feeding problems - not taking much - help

[Crosby]

Hi all

Im a little scared. My 4 week old changed the way she takes her formula. For starters she started taking less since yest (1-2oz instead of 3-4). But there is something else. She starts eating then after a few sucks she stops and sounds like she is out of breath. She takes a pause and starts again (this happens almost every feed at least twice then she takes the bottle properly)

She is also a slow eater. Eg now she took 2 oz but it took an hour ((( she falls asleep either half way thru feed or burping.

What am i doing wrong?? Please help

 

[MindUtopia]

Are you using the slowest possible teat? It could be it's coming too quickly. Or even that it's coming too slowly. I used to find my daughter got tired of sucking when it wasn't coming out quick enough. Moving up a teat made it seem like less of an effort. Also, how much is she eating overall in a day and how often? 1-2 oz. per feed isn't necessarily too little as long as it's little and often. I was still BF at 4 weeks, so it's hard to compare, but when I did switch to bottles at 6 weeks, I would say on average my daughter was eating maybe 2 oz, 3 would have been a lot and I don't think she was taking that much at one time until closer to 8-9 weeks. It's also possible it's just one of those things, I found mine ate less just as a growth spurt was coming (I'm pretty sure there is one at 4 weeks) or if she was getting a cold and was congested. I would be more interested in making sure her overall amounts are relatively stable. It may drop down for a day or two, but will also probably pick up again, and she may be spreading the same amount over more feeds.

 

[Misskitty10]

Sounds like you definitely need to move up a teat size! I ended up using variflow teats from birth all the way through with both my children as they both had the first week in hospital and the teats they got used to in there were faster flowing then the tommee tippee stage 1 at home! Variflow is great as it lets baby decide how fast the flow is and with stage one both my lo got tired and fell asleep after such a small amount!
Also this time when I was in hospital I heard the midwives telling another mum she needed to go downstairs and buy stage two or variflow for her bottles as babies don't get on well with stage one as they have to work to hard to get the milk and and their jaws get tired and they fall to sleep!

 

[Crosby]

Her overall daily intakes have gone down in the last 2 days thats why i am worried.

Teats are size 1, they are TT closer to nature ones. They are the same we have been using from week 2.

Unless i could have damaged the holes in the teats when cleaning them?

 

[Crosby]

I have size 2 teats here that came with the closer to nature kit (we have a steriliser and perfect prep machine). Ahe is due a feed in less than an hour and i will try to use the next size up teat and will update you all.

Failing that i will pop into a local 24/7 for TT variflow teats

 

[Misskitty10]

Ah good plan! Hope it works for you!

 

[Crosby]

So she just took 4 oz (with size 2 teat). It took her literally 20 min to guzzle it down.

Now she is a little unsettled. No sure whether it is because she is still hungry (she is moving her lips and sticking tongue out and licking her lips) or maybe she has a tummy ache due to a quick feed

 

[noon_child]

So she just took 4 oz (with size 2 teat). It took her literally 20 min to guzzle it down.

Now she is a little unsettled. No sure whether it is because she is still hungry (she is moving her lips and sticking tongue out and licking her lips) or maybe she has a tummy ache due to a quick feed

Did she still stop (or did you stop her) to burp every ounce or so? If not she may just have a lot of trapped wind, or have taken a bit too much.

 

[Cazran25]

DD did similar & it was the teats for us too but then it creates the problem of too much wind where she was guzzling it so quick. Definitely try & stop at least once for burping x