Help on bottlefeeding!

[surferchicksal]

Hi there. My little madam is just 3 months old. She has always been on formula, and always seemed ahead of herself by about a month. The last few weeks she has been messing around and getting restless every feed. She takes in about 100ml then gets wriggly and spitting and pushing the bottle out. Have tried all positions and turning off the lights so she is not distracted - no good. been trying a bit of baby rice on the 4pm feed - going down ok.

Went to the baby nurse today and she said to lower the amount of milk given!!!!And not to give baby rice until 6months!!! then she said baby is looking so healthy and a good weight!!

i am feeding 4 times a day and she is sleeping 10hours through the night, she is in a good routine, if I change the formula amount she may revert back to being hungry!

HEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!!

What is the deal with the baby nurses?? (never had then in the UK where im from) Why do I always get told im not getting madam checked over enough??!! I thought they were only there if you needed advice!!??

Moan moan moan - Sorry, always get wound up after seeing the nurse!!

Someone please help me!!

[jayisa02]

hi there

i know what you mean about the health nurses - ive stopped listening to them now! It just confuses me

in regards to starting solids - i do agree that it is best to wait till 6mths if you can as this is the recommended age to start

my DS was bottlefed too and i would just increase the milk amount and frequency of feeding if he appeared to be hungry or having a growth spurt. He was always ahead of what the formula can said and i gave him an extra feed in the day as he slept all night too.
(instead of feeding every 4hrs i would feed every 3hrs)

if your bub is having plenty of wet nappies and is content then that is a good indication that all is well.

also do you burp her mid feed? sometimes they can get wind and just need a burp before continuing the feed

not sure if this helps at all but you know your bub best!!

kerriane

[surferchicksal]

Thanks for that. As soon as bub starts wriggling I start burping her. so it's taking her a while to feed. She was perfect with her 4 feeds until 2 weeks ago. She has been on this amount of formula this regular for about a month and now she's being a pain. Hubby gets cross with her when he feeds, and puts the bottle down and gives up, she then cries at him!!! Looks as though I will be doing all the feeds now! I have a little more control!!

[Kittylou]

My bub does this too but she has always been a bit of a difficult feeder and has always had less than the formula guide suggests. When she gets wriggly and pushes the bottle away, I put her down and let her play for about 10-15 minutes and then try again. Usually, she'll then drink most of the bottle but sometimes it takes a bit of encouraging and persistence. At the end of the day though, they will only drink what they want and if she's not waking hungry then she is getting what she wants (it's taken me a while to accept this).

Also, I wouldn't be giving solids at this age either.

[Sarieslittlemen]

I have always gone by my gut with bubs. I always demand fed my boys and all were on formula. If she is hungry feed her.
I did give my eldest son solids from 3 months, but he was more than ready. My other two were around 7-8 months before they were ready for solids.
Good luck. I must say I have never been to a CHN. If I have ever had any problems I headed straight to my doctor other wise I just followed my own instinct and asked lots of questions here!

[jayisa02]

another thing - i was very stressed out with my DS as he had colic and would scream all day sometimes so feeding time would be a tense time for him and i. Babies certainly react to our tension and it can make them fussier. I found if i just relaxed my bub would be easier to deal with (easier said than done sometimes).

not sure if this is an issue with you and bub but just thought i would add the comment

[Mrs Potts]

Fussing was always a good indication from my two that they were ready to go up to the next size teat. So maybe if your DD is still using newborn teats, maybe try the next ones up (will have more holes so that more milk comes through). You'll see very quickly whether that's the problem or not. If she's not ready for the faster teats she'll struggle and splutter a bit.

Otherwise, just be patient and I'll guarantee that this will pass and be replaced by a new issue in a week or so

As for the solids, I agree on skipping the solids for now too, especially if she is content and settled without them.

[surferchicksal]

Thanks for your help. I tried all aspects and she got better! Now she is 4months and 2 weeks the problem has returned she drinks half of her bottle and gets in a ****y if I tried to get anymore in!

I have started giving her baby rice for one meal of the day and she gets so excited and cant wait for me to start shoveling it in! but as soon as i give her bottle she drinks half and then gets bored. So now I have gone back to giving her 180ml and 3 scoops of formula rather than 240 and 4 scoops.

She drunk the lot this morning and is quite happy and content in front of sesame street!! this works for her now!!