Author Topic: How to get him to take one full feed in a sitting?  (Read 1281 times)

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Offline ENMS

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How to get him to take one full feed in a sitting?
« on: April 15, 2012, 12:16:37 pm »
DS is 4 months old. He takes in about 30-33 oz of formula in a day. He has reflux but it is controlled, although he spits up a lot lately, but he does not seem too uncomfortable.

I have noticed lately that I'm having trouble getting him to take a full feed in one sitting. He will drink 2-4- oz, then I need to give him 10 min, try again, etc.  Eventually he'll take a full feed. This morning he took 3 oz, then 15 mins later another 2.5 and then he took the remaining 2.5 before his nap.  I don't mind so much now because I'm home but if we have to go out, it's really stressful.  Any idea on how to do this?

He used to be a snacker because of his reflux, I've been able to space out his feeds so that he takes more every feed now, but this is still an issue.

Any thoughts??

TIA
Elise



Offline Lolly

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Re: How to get him to take one full feed in a sitting?
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2012, 17:10:28 pm »
I think the first 2 bits of a bottle with a 10/15 min gap are fine but I wouldn't keep the rest of it until his nap (it needs to be discarded by 1 hour after he has started drinking from the bottle anyway) as you are helping the snacking habit along.

I would make sure he is on the fastest flow teat he can cope with and make the feed done by 30 mins max with the gap. You may find he is hungry a bit sooner for the next feed but distract him as much as you can to get him as close to the next feed time as possible and again keep that feed to 30 mins max (slightly longer if he is activly drinking after the break). If you can keep making sure that feeds are done with and spaced out he should get back into a habit of taking better feeds.

What do you think?

Laura


Offline ENMS

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Re: How to get him to take one full feed in a sitting?
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2012, 17:12:57 pm »
Great idea Laura!

The thing is, in the morning I need to give him his reflux meds, so the first feed is already a good hour after he wakes up (by the time I get him up, prepare the meds, give them to him and then we have to wait 30 min to feed.  So the three feedings were within 45 minutes.

I'll also try a faster teat and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks! :)
Elise



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Re: How to get him to take one full feed in a sitting?
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2012, 23:45:39 pm »
Great idea for the faster teat... I switched to no. 3 today and he's managing it well so I think we'll stick with that.

Still having to take a break though during the feeding, is that really normal ???
Elise