14 Weeks won't take more than 100ml bottle, how can we increase it?

[kentmom29]

We're desperately trying to get our DS to take more than 90-100ml at a time from the bottle. We've tried both EBM and formula and he seems to have no preference/dislike for either he just won't drink very much.

We've tried different teat sizes between 2 and 3, if he had a preference for faster or slower flow, to see if that made a difference but it doesn't seem to. Am I being unrealistic about how much he should be able to take at this age, from looking online it seems he should be taking at between 150ml-200ml?

We're trying to get him to take a good feed at 10-11pm from a bottle from DH so I can try and get some sleep before being up every 3 hours at night feeding him, and then up with DS1 who is 2.5 from 7am for the day.

Thanks for any advice

[Lindsay27]

How often is he feeding during the day?  My DD is 13 weeks and only takes about 125mls (4oz) every 3hrs.  Is he exclusively bottle fed?  What bottles are you using and have you tried another brand?

[kentmom29]

I feed him every 3 hours, he'd go longer but from day one we've had to get days and nights right so I've kept to that as a minimum. No he's BF all the time except the dreamfeed. We're using Avent natural which he's taken happily from about 3 weeks, it seems it's the amount rather than anything else. He's also a quick feeder when BF. All done in sometimes 3-4 mins which also concerns me that he's not taking enough but although his weight gain had slowed slightly he is continuing to thrive. Maybe I'm just expecting too much at this point? It's just frustrating to know a bottle feed for him is never much more than 90ml so especially at night I'm always concerned to have to feed him again soon after the bottle.

[Lindsay27]

I think if he is BF and taking good feeds through the day and continuing to thrive and gain weight I wouldn't be too worried about it, especially as this is only for 1 feed per day.  He likely just preferres the breast to bottle.  If you want though I can get some BF eyes on this for you?  I don't have much experience in the department.

[ewabear]

Hi, my DD is almost 16 weeks old. She is BF during the day and gets bottle of expressed milk at 10:30 pm like yours. She used to get more bottle feeds as was she was very smal and under weight. I have managed to increase BF despite nipple confusion, but she has never been able to go pass 110ml mark. Im sure that she gets about 100 ml per feed, DF 110 ml. Her pediatrician (she duffers from reflux and has colic) recommended slow increase to move her to 4 hourly feeding, but she just cannot take more. She is putting on weight 200g every week so... I have read that bf babies take the same amout of milk between 1-6 months, it is what is in your milk that adjusts to babies needs. A lot of them are also fed every 3 hours up till then. Some will start feeding less frequently once they start solids. HTH

[ladymugg]

I wouldn't worry about it if you are having lots of wet and dirty nappies and baby is growing.

The only thing I would suggest is trying to stretch out to 3.5 hourly feeds - you may be able to do this by using a dummy or just by stretching out by 5-10 minutes a feed for a few days, then increasing by another 5-10 minutes until you get there.  You may find that she takes more then.  But you'll know her hunger cues really well so if you really can't stretch her out, don't make it awful for you all by doing that... but if you can get 5 minutes extension per feed eg:3 hours 5 min, 3 hours 10 min, etc you might find you end up at 3.5 hrs by the end of the week.

All the best.