Why does my 4 month old spit out her milk? (Not spit up)?

Question

My 4 1/2 month old has been refusing to eat lately. She only eat around 15 ounces a day! I offer the bottle probably about every hour or two, but she seldom accepts it. Most of the time, even when she does suck a little, she will spit it back out before swallowing it. (She is not vomiting or "spitting up") Her doctor said that her spitting it out is strange, but didn't seem alarmed by it. It is definitely a nuisance considering I have to change her outfit about 5 times per day, since she spits her milk all over them. She is wetting and soiling diapers pretty regularly, but I am still concerned. She only eats about 2 ounces at a time if I am lucky. Why this sudden drop in appetite?

Answer 1

How long has this been going on? If very recent, maybe her throat is sore, or she's teething and just 'chewing' on the nipple instead of sucking. The Dr. doesn't seem too concerned, so she must be gaining weight. My kids all spit up, but like real spit up. But, I understand the whole changing a million outfits a day thing.  Are you feeding her cereal and baby food too> Maybe she's just not that hungry, and is more just playing with it. Possibly she doesn't like the nipples you are using. Could be many of things, but if she's not crying out like something hurts, and she is healthy and gaining weight, I wouldn't be too concerned.

Answer 2

So I'm guessing that she is probably FULL seeing that you said that you offer her a bottle ever hour or 2?? You should only be feeding her eveyr 3 1/2 to 4 hours at that age. I think if you drop her feeds back to then, you should find that she will drink the whole bottle and be satisfied. Give that a go and see if it works :)

Answer 3

She is probably tired of eting the same old thing every day. at almost 5 months she should be ready for number i baby food. Number 1 food is very runny so it shouldnt bother her. to get her to cope with the change you could put a bottle and a spoonful of babby food in front of her. See which one she picks. If She starts to pick up the spoon or play whith it gently take it away and feed her the contenents. You should se the change in a few days.

Answer 4

You should start introducing solids, since your baby is formula fed, only for breastfed is recommended to wait till 6 months. Also, try feeding your baby before she goes to sleep, my is 5 months also, and does not eat during the play time at all, At home I have to turn off tv, hide toys and anything distracting, even my husband can not sit near since she keeps peaking at him and does not eat. I try to feed right before she goes for naps etc, then she gets very tired and just eats with closed eyes and off to sleep, and then right after wakes up. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

She is growing. Try feeding her baby food now. You can start giving her stuff like Gerber Baby Foods. My nephew went through that stage and he started eating foods instead of drinking milk. Don't worry it's a stage they go through. Just make sure to giver her lots of water.  

Answer 6

My daughter also at 4 months slowed down eating. If she is still pooping and wetting, no worries. She will eat when she is hungry. as long as she is gaining, i wouldn't worry.

i noticed my DD would eat better if she had something to watch. Last night i put her in the crib, turned on the mobile and she went to town! Try baby einsteins when she is eating!

Best of luck!  

Answer 7

My daughter did the same thing around four months - she is 4.5 now.  Her eating eventually picked back up again.  She was on an every 2 hour or so cycle and we would know to look for hunger cues around that time and offer her the bottle or boob (she's breastfed).  She would only take an ounce or so or eat for a short period of time at the breast.  Ends up she was ready to start stretching herself to 3 hours between feeds and would finish a full feed after waiting three hours.  Try only offering the bottle when she is showing all of her hunger cues, maybe you are offering it too early and then she just snacks all day.

Answer 8

she needs more add cereal to her milk.....I did it with all 4 of my grown sons and now my 10 grandkids....at 2 months babies need more than just milk alone.....if they had to wait till they were 6 months old they wouldn't make 1st stage baby food/cereal.....your Dr. is giving you bad advice....all my sons and grandkids are fine and hearlthy and I started baby food/cearel at 2 months....read on jars of baby food.....here is one off of one Baby Food Stages and Steps.

