I'm hoping somebody might be able to reassure me or help me figure out what could be going on....
DD has always been a very hungry baby (reason I stopped bf in the first place) and has been on hungry baby formula since about 8 weeks old. She puts on weight really well and at nearly 20 weeks old is weighing in at about 8kg. But in the last 2-3 weeks she has become really inconsistent with her feeding. She used to take 3 x 8oz bottles, 1 x 9oz (at bedtime) and 1 x 5oz (at DF). She goes about 3.5 - 4 hours between feeds. But now she sometimes drains 8oz and takes 2-3oz more on top of that, then other times will take as little as 1.5oz. She always grabs the bottle eagerly when we start a feed, but sometimes stops after just a couple of ounces. When she's had enough she cries if I try to give her any more, even if I wait half an hour first. She really fights me to let me know she doesn't want any more! But sometimes she also cries while she's feeding too.
I wondered whether she needed a faster flow teat so we have changed to a medium flow in the last few days, but she sucks so hard that she can't seem to swallow quickly enough and ends up spitting half her milk out.
She has had a touch of bronchitis in the last fortnight so I know that this will have affected her feeding, but she hasn't coughed now for 2-3 days and is a lot more vocal again so I'm pretty sure she's well on the mend. So I'm just confused as to why she's still being so inconsistent with her feeding. She's been on antibiotics for 6 days so I wonder whether this has anything to do with her not getting back to normal on the feeding front yet?
My mum and MIL have both suggested she could be ready for solids, but I'm not so sure. If she was taking full bottles at each feed I would think yes, but I'm afraid that if I start introducing baby rice or fruit puree now she'll end up taking even less milk. And of course solids should only be a complement at this stage, with milk still giving her all of her nutritional needs.
If she was taking just a little at all her feeds I'd think it was just a matter of time before her appetite gets back to normal, but the fact that we get days like this - 4oz, 5oz, 7oz, 3oz, 5oz - has got me baffled. And the crying worries me....
Anyone have any ideas? Txs
