switching from BF to FF novice....need help please!

[lilisuze]

DD is 16 weeks. Her weight gain has been pretty pathetic since birth and now is down on 0.4th centile (born at 9th) 10lb 1oz. She has lost the nights completely and I am thinking that she may have MPI problems like her brother. Main pointers: dodgy poops with stringy mucusy parts....windy/colicy behaviour that only started once milk formula was introduced....frequent short feeds.....low weight gain....stopped sttn.

I am hoping for a magic solution by changing her full time to soy milk. (under discussion with dr, i know about the phytoestrogens, this is only a trial)

So i need to stop BFing as soon as possible. I need to get her on one source of nutrition so we can get her sorted.

From today she will be having a bottle at 7am, and then BF next, bottle at about 4 and then at bedtime. She takes about 5oz each time. I know she probably needs another feed in the night, and thats fine......for now, it will be a BF until next week when i intend to stop completely.

Sometimes though, she is taking 3 BF's in the night. Obviously, I hope that by making her eat properly in the day (and hopefully it wont give her so much tummy pains) she will not need so much in the night. She is getting very fussy at the BF's except in the night. I wonder if she is taking more at night because its calm, and she can feed well from them, and is more relaxed.

She is a good baby, very happy and takes good-ish naps in the day. Normally 2/3 45 mins and 1 long nap in the early afternoon. She has a good bedtime routine and goes down at about 7.30pm. Sometimes she sleeps from 7-3am and other nights she is up every 3 hours. I have always fed her up until now, knowing that she is so small. What should i do with the bottles?

I really think that she should be fine with one NF now, but just wondering how its all going to work out. I really need some sleep.

Any advice gratefully received

[Lolly]

I think it's going to be a bit hard to say until you have her completly on formula really . You may find that even once she's totally on formula because you are going the soy route at the moment it's not helping as much as you hope, she may need a HA formula. It's not just the estrogens in the soy, a large proportion of MPI babies are soy intolerant too because the protiens are quite similar.

For now I would follow her cues, if she hasn't been gaining weight as she should one night feed may not be enough until she catches up. At her age most babies will have a DF and at least 1 night feed, 2 isn't uncommon really. Once you have her on formula and you know it is suiting her and she is taking proper feeds in the day you can evaluate the nights then. You may find once she is eating better in the day the nights even out.

Laura

[lilisuze]

ok. We'll see how we go. I hope that this is the answer. I have a doc appt on thursday so will discuss then. We have had one good night since starting the soy with only 1nf. Last night was 3. I.ll try to go with the flow for now. Today she's had 2 bottles of 5oz and 1 bf. I will do another bottle before bed. That only leaves 1 daytime bf and the night feeds. I really hope the milk is the problem. Otherwise i have a monster sleeper on my hands!

So does 5 x 5oz bottles sound about right? Thats 25oz in a day. Maybe 1 more if we do 2 night feeds. Just so i know what im letting myself in for. And how many bottles to buy! Xx

[Lolly]

Is she on a 3 hour EASY? If so then there would be 5 daytime feeds, a DF if you are doing it and 1 or sometimes 2 NF. Is she draining the 5oz? If she is you need to put another oz in the bottle, with a bottle feed there should be a bit left in the bottle at the end of a feed so you know she has stopped because she is full and not just because the bottle is empty!

Laura

[lilisuze]

its about 3hr 20 normally or seems to get a bit less as the day goes on. I guess this is normal close to bedtime. Is it ok if i keep posting progress on this thread?

[Lolly]

I don't see why not - we can help with any tweaking you may need to do

Laura

[*Kara*]

I am going to keep up with this one as well.  I hope the new formula does the trick but I agree with Laura that she may need a HAF.  The best indicator of that will be the status of her poops a week after she is done with BF'ing.

Huge hugs to you. 

I have always bottle fed my DD and have done great with having 8 bottles on hand... Enough for a day when she needed an extra one or two during the night without me needing to wash one at 2am

[lilisuze]

ok. so we switched. My right boob is still complaining lol! last BF in the night on tuesday/wed.

Yesterdays bottle feeds went like this:
7.50 3oz nap 9-9.50
10.30 3oz nap 11.30-2.00
2.10 4oz nap 3.30-5.00
5.50 5oz
7.00 1.5oz

So total of not many oz's through the day. Obviously she tanked up in the night with NF's at 1am (5oz) and 5am (3oz)

I offer 5oz each time. I tried a size 2 teat (total disaster, too fast for her lol!). Any ideas how I get her to take more through the day.......I know this is only the 1st day so i shouldnt expect too much too soon. I'm guessing its going to be in the timings: she needs about a 3.5-3.75 hours EASY i guess?

Seeing the doctor today about the formula. will keep you all posted

[*Kara*]

I would bump her up to the level 2 teats and use them for all feeds for a few days - they do take time to adjust   I know DD was a super messy eater for a few days whenever I bumped her up a level - but then she adjusted.  Just be sure to use them for all feeds, not switching around - this is just confusing for baby.

It looks to me like she is headed towards a 4 hr EASY - her first 2 feeds were less than 3 hours apart so she didn't take much.  Then she is spaced closer to 4 hours for the next feeds and took more.  I hated that 5am feed as it really does cause issue come time for that first morning feed - two ways to deal with it, give a top up at 7am to get to next normal feed time with a full feed at the 5am slot OR, best option - do a top up to get from 5am to 7am normal feed time and do the full feed at 7am since you will be weaning the 5am feed at some point.

Re: the complaining boobs - wilted cabbage leaves will help bring down the engorgement faster as would binding them   As well, you can take ibuprofen to lessen the pain.  Whatever you do, don't express it to take the pressure off

Let us know what the doc says about the formula

[lilisuze]

thanks kara. Did 4hr easy yesterday with feeds at 745, 12, 4 and 7pm. She didnt take a lot at the end but has got used to the bedtime routine for her and ds so will work on that. Total through the day was 19oz. Night feeds at 1250am 5oz and 530am 3oz. This morning have done a top up of 2.5oz at 7.45am and then 4oz at 10.30. She took a short nap, and i'm not sure if she was really that hungry....

So now i'm holding out until at least 2pm, she's having a fitful sleep, but settling herself inbetween sleep cycles.

Doctors report: he said he thought I'd made the right decsiion to stop BF'ing. I nearly cried but held it together, mainly because i'm sad that ive failed at it all. And also that i thought this would help her go longer at night, when its not the case at all. On the plus side, he was happy that her poops were better, and she wasnt squirming quite so much all the time. No referral needed for now, we just have to hope that she gains weight and rises back into the WHO growth charts instead of being off the bottom!

[*Kara*]

The 19 ozs is just during day time hours - so her total with night feeds would be 19+5+3 for the 24 hours?  If so, that is a great intake