Communities

Parenting with Natural Health

All Communities > Parenting with Natural Health > Baby refusing food

Baby refusing food

Christine - posted on 03/12/2009 ( 3 moms have responded )

Hi my baby boy has just turned 7 months old and has been on solids for about a month, i have been breastfeeding as well. In the last week he has refused the breast (constant biting) and it is hard to get him to take the bottle (he has taken a bottle well before), he has started being fussy with his solids as well. He is not sick and appears to be energetic and happy but he has completely lost his appetite. Can someone help or does anyone have any suggestions? he seems fine now, but if this keeps going on I'm worried his health might start to suffer

Join Circle of Moms

3 Comments

View replies by

Holly - posted on 04/24/2009

My kids never ate well and were a little older when they began refusing food all together. It appeared to be a hormone imbalance (according to the dr). So I put them on deer antler velvet (called IGF-1) and it increased their appetite very quickly.

Katy - posted on 03/24/2009

123

Wow, this is almost exactly what I asked my PED about last week. My son wasn't interested in nursing during the day anymore! We were concerned, but after analyzing the situation we realized that we were overreacting. He would nurse very well in the morning and night. (though the first nurse I spoke to tried to tell me he was weaning himself at 7 months- this was not true, and I dont believe that to be possible. If he is hungry, he will eat!) So, I cut back one of his solid meals! I have eliminated his solid breakfast, and he will now nurse during the day again. It was an immediate change! He still gets a small solid dinner, and nurses before bed, so I feel we did the right thing. After all, I'd much rather he get more breastmilk than solids. :)

Hope that helped, sharing what I just went through!

Maia - posted on 03/13/2009

That is the exact age my littlest one went on a nursing strike. For mine it was due to teething pain, but there can be other reasons as well. If you think it's teething, I would get one of those mesh bag feeders and put an ice cube in it and give him that before you try to nurse him. You can also express milk and just feed him with a syringe or a cup if he doesn't like the bottle. As long as he's getting sufficient breast milk somehow, I would not worry at all about the solids, although, if it's teething pain, you may want to give him something he can bite on.

The main thing is to be patient, and keep trying to nurse him. If he refuses, pump the milk so you don't lose your supply. This web page has some good info and suggestions:

http://is.gd/ndr2

That one is short and sweet, but if you want more Q&A stuff, La Leche Leagues' site has tons of information and resources. Good luck.