7 Month old boy/girl twins, boy on 4 Hour Easy, Girl Not so EASY help!

[annamomof3]

Hello, First I'd like to thank everyone who contributes to this site and a big thanks to the person that started this blog because its a life saver!

My 3 year old is adjusting much better to being a "big brother" these days but my darling daughter "A"eats pretty much like a pea and is not a great napper / sleeper - with no health issues or problems. There is an exception that she was the smaller twin since being in my belly at 7 months old today weighing around 14.5 lbs at  25"L. I know she will eat less but something changed at month 4 month's and I can;t put my finger on it.  She was eating 4-5 ounces per feed then every 4 hours and I was feeding her 2 TBSP of fruits in the a/m roughly an hour after a bottle and 2 tbsp of solids in the evening after her second to last bottle. Now She eats 3-4 TBSP of fruits / veggies /cereals but her formula intake is no more that 23 ounces per day, even cutting her solid TBPS down to 2 again has not helped increase her formula intake. Today shes eating every 3 hours and wont take more then 3ounces at a time. Perhaps shes deep teething? According to the pediatrician shes perfectly fine and her formula intake is just fine too but I believe she needs more  - especially now and closer to 30oz because shes up almost every night or every other at either 3am or 5am looking for 2-3 ounces. Some days she eats an ounce every hour. Please help!

[Lolly]

What flow teat do you have her on - have you tried the fastest teat available?

The amount of formula she drinks really is fine providing she is meeting milestones, gaining weight and has plenty of wet/ dirty nappies. My DD was 8lb 11oz born and stuck to the 91st centile like glue on a max of 25oz a day.

It sounds like she is snacking really, she's taking feeds that are too small to get her to 4 hours but she not properly hungry enough to take a full feed. Is there any chance that she has reflux? If it's not snacking then it could be reflux as that often causes babies to take smaller feeds more frequently.

You can break a snacking habit by stretching her feeds. You need to start one morning, give her her first bottle and then make her wait for as long as possible until you feed her again. You don't want her to get too distressed but you need to distract her long enough to be really hungry. She should take a bigger feed and then next time she waits for at least as long as between the first bottles, or a bit longer if possible. It may help to set a 3 hour 15 gap for a couple of days and then extend that to 3 hours 30 for a couple of days and so on.

What do you think?

Laura

[annamomof3]

Thank you lolly! That's but I've been trying for the past few days and it is working it's just torture listening to her cry sometimes but I don't let it go on for more then a few minutes only after two days she's ready on a three hour easy at 3 ounces per feed. I tried one level up on the T she seems like she chokes on it so I've gone back to level two 3-6 month teat. I also have to talk to my pediatrician because I hear her doing some type of noise in the evenings send like she's clearing her throat could be reflux reacting when she was a baby not really sure but maybe you are right thanks so much! Pray for sleep!

[Lolly]

Get her checked out for reflux, it sounds like it could be an issue!

How long did you try the faster teat for? It can take a good few feeds to adjust to a faster teat so it's worth trying for a full day or so at least if you didn't.

Laura