Bottle feeding a 3 week old?

[Eva's Mummy]

Ok so I know she is still very very young. She was 5lbs 5oz when she was born and last week she was 6lbs 6oz. She is bottle fed, level 2 teats but only takes 2 / 2.5oz every 2.5hours day and night. Is this not enough for her or should she be having more, I was kind of hoping she might sleep 4 hours at night 

She also gulps her feeds down and she makes a very loud sucking noise while feeding, does this mean I need to change to teats or bottles?

[Lolly]

How is she after a feed? If she is very windy or not satisfied you could try a different teat or bottle but if she is fine then don't worry about it. I would think she will gradually increase her feeds over the next few weeks and start to be able to stretch a bit then.

Laura

[Eva's Mummy]

She's been crying a lot after feeds, i think she might be constipated thought, she is going maybe 36hours without a poo and looks quite often like she is trying to go but nothing then when she does it is diarrhoea and she screams the place down. She also get quite windy. Wasn't sure about changing teats as the next 1 up would be level 3 for 6 months +

I know some people don't like avent bottles at all. Or possibly its the milk? 

[Lolly]

It's more likely to be the milk to be honest.

Which milk is she on? If it's just an ordinary stage 1 I wqould try one of the comfort/ Easy digest formulas. I know that the Aptamil one has a stool softener in it - the others may as well. If you do use a comfort formula you will need a faster teat as it's a thicker milk.

Laura

[Eva's Mummy]

She's on cow and gate stage 1 milk, the HV was round today and thinks maybe she might be lactose intolerant but she wasn't sure if you can get lactose free milk?

[Lolly]

You can, but lactose intolerance is very unusual in a baby, milk protein intolerance is more common. The easy digest formulas are considerably lower in lactose than ordinary formula so that could be worth a try first. If it is milk protein intolerance rather than lactose intolerance then your Dr can prescribe either a broken down formula like Nutramigen or a hypoallergenic formula like Neocate.

How does a HV not know what baby milks are available??!!

Laura

[Eva's Mummy]

It did make me wonder as well when she didn't know about the milk. I have made a doctors appointment for next week, how can they tell if she is milk protein intolerant and should I push to get one of the milks, which one is best?

[Lolly]

The only way to tell if a baby is MPI is to go dairy free and see if the symptoms stop/ subside. Once they have been clear foe a few weeks you can trial some milk and see what the reaction is (under Drs guidance!).

 MSPI - lots of info here - please read!

As for the milks, usually they would try the broken down formulas first, so Pepti or Nutramigen and then if that didn't work move on to Neocate. They are all foul tasting though

I would see the what the Dr says, what about trying an easy digest in the meantime?

Laura