Sick Baby and Breasfeeding, please HELP!

[saffrongirl]

My baby is 10 weeks old and has come down with a cold. Her older sister had it with a fever, but so far the baby just has a stuffy nose - no fever. She had a lot of trouble in the night trying to breathe and was really frustrated. She nursed when she could breathe and slept a lot of the night on my chest on an incline. Usually she co-sleeps in a sleep positioner on an incline but I don't think it was comfortable enough or on enough of an incline last night.

Anyway, I work today for four hours and she's home with dad. She last ate at 9AM and he tried to feed her a bottle of EB at 1PM but she won't eat. She was very upset (according to him) and finally fell asleep. He said it did seem like she could breathe so it wasn't a stuffed up nose issue.

In the past when she's been home with her gma (when I've been at work), she does seem to "hold out" waiting for me to come home before she eats. She'll finally eat a bit but won't really eat until she's absolutely starving.

So, is it common for babies to not eat as much when they aren't feeling well? Also, will she finally eat if she's hungry enough even if it's from the bottle? I just feel so bad for her and not sure what to do...

[maddymama]

Sounds normal to me, mama. DD1 would ONLY nurse from me when she felt bad... I think she wanted the comfort and cuddling that only mommy can provide. If your LO gets hungry enough, she'll eat from the bottle, but expect marathon nursing sessions tonight.
Off topic a bit: your might want to spray some BM up her nose at each feeding. It seems to help them get over their colds faster. Some mamas swear by this.
Good luck!
~maddymama

[saffrongirl]

Originally Posted by maddymama

Sounds normal to me, mama. DD1 would ONLY nurse from me when she felt bad... I think she wanted the comfort and cuddling that only mommy can provide. If your LO gets hungry enough, she'll eat from the bottle, but expect marathon nursing sessions tonight.
Off topic a bit: your might want to spray some BM up her nose at each feeding. It seems to help them get over their colds faster. Some mamas swear by this.
Good luck!
~maddymama

Thank you. I just feel bad - don't want her starving to death, poor girl.

I seem to have OALD lately so she's been having milk come out of her nose -- I guess that has the same effect as spraying it up her nose. And we've been doing the saline/Nose Sucker of Death plus I've been taking garlic, Vit C, and Cold Snap. Hopefully we've got our bases covered as far as getting her better. I just hate this...

[sunshynbaby]

A lot of babies with working moms "reverse cycle," which means they eat very little to nothing when mom is at work, and chow down at night when mom's home. It is totally normal.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling.html

[an_aurora]

DS just did this too! He had a cold and couldn't figure out the eat/breathe thing since he was all stuffed up, so he didn't eat When I was at work he ate 4 oz total when he normally eats 20. What worked for us was to turn the shower on hot, and steam up the bathroom, then run breastmilk down his nose and suction a few minutes later. That would clear him up enough to eat or take a bottle.

I hope your LO feels better soon! It's no fun when they are sick