Fussy almost 5 month old

ok let me start by saying at her 4 month ck up dr said we could start juice 2-4 oz a day and ceral a couple of teaspoons twice a day. and she still needs 4-7 bottles a day with at least 4 oz's in each bottle (formula). We are having such a struggle. Please please please tell me this is like an across the board suggestion that dr's give and you just do what you baby wants. lol lol First of all we do get 4 bottles maybe sometimes 5 but rarely of 4-5 oz's of formula a day but if I were to give her ceral twice a day that would take away two bottles at least in her case. So I just do ceral at night and I put a couple of teaspoons of applesauce in it cause she WILL NOT drink juice at all. We have tried apple (will not take at all), and now trying white grape (will take a couple of sucks of that) and next we will try pear. Now he started her about 4 weeks ago on .4 of axid for acid reflux cause she was refusing bottles all together. Once we started that she took bottles again but now is starting it again so he upped her to .8 twice a day. Things have been getting better. She sleeps pretty good during the day and WONDERFUL at night. she gets like a minm of 10 hours a night. I mean a bad night is 7 hours for her. So her acid prob cant be too bad! lol lol Should I start her on food? just at a loss and was just wondering what the rest of you have done or if ya'll have had this problem before. Here are her symptoms. She will take half the bottle and after I burp her she will fight you tooth and nail not to take the rest. She has been spitting up alot more. Not alot meaning no vomiting but like every time she burps there is milk coming out. That has gotten some better since he upped the meds again. She just seems irritable all the time unless she is asleep. I feel like she is either hurting or wanting something or something. lol lol I am at such a total loss. She ususally poops every day but sometimes she goes a coupld of days and that is when she gets really fussy. I put karo in EVERY bottle to help with that. DR did OK that! Just want to know what the rest of you have or would do? Thanks, Denise

I forgot to say at her 4 month appt she was in the 75% which dr was pleased with. She was 13 lbs (that was on the 7th and today she is 14 lbs so she is adding weight good) and was 25 1/2 inches long and her head I think was 15 1/2. He said that was small but still in the 30% range and NOTHING to worry about. Denise

I don't have a lot of help but thought i'd try to give some support. Sadie did not have any reflux issues but never and I mean not even at 12 months when we switched her to milk did she drink more than 4 or 5 oz at a time. She was always small...when we gave her food...we always offered the bottle first ti make sure she drank what we could get her to drink then offered the food that way it didn't interfere with her formula consumption too much. Our ped told us no juice till 12 months and then diluted....we never did give it to her until close to a yr...but that's a different opinion i think from each Dr. We did only give her cereal once a day for quite a while too. I hope it gets easier for you....it's so hard to know exactly what to do with the whole feeding thing.

This is my opinion ... If I had a child with acid problems, I would not give them juice. I really could not tell from your post if you were or not. Faith is 8 1/2 months old. She is breastfed all but about 6 oz of formula per day. She started on solids at 6 months old. I have never given her any juice. There is really no need for it. Faith never pooped much until she started on solids. Now she is a pooping machine. I would not force her to take more of the bottle than she wants. Do you stop to burp her or does she stop in her own. Maybe just feed her until she sops on her own, then burp. I dunno ... maybe this will get a little more into her? Also, a small bit of spit up is completely normal. Now if it is several ounce or all of what she just ate, I think that is a problem. Otherwise a bit of spit up is normal. Pooping question ... does the poop look like rabbit poop or is it smooth and mushy? Is her formual iron fortified? Maybe she is getting too much iron? Your doc could test her iron level and give you the ok to move to a low iron formula. If you want to feed her some food, why not start with prunes and a little cereal? That could also help her poopies. On another note ... Grace was a very small eater, I think one time when she was 9 or 10 months, she drank four ounces and we all celebrated. God Bless! Jen

Hiya! Here is my 2 cents as a mom and a PA. I do not start my babes until 6 ms on solids. I never give juice until they are old enough to drink it from a sippy cup. There is NO nutritional reason to give juice and contributes to obesity. If she doesnt like it, dont give it to her. What was his reasoning? Grace doesnt like the rice cereal and it gives her gas, so she eats the baby oatmeal instead. Only once in the evening, she still wants to nurse after it, though. At 5 ms I would be more concerned about her getting the formula in then solids. She needs the nutrition from the formula. I would caution you on Karo in every bottle, that seems excessive to me. Babies do not have to poop every day. Jus****ch to make sure that her poop isnt hard pellets. lol~ Hope this helps. Take care

Denise Eli went thru the same thing in the beginning, and the Dr told me Karo...Than Cheri had told me the same thing about the Karo and the juice..I actually gave Eli room temp water, and it helped with the pooping...As far as the acid goes, I have never had to deal with that..I hope she is better soon! Jen