16 week old - too early for fast flow nipple?

[sleeplessinseattle]

for the past week or so our ds has been completely squirmiy, uncomfortable, irritable and grunting while eating.  He has seemed completely uninterested in eating although from his behavior he appears hugry.  I had read somewhere on the boards that this may be a result of the slow flow nipple and baby getting board or tired.  We just switched today to the fast flow nipple in the hopes that he would be more satisified.  So far it seems good...he seemed much more satisfied and calm when eating.  Although he guzzled very quickly which made his tummy a bit upset earlier today...this evening so far so good.  but, we have two questions:  1. is it too early to be moving to the fast flow nipple (something about jaw development??   i never breast fed and worry about this)  2.  the past two feedings today he seemed hungry after his 6 oz. bottles...i resisted giving him more worried about gas etc...but, wonder if we should give him more and move toward a 4 hour easy...and maybe (crossed fingers) sleeping through the night! 

he's so close to sleeping through...here's a typical schedule:
   6 a.m. wake
   6:30 feed (lately only about 3 oz)
   8 sleep - 45 min.
   9:30 feed (usually 5-6 oz)
   11 nap - 45 min.
   12:30 feed (5-6 oz)
   2 nap - 45 min.
   3:30 feed (5-6 oz)
   5 nap - 25 - 45 min.

[Kimberly®]

First your LO is doing great and I wouldn't worry so much about the sleeping through at this time. He's still young If he's going more then 6 consecutive hours at night without waking to eat, thats concidered sleeping through. He may not go 12 hours But again he's doing great.

As for the nipples all I could say is give it a try. If he starts to spit up more or chokes or sputters then he's not ready. The only way to know for sure is to try

HTH

[Leah's Mom]

If the fast flow nipple is working, then I would keep trying it. If he seems to get gassy and start spitting up or gagging, you may want to switch back. What type of nipples/bottles are you using?

If you are thinking about moving towards a four hour routine  check out the following thread: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=41061.0

I also noticed it seems like you are stuck at 45 minute naps? This is sometimes a sign of needing to move to a four hour routine. This is an excellent thread about 45 min naps for LO's your age: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=39769.0

I hope some of these things help you out a bit!

[sleeplessinseattle]

thank you both for your words of encouragement and responses.  Over the past couple of days our lo is doing much better with the fast flow nipples...although sometimes he seems to be getting more air/gas than normal.  i actually poked a little second hole in one of the slow flows with a paperclip...seems to be a "medium" flow now.  he definitely seems happier...and today wanted to eat more..and extend time between his eatings.  he ate 8 oz. at noon....ate 5 at 3:45 and then nothing until just before bed at 7:45ish ( 7 oz).

we've been using playtex bottles with drop-in bags and i believe their called natural latch nipples.

thank you for the links..i will definitely look at them. i'm excited about the idea of 4 hour easy...and also about longer naps.  we've been hoping he'll do better with napping...i've tried the 'wake to sleep method' a couple of times but haven't been successful yet.  admittedly - i didn't do a good job with follow-through as dh and i both work from home and its been more difficult at times to try wake to sleep than just to have him awake.  and ds has been good with the shorter naps...not grumpy etc.  but, i'm sure it would be good for him to get longer naps!!!

thank you ...

[Leah's Mom]

Glad to hear things are going well. I also used the Playtex bottles - although I used the vent aire. Still, there is a HUGE difference between the slow and fast flow for Playtex nipples. It seems the slow is way too slow and the fast a bit fast. I actually started using the Dr. Brown nipples on the Playtex bottles. This worked awesome and the stage two for Dr. Brown's was a perfect flow.