PLEASE HELP!!! My 5 month old is sick and stopped eating!

[yashax]

We've been to two emergency rooms in two different hospitals. Started 4 days ago, he was running a fever of almost 104. Doctors said "not to worry, its a virus, which will go away in 7 days". The fever is much less now, off and on ~100-101. He is even smiling form time to time. 

He lost a lot of weight during these days. But the main problem, he is not eating at all. He is refusing to take my wife's breasts and even bottle. He is just crying and spitting everything out. We tried to pre-pump the milk first to help him get started, and he will actually eat for a minute while the milk is really flowing, but then he is refusing to try to suck at all.

When we are giving him the bottle, it looks like he does not understand how to suck on the nipple. He just chews on the nipple in the right or left side of his mouth, but not much is coming out. We are trying to feed him from the spoon, and its barely working, but very very slow. It takes an hour to feed him about 4oz, as he is always crying.

My wife is crying, thinking that she is losing the milk and extremely worried about his health, and I of course.

Don't know what to do and how to help him.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Jake

[MichelleZB]

Does he have a runny nose? My son went on a nursing strike while he was sick with a cold because he had a plugged up nose and it was hard to get suction! Poor little man. But he cleared up and it all went back to normal in a few days.

So it's probably something like that. Plugged up nose? Sore throat? Swollen glands? The liquid could be irritating all that and he's so little he doesn't understand what's happening.

Anyway, spoon feeding milk might be worth it for a few days, since he seems to have trouble sucking. You can also try seeing if he'll drink from a small cup. Don't worry about forcing the bottle. Breast is easier to latch onto than bottle, so when he's ready, it'll be the breast he wants.

I found that when my son was sick, he would still nurse a bit in a steamy room (like the bathroom during someone's shower) because the steam helped unplug his nose, it was warm and relaxing, and he would be very sleepy. That is worth a try to see if it works.

If your wife is feeling engorged, she should feel free to pump or hand express. Her supply will not dry up totally in a few days. If it goes down a bit, she'll be able to ramp it back up once the baby starts eating again.

Let us know how it goes and don't despair.