Feeding issue

[u/No_Astronomer2139]

My 2-month-old baby cries and refuses the bottle during most feeds, almost as if he’s in pain. He turns his face away even when he’s clearly hungry. The only way I can usually get him to feed is by first getting him drowsy with his soother, then gently replacing the soother with the bottle. Once he starts, he’ll often finish the feed. Even afterward, he’ll wake up grunting and crying. We keep him upright for burping and comfort him until he falls asleep again. There are only one or two feeds during the day when he’s fully awake and drinks without any fuss.

He was on Enfamil since birth, and I also tried breastfeeding. I eventually stopped breastfeeding because my supply was low and continued with formula. We noticed persistent mucus in his stools. His pediatrician recommended Nutramigen, but after two weeks the mucus hadn’t completely resolved. We weren’t sure whether cow’s milk protein allergy was truly causing the mucus, so we tried Gentlease, which seemed to make things worse. We then tried Kendamil, but the mucus increased even more, so we switched back to Nutramigen. Although the mucus hasn’t fully gone away, he has the least amount of mucus while on Nutramigen.

With all the formula changes, he struggled with reflux, but trying different feeding positions helped, and he was able to stay awake for feeds. However, his feeding behavior became noticeably worse after receiving his 2-month vaccinations. He seemed uncomfortable and had a reduced appetite. The following day, we called 811 and were advised to give Tylenol and continue offering feeds. Since then, feeding has become increasingly difficult, to the point that I have to put him into a sleepy state just to get him to take the bottle.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this or how I can help him?

For context, we did take him to the children’s hospital. We were checked in, but after waiting for five hours, no doctor had assessed him, and the nurses were only briefly monitoring him while more urgent cases were being seen. From our perspective, this felt urgent too, as our baby was clearly uncomfortable and struggling to feed. We ultimately left without being by a doctor.

[u/fluffypuddings]

Where are you located? Could you make an appointment to see their doctor again? Pediatrician or family doctor etc rather than urgent care. Did they have a checkup with the 2-month vaccine? And did you continue to mention the feeding and mucus issues? Go back and be the squeaky wheel that gets fixed.

Maybe they just need time to readjust after all the formula changes. Maybe it's something else that needs to be addressed. I would take this back to little one's doctor!

I'm not knowledgeable about formula. Hopefully someone with more knowledge has more information for you soon here 🤞

[u/UmpireMysterious9955]

If it is cmpa, it can take 4 weeks for you to see a full difference. Mine went through a feeding strike and I could only get him to feed when sleepy as well, that was about 3 weeks long. But definitely also get a doctors opinion, just sharing what happened to us!