Feeding issues - 10 weeks old

[Mrs Doddy]

Jess was born at 36 weeks from day 1 we have had issues with her feeding, when we got onto the postnatal ward we were asked straight away what formula we wanted to top up with, this wasn't because she was premature as everyone on the ward had this, if I had known that this wasn't neccasary I would have done things differently I tried bf every feed but she would latch on, I got stressed out and gave her formula after every try, she wouldn't take to the bottle either and was given prem bottles and teats, it helped but not much, it took days with tears and alot of support from mw's and support workers to get her to drink, we tried lots of different positions and we found the only way she would take it was in the cot lying down, whilst we knew that this was not ideal we had no choice, when the bf specialist came round to my bed to see how I was getting on she was horrified - I told her that it was the only way, she didn't try to encourage bf more- in fact no one did, I don't think this helped, I was at this stage more worries that she wasn't taking anything and after an unexpected birth was in shock and not thinking straight.

Anyway we took some of the bottles and teats home with us and I hank god we did! Jess wouldn't take to the tommee tippee bottles we bought so for a few weeks we continued on with the hospital bottles, feeding was a nightmare but she did well in her weight gain in these early stages I think the second weighing at home she had put on 7oz in a week. I continued to to try and bf but as I was expressing too my nipples were so sore I dreaded attempting bf, one day and from the advice on here I decided to really try and sat on the sofa all day trying with nipple shields to bf, she was taking it and coming off crying, after 4 hrs of doing this in between cat naps I gave in and gave her a bottle as she was getting hysterical, I called the bf councillor who said to keep gong with it, but I think at this point I gave up

She has always been a slow feeder and we had her onto size 2 teats straight away on the tt bottles, on the last 3 weighings at clinic she has put in 4oz, 4oz and last week only 2oz. Feeding has been taking an hour and a half and i've tried everything to keep her awake, changing positions, talking to her, changing her nappy, taking her clothes off ect I've got to the point where I'm loosing the plot esp at night time (as I'm expressing in the evenings/night to give her and formula during the day as she is becoming more demanding I can't express till h comes home) by the time she has fed, I've expressed and got back into bed it's time to start again I'm knackered and frustrated with her for taking so long

So this week at the advice of the hv I've changed to a fast flow teat ( and off my own back changed to an anti colic bottle) also have found a position feeding on a support pillow, she is now drinking faster and is taking approx 90mls / sometimes a bit more but am still worried about the amount she is taking. Is this normal behaviour of a prem baby ?

 

[AP]

We had an AWFUL time Mrs Doddy I mean, when we got home we went from mixed ebm and formula to just 100% formula. We tried every teat,every bottle, feeding times were merging to each other and then, reflux came, so in the end she was sick anyway. Absolutly soul destroying. I have a massive box of every brand of bottle and size of teat, wasted!

In the end, we accidently found a teat that fixed a lot of issues for us. We were travelling back from a holiday up north when we had to stop off and decided to buy a box of disposable SMA glass bottles. They came with NUK teats, and well, the rest is history - we used NUK teats til she got older and unfussy.

On research we found NUK was very popular with preemies, I think it may be easier to latch onto?

I know some of the others on this section had just the same problems, it gets better hun. Keep it up xxxx

 

[nineena]

Hiya hun, wow feeding issues yup 20wks old now and still RIDICULOUS to feed. We've got a cupboard full of all the different bottles and teats we've bought and been unsucessful with. We're using NUK at the minute but have got 3 different types of teats; size 1 normal flow, size 1 medium flow and a size 2 thats supposed to be 6months plus and at the min thats the 1 she feeds best from.

Have you tried with a feeder cup? Some babies just prefer feeding this way, our SALT team suggested it but well for Ella it doesnt work coz as part of her TOF problem she has feeding issues anyway.

As for the amount, if your concerned our HV always says are u getting plenty of wet nappies and is fontanel not sunken. Another way to work it out is what the hosp do and multiply kg weight by 150 so if she was 4kgs she'd need 600mls a day. Think the minimum theyre supposed to have is theyre lb weight multiplied by 2 so for ella she's 9lbs so should have 18oz which is 540mls now Ella has 6feeds a day so she's supposed to hav a minimum of 90mls or 3oz a feed.

Does she show any signs of reflux coz that could be a reason for the reluctance? Doesnt necessarily always mean vomiting feeds back, theres silent reflux too which Ella has. Does she bring her knees up to tummy and arch her back?

As for the expressing i know how u feel, i always wanted to bf but Ella would never latch on properly, and now our lives are getting so busy and feeding takes to long its so difficult finding time to express but ive found an ok routine at the min, i feed Ella in her bouncer then when she's finished after i wind her i put her back in bouncer and express then then she's usually all ready to have a lil nap before it all starts all over again.

Have u spoken with GP or HV about problems with feeding too?

Hugs and hope things pick up soon xx