was always

because of the reflux pain so I think it’s just a habit to freak out when he

doesn’t take his bottle. I think also I get so worried because a few months

ago he had bad weight loss and the ped told me to yank him from

daycare for his health. So when he went back and started refusing I was

SURE I’d have to quit my job.

But listening to you all it makes me feel more confident that he’s going to

be fine and that he’s just going to transition away from his bottles a little

earlier than expected. AND that it’s FINE and not to worry.

I’ll keep you updated.

And, thanks for all the support.

Janet

June 24, 2007 at 7:59 pm #37806

Anonymous
Inactive

Oh, good. I’m glad you feel better about it.

Your son sounds a little like mine. He hated the bottle when he was in pain from reflux but then he finally got relief with Prevacid and starting taking a bottle fine for a few months. Then at 7 months he began refusing again even though he was not in pain. He’d eat anything from a spoon. He just didn’t want a bottle anymore. I was frantic for a while but soon enough I learned that I could keep him well fed and hydrated without the bottle, so I calmed down and he and I both did just fine.

June 24, 2007 at 8:15 pm #37809

Anonymous
Inactive

Ya know Christine,

It sounds like we’re on the same boat. Being a first time mom I was and

still am lost with how to sustain a fussy eater. I thought it was going to be

much easier than this. I always thought that you put a bottle in a babys

mouth and they’re happy and stop screaming. My son would start

screaming when I put the bottle in his mouth.

Once we figured out the right dose of Prevacid and he stopped only

eating in his sleep I thought we were as good as gold. But I’m really

learning that once you get things down and get a rhythm…it all changes. I

guess that’s what keeps it exciting??? I just hope he doesn’t start to lose

weight while we figure it out.

Your experience with your son is really giving me confidence and

I don’t feel like I’m the only one going through this.

Take care,

Janet
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