ds suddenly refusing his final feed before bed.

[cleoteacher]

My ds is 18 weeks old and has always gone to bed really well, we have had a nightime routine since he was about 10 weeks and he is generally very smiley as i get him ready for bed, takes his teether for his teeth and then has the bottle followed by his gripe water. Either nearly falling asleep during his feed or not and either way falling happily to sleep when I put him down in his moses. I know I am extremely lucky!

However, recently he has refused his bottle and it has taken ages to get him to go to sleep. I have changed nothing about his routine (other than somtimes going to bed a little later or falling asleep past 5 which he isn't normally allowed to do as we have been out) He either refuses it straight away and cries everytime I put it in his mouth or try and get him into the feeding position or does a few gupls and then cries. I am worried as we had to go to ff at 3 and a half months as he started doing this with bf.

The milk is warm, he is in my arms and happy and calm beforehand, I have changed the teats but it is the same the next night. Tonight he took it to start with then started crying and wouldn't take it no matter which position I put him in and after I calmed him and tried again several times and burped him. His legs are kicking strongly when I am trying to give him his bottle. He eventually takes it after being shhhed until almost asleep or when he calms down enough and I talk to him to reassure him throughout.

My dh did the night feed the first time this started (he had only done it a couple of times before and I wanted him to do it so ds didn't start only going to bed for me) He says that he tested the heat of the milk before he gave it to ds but actually thinks it might have been too hot and have hurt his throut. On this occasion I managed to calm ds down, get him to take the bottle and he happily went to sleep.

What could be wrong? Could it be his teeth? He has been teething the last few days but was fine just before I fed him and I had given him the teether. How long does it take to work? If the milk was too hot when dh did the feed and it hurt his mouth could he now associate this with bedtime every time or is this too advanced for a baby?

[SoulTrain]

He might be too tired? Or maybe just not hungry? What time is his feed before that? Any solids yet?

[cleoteacher]

ps, he is normal all day and takes his feeds with the same teats just fine. My only thought other than teeth is perhaps he is not tired enough but he is going to bed at the same time as always and today I didn't let him sleep past 5 and gave him his bottle (which he didn't drink much of) at 5 too so he would be fairly hungry again by 6.50. This has worked for the last 18 weeks.

[StormyBrid]

Eight week old DD does this most nights. The only way we've found to deal with it is to put her to bed without the last bottle, and give her half an hour to get herself calm and sleepy, then feed her in her cot. What could be wrong though - I have no idea!

[fififrog]

I'd be surprised if he was that hungry after less than 2 hours - maybe he's come out of a growth spurt and is no longer as hungry as you think?

[SoulTrain]

I agree with fifi, maybe he needs his feeds spread out a bit? What happens if you just put him down?

[cleoteacher]

I've tried just putting him down and rocking him to sleep and shhing and stroking his head, he carries in crying. When he was almost asleep in my arms he cried the instance I put him down but then took the bottle and fell asleep. So think he was hungry otherwise would have gone to sleep.

Tonight, after a few goes it seemed like he wanted the bottle as was opening his mouth and taking a few gulps.

He does have his last three feeds close together, one at 2.30 then 5/5.30 and then 6.45 ish. This has always worked so far and means he sleeps through. Plus he is quite a hungry baby and gulps down his bottles and seems to want more, quite regularly having more than the guidelines state for his weight (5th centile). I have thought about moving the 2.30 feed to 3 and then dropping the 5.30 feed altogether but because its always worked I was reluctant to change the magic formular for getting him to sleep through. But maybe now he's older he doesn't need it.

Could he associate his night feed with a burnt mouth? Or is that just silly?

[cleoteacher]

ps, no solids yet. Could be that he wasn't tired as he was not yawning or rubbing eyes beforehand but again we have always started his routine at 6.30 and it has never been a problem before.