Hi there,
My son is 5 months old and has been breast-feeding almost exclusively until we started trying to give him a regular bottle (once a day) about 2 weeks ago. We figured based on his weight and number of feeds per day he should be expected to go through 180-220ml per feed.
Typically he will start off keen and quickly go through ~50ml. Then he starts to fuss, arching, pulling his chin down, spitting out the teat and crying. Long attempts to burp him, whether they yield a burp or not, don't seem to make a difference. Distraction and trying again and again will usually see him manage to take a total of about 120ml with a lot of effort. If you do something distracting, e.g. play peek-a-boo or have a suck on the bottle yourself he finds this great fun, stops crying and reaches for the bottle. As it approaches however, he starts the fuss again. None of this happens if he has a breast-feed instead.
The whole experience will usually see him wound up and grumpy and as his wash and bed time ritual progresses he gets more inconsolable until only a breastfeed will see him settle down.
Any advice appreciated.
With thanks
F
PS: our EASY for reference, our goal is:
Morning
7:00 E
9:00~9:30 wind down, S (1.5h)
10:30 wake up, eliminate
11:00 E (bit of rice porridge and breast feed)
Afternoon
12:00-12:30 wind down, S (2h)
2:30 wake up, eliminate
3:00 E
5:00-6:00 nap (37 minutes)
6:00-6:30 wake up, eliminate
6:30 E (bottle)
7:00 A (wash)
7:30 E (final cluster feed - breast)
8:00 S
11:00 E (dream feed)
This doesn't always go to plan with the following commonly happening:
Morning
~3-4am wakes up and needs to be resettled.
5:30 wakes, doesn't go back to sleep
7:00 E
8:00-8:30 wind down, S (1.5h)
11:00 E (bit of rice porridge and breast feed)
Afternoon
12:00-12:30 wind down, S (sometimes wakes at 37min, doesn't go back to sleep)
might squeeze in another 37min nap
3:00 E
~5:30 S (37min nap)
6:30 E (bottle, fusses)
7:00 A (wash)
7:30 E (final cluster feed - breast)
8:00 S
11:00 E (dream feed)
However, the bottle feeding problem described also seems to occur when the EASY routine goes fine.
