Need help tweaking 3-hour EASY for 12-week old

[ceebs]

Hi,

DS (12 weeks)) has been having some feeding issues for a while, so his EASY has been all over the place. Up until last week he was only taking around 18oz in 24 hours. Last week he went down to eating 3oz every 2 hours, which increased his intake to 22-24. This week has been better. He's taking between 4-5oz every 3 hours and averaging around 28 oz a day (a growth spurt perhaps?) The last day or two, he has started fighting the bottle again, and today it's worse. He never seems hungry in the morning or right after a nap unless he wakes to eat at night. Because he's not hungry when he first wakes up, he has his activity first and then he eats before his nap, but at times he's too sleepy to finish his bottle by the time he actually gets hungry. It's so frustrating!

This is the closest to the 3-hour easy (more like AESY) I got in the last few days:

A: 7am. I wake him, but he shows no signs of hunger. Happily plays and smiles.
E: Between 7:30-8:30am (after trying various times), he takes between 3-5oz
S: 8:45am. Mostly he wakes up after the 45 min mark. Goes back to sleep by himself usually, but sometimes can't sleep. I leave him in the crib unless he starts crying.
Y

A: 10am
E: 11am - 4.5oz
S: 11:30am
Y

A: 1pm
E: 2pm - 4.5oz
S: 2:30pm
Y

A: 4pm
E: 5pm - 4.5oz
S: 30-40 min catnap between 6-7

Bedtime routine: 7:30pm
E: 8pm - 4.5 oz
S: 8:15pm

DF (or sometimes wakes up himself): 11pm - 5 oz (Before this week, he wouldn't dream feed at all.)

Wakes up around 4am to take a feed. 4.5 oz

Today I only gave him 3oz at the 4am feed hoping he'd eat at 7am, so we could have a proper EASY with bedtime at 7 to coincide with my 3-year old. Today he had 1.5oz at 7:30am, and then refused to eat. At 10:30am he seemed hungry again, so I made a 5oz bottle, but he only took 3oz and started fighting it.

I'm hating my mornings because I feel like I'm sitting around with a bottle waiting for him to eat. The whole day gets messed up because of A being before E, and then E being taken over by S cuz he's too sleepy to eat. For 3 weeks, he slept through the night, but even then he wouldn't be hungry for a whole 4oz bottle in the morning. He was almost 75th percentile at birth, and at his last check up, he was between 10th and 25th percentile.

I know there are multiple issues mentioned in my post, so I really hope someone can help with at least a few of them.

[RachelC]

{{{hugs}}}

I'm going to pop this over to Bottle Feeding, as I think it's more of a feeding issue.

[Lolly]

What flow teat do you have him on? Have you tried a faster one?

You could also try switching to a 3.5 or even 4 hour E cycle. Although he won't be up for the A time for a longer EASY so you won't get a proper EASY for a few weeks it's quite common for formula fed babies to need to stretch to 3.5/4 hours between feeds around 3 months.

The other thing that springs to mind is reflux - does he have any other symptoms apart from fighting the bottle after a coupls of oz?
Reflux 101 - General reflux information

Laura

[ceebs]

Thanks Lolly.

We're still stuck on the level one teat. We've tried changing him over to level 2 a couple of times, but he starts fighting the bottle, and then eventually stops taking it altogether.

As for reflux, the doctor put him on 5mg losec - once a day. The first week went well...he upped his intake to around 4 (maybe a growth spurt), but come week 2, he was back to fighting and reduced to 3 again. Still had a few episodes here and there where we felt it was reflux, but generally, he's doing better now. We're just starting week 3, and it's still 3-3.5, and occasionally 4.

I don't know whether he'll be able to cope with a 3.5 or 4 hour easy. Most days he gets hungry at the 2 to 2.5 hour mark. Other times it's 3 hours. I've tried playing around with stretching time, but his intake doesn't change.

If he has reflux, would it be better to do smaller amounts more frequently, like i"m doing? Maybe I should just make my peace with not having a proper easy routine. I still roughly follow Eat, Activity, and sleep cycle.

[Lolly]

It probably is better to do what you are doing for now, smaller feeds are often better for refluxers.

How heavy is he - that losec dose may be a small dose.

Laura

[ceebs]

He just hit the 12 lbs mark at his last check up a few days ago. Is the dose ok?

[Lolly]

I just checked on a website with a dosage chart (crying over spilt milk),  at 12lbs hes is just about 5.5kg, the low dose range for omeprazol (which is what losec is) is 4-8.5mg so yes, it's the very minimum dose. That does mean though that there is room for the Dr to increase the dose if it isn't helping.

If it isn't making a difference I would go back to the Dr an discuss increasing the meds although if it's the GP who has prescribed you may need to see a paediatrician.

Laura

[ceebs]

Thanks Laura. Yes we got a referral for a pediatrician. Let's see how that goes.