Dd hungry but will not eat - help, please

[alison]

Of course this happens on Christmas Day!!!

Dd is not breast fed and never really was. For the last few days, she has refused to her eat lactose-free formula, and only eats 2oz at a time (if at all) every 4 hours or so. It's as if she eats just to cut the edge off of her hunger. At night, she only drinks 4oz every 3-4 hours or so, and appears to only do so because she's half asleep.

She's up every 3-4 hours at night to feed (making up the calories from the day?).

She's 17.5 weeks old today. (Almost 4 calendar months.)

Her uncle is a pediatrician, but it's in the middle of the night where he is.
She's got a 4-month appointment at the start of January, so I'll ask what to do then.

Is there a quick and dirty way to get this girl to eat? I'm pretty sure she's starving Has anyone experienced this before?

Thank you in advance...

Is she feeling under the weather?
I don't know if at 4 months there is much you can do - maybe just wait until tomorrow to see how she is doing. If she isn't wanting to eat then I am not sure that she needs to. At least that's my experience with my three kiddos.

Ugh, you just never know hey?
I hope the little bub starts eating for you

[alison]

Thanks for your note.

I called urgent care. I'm a first-time parent and everything sends me over the edge.

Dh isn't around (got called into work), so I'm a little tense here!

They said it might be an ear ache, but dd doesn't suck and then refuse the bottle. It's more that she sees the bottle out of the corner of her eye coming towards her and then does a "no way, not gonna happen, mom."

She's peeing and pooping normally, so she's hydrated.

I think it's just me.

Would it be wrong to puree a burger and give it to her?

[rainbabies]

Alison it's so hard being a first time mama isn't it. and when they can't tell you what's bothering them it's even harder!
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from my former boss and pedi...."when they're hungry...they'll eat."
if she's acting ok, not running a fever, screaming or seeming that she's in pain...and is moving bowels and peeing ok...I'd say relax. It's ok. If you're that concerned see if your pedi has Saturday hours tomorrow. Just take her in for piece of mind.

Alison it's so hard being a first time mama isn't it. and when they can't tell you what's bothering them it's even harder!
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from my former boss and pedi...."when they're hungry...they'll eat."
if she's acting ok, not running a fever, screaming or seeming that she's in pain...and is moving bowels and peeing ok...I'd say relax. It's ok. If you're that concerned see if your pedi has Saturday hours tomorrow. Just take her in for piece of mind.

I agree with everything Sylvia said.

[alison]

Thanks, Sylvia and Jenn. I sat here and did exactly what you shouldn't do -- consult Dr. Google. And without dh (who is home again), I started spinning all the possible scenarios into my head.

She's getting her calories and is pooping.

I just needed to know from you all that she's just messing with mom's head.

Thank you!!!

[HouseofWool]

Hang in there Allison - as long as she is hydrated, don't worry so much. She may be coming off a growth spurt or any number of other things.

[alison]

Thanks, Kris! I'll keep an eye on her (talk about the understatement of the year!!!).

I think the last parent group made me start to obsess about dd's eating, and then my mom got us a baby food processor for Christmas...

At the parent group last week, another mom said she wouldn't have guessed that dd was almost 4 months old.

Dd is 12 pounds, 5 ounces with shoes on. . A little on the small size, yes.

I guess I started to feel guilty about her being so small, and then with all the other kids happily eating 7oz at every feeding, compared to my girl eating barely 4oz at a feeding (WITH wrangling her like an alligator to get the bottle in her mouth), I felt like something must be wrong...

thanks for your replies!

[DCJenn]

Nikolai was 12 pounds at 13 months!

I've found that exactly what everyone says is true- they eat when they're hungry and kids don't (and won't) starve themselves.

Even now, he's only 40 pounds and will only eat when he's hungry and when he's full there's nothing you can do to get him to eat anything else. (not a bad thing in the grand scheme of things, I guess!)

Jenn

She's tiny. You're a small person -- she's 1/2 Asian, after all! Kids will not be all the same, and if your pediatrician isn't worried, then don't let other people's comments worry you.

[alison]

My daughter is going to send me to an early grave.

I was bouncing off the walls thinking about all the things wrong with dd, and with dh gone at work yesterday, I seriously thought I was going to have to take the girl in to urgent care.

Of course, she was all smiles, singing, talking to me, etc. etc., so it made little sense to throw her in the car seat (which she still hates, btw.) and drive off to the hospital.

And today, she was just trying to pull my leg by eating huge amounts. Before she went to bed just now, she drank 6oz of formula. I think she's had about 30oz total since last night. She'll be fine.

Thanks for letting me freak out.

And yes, she's a small bean. With a pin for a head. I'll post some pictures.

We all do it but is it often a bad idea to compare babies. In my experience anyway it always just causes worry! Especially for things that you can't make them do (eat, sleep, poop). If she was nursing you wouldn't know how much she was getting right? So, trust that she is getting enough. DS has always eaten way less (solid) food than his friends and I do worry. But mostly I trust/hope that he won't starve himself!

ETA: I just saw the pictures and she is so beautiful! Nothing wrong with that baby!

[HouseofWool]

Yep - cannot compare babies, they really will eat when hungry and stop when full.

[Michele]

I'm learning that you can't even compare babies born to the same parents! My two have eating habits like night and day. Daegan barely picks at food and is small, Kai eats as much or more than Daegan and is still nursing 6-8 times a day.

Michele I agree with you.
We worried about my six year old (now) until she was four... I am talking every single day worrying about her eating habits! My other two - my goodness, they scarf anything and everything down their throats.

I am glad that the little monkey decided to eat like it was going out of style Alison!! Never a dull day when it comes to parenting I tell ya