Refusing bottle suddenly?

[MuntryMomma]

We've been using Dr. Browns bottles and all of a sudden, our LO seems to be really fussing and refusing the bottle. We know she's hungry. Nothing else has changed (same formula, temperature, situation ... etc) but she mouths it a bit, shakes her head from side to side, wants to eat but then starts spitting the nipple out and shaking her head again. She's only 8 weeks old.

Any idea what's going on?

She's not sick. No sores in her mouth. No tummy troubles (outside the ordinary bit of spit up). It's driving us both crazy!

HELP!

[TinaDeanette]

Is the flow too slow for her? I would try the next size.

[MuntryMomma]

I hadn't thought of that. It's worth a shot!

[SPJ&E]

Any chance she might have silent reflux? It can cause a lot of pain (burns coming up, burns going back down). They say it is more painful than when they have "regular" reflux, where they do spit up a lot. Our son started crying constantly and refusing to eat, which of course was followed with losing weight. He would start to nurse or take a bottle and very quickly pull away, shake his head, and cry. He was hungry, but it hurt too much to eat. His doctor had us give him 1 tsp. of Mylanta (we used the CVS brand cherry flavored...he looooved it) as needed and it helped. If he was refusing to eat, we would give him the Mylanta and he would actually be able to eat. Once we got him on meds for the silent reflux, he did great. We had to switch meds within a month, but that's typical (Prevacid worked wonders for him). We still had to get him on the right formula before he started consistently gaining weight again though. He was able to go off of meds at 9 months...once we got all his issues figured out.

If the only difference in her is that she's refusing the bottle, I agree with trying a different nipple first. If that doesn't help, there could be more to it and it might be worth discussing with your ped. You could also try smaller amounts more often, rather than larger amounts less often and sitting her more upright for feedings (and keeping her upright after). It's definitely good to keep a close eye on it, like you are. We let it go for too long, thinking he was just on the fussy side and he'd eventually get past it. At 2 months, 8.5 lbs. (he was 7.5 at birth), and crying constantly, we knew something wasn't right. It took him months to get back on the growth chart once we figured everything out. It was a rough ride!

[Foxsma]

My guy did that too, and I have Dr. Browns bottles. I found out it was silent reflux. They gave us baby zantac, which I only have to use every few days, worked like a charm!

[Bubbasmom]

I am thinking it is the flow of the nipple, too. The nipple could be too old and stopped up or the flow it too slow. My daughter would refuse a certain bottle and nipple, too. I thought it was the formula, but it turned out the nipple was too old and no formula was flowing through. After that, I made sure I changed the nipples every other month.

[Katledoodle]

I third the nipple flow!