Feeding - Gilroy,CA

I agree with Nikki. If you are concerned his lack of eating is affecting his health, take him to see his pediatrician.

Hello CPG's Mom, when my daughter in law went through this about the same age she was told to give a sippy cup with juice or whole milk and just introduce it to him, she also put breast milk into the sippy cup. I know that she actually found he liked powdered milk mixed 1/2 & 1/2 with whole milk best. It has been working great for themand the babyis very healthy. At 8 months he should be eatting several solid foods but maybe he is ready for something new so try giving him what ever you are eatting and see what happens. We have always used regular table food with our children with lots of frest vegetables and fruit. I hope this helps.

If your milk supply is decreasing it is time to increase his other sources of nutrition. Either soft table foods cut small or mashed up, or baby food mixed with baby cereal, or a combo of both. Really that's it. I never gave either of my kids formula at all, I just fed them real food. Mashed potatoes with cheese and broccoli was a favorite. Scrambled eggs. Pretty much any fruit or veggie cooked soft. Small pieces of thin sliced turkey and such. Baked beans. Toast. Yogurt. Whatever. Just make sure you are only introducing one new food every few days so you can easily isolate any reactions. I also fed them one or two servings per day of baby cereal, mixed with fruit or yogurt, to make sure they were getting plenty of iron, until they were about 15 months. Both of mine stopped nursing altogether, their choice not mine, at about 11 - 12 months. At that point they were drinking regular milk from a sippy cup.
They are both now happy, healthy, athletic, teenagers so I think it worked out ok. :)
ps - Personally, I wouldn't drink that stuff either. Have you smelled it? ha!

Hi, I actually had a same problem with my son. He was always a great eater, no matter if breastfed or breastmilk from the bottle. However, he would never take formula. Not from me, not from anybody else. We thought as well, if he is hungry, he will eat it. No he did not, he would cry for hours and we would offer the bottle with the formula, he would touch the nipple and spit. As soon as we offered the bottle with breastmilk, he would down it in no time. So I just kept on nursing. We transferred him to cows milk by mixing breastmilk and cows milk and he liked it a lot better, so we were able to switch him to cows milk in less than a week. We still get the Cream Top Milk from Trader Joe's as it is organic and not homogenized and tastes a lot better than standard milk.
Good luck, C.

Try having his dad or another family member feed him, and try giving him the formula when hes already half full. But if your really stressed, always call his dr.

Hi,

I have twins that are now 18 months old. Before they started solid food, they were breastfed and I supplemented one or two formula bottles a day. One of my twins began refusing the formula. I gave the other twin more formula and gave the picky twin breastmilk. We did continue to offer formula and eventually, he went back to drinking it.

You can also try making your own formula. I wish I would have known about this sooner. Here is a link. Maybe your baby will take this instead of commercial formula. Good luck!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/1...

Funny. I just answered a similar question and I will answer yours in the same way. A baby will not starve himself. Just give him formula (yes, it is very yucky compared to mommy milk). He will eventually get hungry enough that he will take it.

As hard as it is to hear your baby cry, he will not (well 99% of kids) won't let themselves starve....he might just be waiting you out.

Have you started him on regular food yet? If not, try mixing some cereal with the formula to help him get used to the flavor of the formula and than try the bottle again.

Nursing is a comfort thing too, does he have anything else he can use to help him feel comforted?

Good luck, I had the opposit problem with my youngest, I wanted to nurse forever and he totally denied me one day. Broke my heart.

-K.

My son didn't like formula in the beginning. I mostly nursed, but sometimes his grandma gave him formula when I was at work and didn't have a lot of breast milk stored up.
He just didn't like it, escpecially the vanilla. He did like cows milk and drank it with no problem. I would ask the Dr. if you could try that and start it on him a little early. The normal age is 12 months.
Also, if he's hungry enough he will eventually take it as another mom stated. Good luck!

My youngest son weaned himself at 8 mos and would not take breast milk or formula from a bottle or cup (he actually never took a bottle) The doctor told me to use canned milk and mix it 1/2 milk, 1/2 water with a touch of carros syrup to sweeten it. So we went to the store and he picked out a cup I put in the mixture and he drank it. That was the only cup he's use too. I'd check with your dr first but that worked for us.

Have you tried giving him in rice cereal for infants and mix it w/your breast milk or the formula via spoon (not in his bottle) and or Gerber baby pureed food? Hey may be "done" with formula/breast milk and need a break with something else and need a different texture. I think that it might be a good time to try now. I would try it.

Will he take any solid food? Don't let him starve if you can give him some solid food instead. Pump as much as you can to try to help your supply. You might also try contacting the La Leche League or a board certified lactation consultant to help you.
I know there are also natural herbs and things you can take to help increase your supply as well.
Outside of that, as far as formula is concerned, try having somebody else give it to him. Maybe put it in a sippy cup for him instead and see if he'll take it that way.
If he's losing weight or not producing the right amount of wet/poopy diapers, definitely get him to a pediatrician.
Good luck!