Foods that you might first start your 4-6 month old baby on include:

Beech-Nut Naturals Stage 1

Earth's Best 1st Beginner Foods

Gerber 1st Foods

Heinz Step 1 Beginner Foods  

Answer 9

Well what surprises me is the Pediatrician not becoming alarmed about it. And what is lately or how long has she been doing this?

Something in the milk or formula isn't setting well with her. Too cold, too warm, too thick, too weak. It is something she is not liking. The water it is mixed with. Something isn't the same. OR she is in a growing spurt and sometimes they just don't need the nutrition. About 2-3 days of an off eating habit is normal once in a while. Can she be coming down with a cold and just not feeling right. Cutting teeth. It can be that too. You can just not let her eat for about 3-4 hours and see if she is hungry then. You could be just trying too often to get her to eat when she just isn't wanting it. Let her get good and hungry then try to feed her, and see how much she takes then. IF none of these suggestions  help you, then take her back to the Ped for a more thorough check, I would be so worried. It isn't uncommon for babies to change formula 3-4 times until they find one they like.

You say you are changing her soiled diapers pretty regularily, that would be about 2 good ones a day plus maybe smaller ones. So she isn't constipated, that would be another concern.

I would think she isn't liking the formula all of a sudden, so see what other ones are out there for her. Good Luck

Answer 10

ummm that is a little strange. But what I'm thinking is that she isn't liking that type of milk maybe a different brand would do. And I think its weird that the doctor hasnt done anything casue she could lose weight fast. But does she ever cry and ask for the milk herself or do you just go on a schdule cause my sisters baby is the same age and she cries when she is hunry ever 2 to3 hours and now she is eating some solids ( rice cereal and gerber... try just a little bit of that and she if she likes that she could be getting tired of milk. IF ANY OF THIS WORKS PLEASE LET ME KNOW JUST COMMENT ON A QUESTION THAT I HAVE!

hope i helped and sorry for all the info on one comment. :)

Answer 11

I'm no physician but this was our first 'major' problem ( we FREAKED OUT) my baby girl started doing the milk thing at about 4 - 4 1/2months , so not long and just passed that phase . There could be some underlying problem there of course but my mother said it happened to me and her mother said it happened to her. Maybe she's just fussy!

Do you plop her in front of TV when TMZ comes on??? Maybe she heard something about the olsen twins.....Maybe shes ANOREXIC!! ahh!! calll Maury! lol dont worry baby, your baby will be fine....as soon as you stop calling her fat!!!  : )

Answer 12

Well what a little monkey! First thing hun is to relax. As long as she is having plenty of wet diapers she is just fine. Babies do go through cycles of eating like a voracious monster and then eating like a bird. I would have the doctor do a good inspection of her mouth looking for anything that could be irritating or painful to nurse with. Even young babies can get strep throat or she may have a touch of thrush.Also a peek at the ears since an ear infection or congestion behind the eardrum can make it miserable to suck on the nipple.

From there you might consider cheating a little bit. Maybe try a different formula to see if the taste/texture change might tempt her to eat more for you. Also keep in mind she might think she's being cute by spitting the milk out since it likely got a very strong reaction. Babies will do something repeatedly to get a reaction even if it isn't what we would consider a good reaction.

Good luck hun and remember this kind of behavior is only going to get more interesting. My 9 month old daughter is the epitome of a variety of eating behaviors. She can go from breastfeeding only 2 times a day and refusing all foods to only eating baby food all day and refusing the breast to wanting to nurse every hour and no food at all. LOL trust me you don't even want to know what a picky eater toddlers tend to be!

Answer 13

Sounds like she has discovered a fun game to play....don't babies start learning how to make a "razzing" sound with their lips at this age which would be the same thing as spitting milk/formula out?

She also probably doesn't eat much because at that age they are distracted by everything.  Try feeding her in a quiet, dimmed room with no TV/noise etc.  And I would actually ALWAYS wait until she acts hungry (even if she hasn't taken much at the last feed) and that way, she may take more.  I think if she didn't like her formula, she wouldn't take it into her mouth at all...she'd just push the nipple out or turn her head.