Feeding issues still at 5 months!

[suzmead]

I have 5 month old b/g twins, 6 wks early so 3.5 months corrected. I am still struggling with feeding which is very frustrating and getting me down. Both are bottle fed, they did have expressed BM upto about 12 weeks but then my supply dropped drastically and I found it very draining particularly as I also have an older 4 year old son to care for.
At the moment I try to feed them both in bouncy chairs at the same time with limited success. Boy twin Jacob is reasonably fast to begin with (takes 3-5 ounces in 10-15 mins) but then gets bored/starts screaming/fussing and it can take upto 40 mins to get him to finish his bottle (7-8 ounces). Girl twin Sophia is extremely slow/disinterested in feeding and takes upto 1 hour 30 mins to take 4-5 ounces, mostly I feed Jacob first and then hold Sophia in my arms to feed as she does not seem to like bouncy chair and then she will fuss, pull away etc. but eventually when sleepy will take her milk very slowly. All of this behaviour means that it is taking me around 2 hours for each feed which seems very long considering their age when I had expected things to improve. I normally persist in feeding them for a 2 hour limit as their weights are not great (Jacob 13.5 lb, Sophia 10.5 lb) but am wondering where I am going wrong when I hear of other babies downing their milk in 10-20 mins flat.
Of course this also means that a lot of the day is taken up in feeding which is fine but does mean that we are very limited in being able to go out, do other activities. I am also dreading weaning as I have no idea how I will be able to fit in milk feeds and solids when milk alone is taking so long. Any advice/experience is welcome.

 

[bathbabe]

what size teat are you using for jacob? It may be worth going up a teat size and i wouldnt force him to finish his bottle. Harrison weighed about the same as jacob at that age. For sophia i would just keep going or speak to your gp about maybe trying a high calorie milk which would help her put on weight. Have you thought about BLW? When your ready obviously! But that way you could feed sophia her bottle while jacob is having food and then swap (id recommend always feeding sophia her bottle first so that she fills up more on milk than food as thats what she will put more weight on with) also, you may already do this but, feed jacob first till he fusses then wind him then feed sophia then try jacob again with the rest of his bottle. I hope this makes sence, im tired lol. X

 

[sarah0108]

Not really much advice i jsut want to give hugs

My LO only used to take 1-2oz a time until he was 4 months and i found out he had a milk allergy , so i understand how worried you must be. I was forever trying to get him to take more (before i knew his problems) so he'd be happier and i wouldnt be 'bitting and bobbing' with feeds all day

x

 

[suzmead]

Thanks ladies for your advice. I have an appointment re: Sophia's low weight and low milk intake on weds so hopefully will get somewhere then - definitely needs more calories so hope the paed suggests something.