I had Jackson back to the Dr. this morning. I feel like I'm there all the time lately. Earlier in the month we were there for congestion and what turned out to be a slight ear infection. This morning it was because he's not eating.
He hasn't eaten a whole bottle in close to 24 hours!! From the pictures I post of him, you all know he doesn't miss any meals, in fact, they weighed him today and he weighs a whopping 18 pounds 4 ounces (at 5 months old)!! So to say its a little odd that he's not eating, is an understatement. Normally he's wanting to eat before he's even supposed to and never misses a meal.
It kinda started Tuesday evening when Jake was trying to feed him and he didn't want to eat. I was on my way home from work, so when I got home I tried feeding him and he did finally eat for me, but fell asleep towards the end of his bottle. I thought maybe the reason Jake was having a hard time with him was because he was just tired.
He ate the rest of his bottles fine that night and then Wed. morning I fed him a bottle and he only ate a couple ounces of it. He normally eats 6 ounces every 4 hours. So I just took the bottle along with me to my moms and put it in her fridge for him to eat later. She said he didn't eat it until 10 that morning, which is about 3 hours later than when I first tried to feed him. This is very unusual for him. She said he then ate again at 1:30 and ate a whole 6 ounce bottle. When I got there to pick him up at 6, he had eaten about 3 ounces, but wouldn't finish the bottle. I figured it was just because he was distracted and that he would just let me know when he was hungry again.
We went to my Mother in Laws house last night for dinner and at around 8:30ish he started getting kind of fussy. I thought maybe he was getting hungry so I made him a bottle and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. He arched his back and cried everytime we tried to give it to him. So when we got home I thought I'd feed him some peas to try and get him to eat something before bed. He did eat those and ate them pretty well in fact.
Then at around 2 he woke up crying, which is pretty typical for him to wake up at around that time for a bottle. So I fixed him a bottle and once again he arched his back and cried and wouldn't have anything to do with it. He also wouldn't take his binkie, which is very unusual too. So for close to 2 hours, we were up with him trying to either get him to eat or get him to go back to sleep. I finally layed with him on the couch and we watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he fell back asleep.
He then slept til around 6 this morning. He woke up crying like he was hungry, but once again would not have anything to do with the bottle. So I thought I'd try some baby applesauce and some oatmeal and see if he would eat that. He wouldn't! He wouldn't even eat applesauce which I would think he would really like. So I thought something is not right.
So I called the Dr. when they opened this morning and took him in, thinking maybe he's teething and it hurts to suck on the bottle or binkie. Or maybe his tummy hurts. Its such a guessing game because they can't tell you whats wrong. For peace of mind, I just thought I better take him in to error on the side of caution.
The Dr. office doesn't open til 8:30, so in the mean time I went to Walgreen's and got him some infant Pediacare and gave that to him when we got home. He slept for around 1 1/2 hours and when he woke up I tried a bottle. He ate about 2 ounces of it and wouldn't eat anymore. :-( I was glad he at least tried to eat some of it, and that made me think maybe it was teething that was causing him not to want to suck on his bottle or binkie cause it hurt. After having Tylenol, it may have felt a little better, at least enough to eat some.
We were able to get into to see the Dr. at 10:15 and she said it wasn't his ears or throat, those all looked fine. She said it could be teething or just an upset tummy, or he could just be going through a phase where he doesn't want to eat. She said she had seen that before and it typically lasted a day. So she said to give him Tylenol and see how he did today and if he still wasn't eating, to give her a call back.
So thats what we're doing today. I dropped him off at my mom's after the Dr. and he was happy and smiling when I left. I hope he does finally eat and its just a phase. I hate when they don't seem to feel good and you don't know whats wrong or how to fix it.
Have any of you moms had this issue with your little ones before?? Does it sound like teething to you or something else?? He's been on the Zantac for a week now, so I wouldn't think it was that causing him not to eat, but who knows.
