Hi there, I wonder if anyone can help or has ideas.
My son is now 18weeks old. He was born at 37 weeks and was breastfed for a few weeks before being bottle fed. His weight charted him just under the 9th Centile.
He seemed to naturally start on a 3 hourly routine, starting with 3oz of formula. This progressed over the weeks till we got to 4oz, he began to drain these bottles so we made the occasional 5oz. This is when the problems began. He suddenly gave up wanting to drink anymore then 3oz.
Since then we have had the occasional week where he has had more and last week he was drinking 5oz bottles every 4 hours. But i am taking that as a growth spurt as we are now back to the fussing and drinking about 3oz again.
I am getting a bit frustrated and dont really know what to do. The HV says he's fine because he's not losing any weight but he's hardly gaining. One week it only being half an ounce. She just says he obviously just likes to eat little and often.
I am not too worried as he seems to be happy in himself but so far we havent had a wake free night. His weight did chart half way through just over the 9th centile line but we have now gone back underneath again.
He had in the past slept 8 hours, ie 8pm -4am which was fine. I knew he couldnt with stand any longer at his young age but that only lasted a short while. This seemed to happen when i dropped the dream feed and this seemed to be making him fuss more. But this in turn meant he was having even less food.
I was re reading the baby whisperer book and it says that a 4 month old baby shouldnt be on a 3 hour routine so i decided to give the 4 hour routine a go and hope that it would make him that bit more hungrier to take on more milk.
The day went as follows;
7am 2.5oz
11am 3oz
3pm 5oz ( premade carton formula)
7pm 3oz
11pm Dream feed, althoug he was already awake fussing. 3oz
Then he fussed every few hours in the night until i gave in and fed him at 4.30am and he only took 2.5oz
So today meant that at 7am he wasnt ready for food and by 9am he wanted more but only took 3oz, he was then fussing again by 12pm and again has only taken 3oz, i have just fed him again and he's taken 4oz. Trouble with this is that i have already sunk back into the 3hour routine and i have had to because he wont wait another hour for food.
Whilst feeding he takes the food down but its almost like he gets bored and just gives up trying. I have increased the teat size to size 3 but the next lot up are for 6months plus so not sure i should try them, thinking size 3 might be too slow and too much effort for him?!?!?!? I have also tried leaving it a bit and trying again half an hour later but he still doesnt want anymore.
He suffers with a lot of wind, doesnt always burp after milk even with the help of infacol but he can belch about 2 hours later. His belly seems bloated and hard sometimes but i dont know how to help him out. I have tried winding him for ages after food, rubbing his belly etc but still nothing. I am now wondering could it be the milk? Or is it as the hv says that he likes to eat little and often. If this is the case, how can i get enough food into him to make him give me a few hours decent sleep at night. I am just beginning to find the whole feeding thing a bit frustrating.
Any help would be most welcome as i dont seem to getting any help from my HV.
Cheers :O)
Dunceg
