Hard time feeding

[KBS]

Our dd is now nearly 12 weeks old, she started off on bottle (after 2 weeks difficulty with the breast) really well, downing 6oz at a sitting, we ended up putting her on hungry baby formula.  For the last 4 weeks though it has gone a little pear-shaped,  she will wake for feeds, take 2-3 oz then reject the bottle, but will go 3-4 hrs, then it's the same again.

we'll get some good wind, she starts eating her hands but won't go back on, we are getting a fair bit disillusioned, have tried various formula's we are on medium flow teats and SMA gold at the moment.  Her wieght isn't too bad as she  put on loads when she was taking a full bottle.  She is at 14lb 6oz at 11 weeks (as of last week)

Help......

[Mariek]

Hi

Can you give us some details of what her schedule looks like? At 14lbs she should be taking 35-37 OZ of formula in a 24 hour period (obviously thats an average, some babies will take more, some less). So basically I'd say 6 x 6oz bottles or 7 x 5oz bottles.

Have you tried her with different types of bottles or a fast flow teat? My DD suddenly became really fussy about which bottles she would take (for no apparent reason). In the end we ended up with the Mothercare Nature bottles (these are the narrow neck ones with the smaller teat) and she was fine with those.

If she's still putting weight on then I wouldn't worry too much - it could just be that she's not so hungry (we all have spells like that and so do our babies). If this is the case she'll pick up with her feeding when she hits her growth spurt (and you'll be wondering where she's putting it all ).

love

[KBS]

We have tried a few different bottles and a couple of teats, we are using MAM bottles and Nuby Teats, whatever we do doesn't seem to make much difference, we haven't tried fast flow teats yet though.

Our HV isn't too supportive and doesn't understand the stress that this is putting on us.  Her attitude seems to be "she's a good size so she can afford to lose a bit of weight", why we would be happy for her to start losing weight is anyone's guess.

[Mariek]

Hi

I'd definitley give the fast flow teats a try. My DD used to get really frustrated when she was ready to change up to the next teat and would continually spit the bottle out.

If you try them and they don't solve the problem then it could be a reflux issue (she doesn't necessarily have to be crying with it for it to be reflux I think, it can be "silent" reflux). The ladies in the colic and reflux board will be able to give you more info on that.

Try the fast flow teats as your first action and let us know how you get on with them.

love

[thitz]

I just wanted to share that my lo only ever drank 25-30oz of formula a day.  When I first switched to formula I used to continually stress out about how much she drank but in the end I know she was getting enough because she consistently weighs in at the 80th percentile.  (Sometimes she would even drink just 2 oz and be fine till the next feed :shock: .)  I don't even count the ounces anymore!

So don't worry too much about the volume as long as you lo's weight is still good.

Tarri