Need advice - having issues with milk!

[pompeyvix]

I have recently started to notice how hard it is to get Anabella drinking a full bottle of milk in one go.

She will sometimes drink a 7oz bottle before bed and when she wakes in the middle of the night (normally twice, sometimes once) but during the day she's a nightmare!

Take last night / today so far for example. She woke at 4am for a feed (I tried to settle her other ways first, but she was getting louder and louder and sucking her hands). I offered her a 7oz bottle and she drank just 3 or 4oz and went back to sleep.

When she woke for the day at 8.15am, I offered her milk. She wasn't interested. Had a few sucks, maybe an ounce at most and refused the rest. So I got her dressed, played with her for a bit and offered some more. She had a couple of ounces. At 10.45am I put her down for a nap and offered her the rest of the bottle, which she took. So basically, it took her from 8.15am to 10.45 to drink the whole bottle.

The rest of the day will continue as such.

I have tried offering no milk, but she cries for it, so I just don't understand.

I am feeding on demand....the only feed that is at the same time every night is her bedtime bottle at around 7.30pm.

What am I doing wrong?

I guess I am also worried, as we are starting solids soon, and I am struggling to see how/when she will eat food if she is being fussy with her milk?

I worked out she is roughly having between 4 and 5 bottles over a 24 hour period, of upto 7oz per time. However, she is no skinny little thing....she is a big chunky 91st centile baby. I just dont get it!

Any help.....please!

 

[rory83coyotes]

my dd will be 7 months next week and will sometimes (rarely) drink 4oz. most of the time 2 or 3. She just may be a snacker like mine. Although I didn't think that you were supposed to feed a bottle for longer than 1 hour as it grows bacteria or the saliva in the mouth breaks it down or something. if shes in the 91st percentile there is no hard and fast rule about what she needs to eat. she gaining and happy= don't worry momma

 

[fingers_cross]

i had the same issues with my son. i worked out that i was reading his cues wrong. i thought he was hungry when he wasnt and was stuffing a bottle in his mouth any time he fussed which of course he took a little of but never had a full feed cuz he was never really hungry. i ended up not offering him a bottle until about 3 hours (without cues at first) after his first morning one (i thought he would be going crazy but he didnt) and then realised he was still fussing a bit at the bottle so stretched it to 4 hours. he is now feeding every 4 hours throughout the day but usually snacks A LOT at night time. he still doesnt always take a full bottle but hes taking a lot more and seems so much happier and less fussy. u could try that?x

 

[fingers_cross]

oh also...do u use dummies? i swore id never get my son one but ive found he doesnt use it often but does like it for naps/bed time just to settle him when he wants something to suck on for comfort. she could be wanting to suck?

 

[pompeyvix]

i had the same issues with my son. i worked out that i was reading his cues wrong. i thought he was hungry when he wasnt and was stuffing a bottle in his mouth any time he fussed which of course he took a little of but never had a full feed cuz he was never really hungry. i ended up not offering him a bottle until about 3 hours (without cues at first) after his first morning one (i thought he would be going crazy but he didnt) and then realised he was still fussing a bit at the bottle so stretched it to 4 hours. he is now feeding every 4 hours throughout the day but usually snacks A LOT at night time. he still doesnt always take a full bottle but hes taking a lot more and seems so much happier and less fussy. u could try that?x

I think I will give that a go. Maybe keep a better eye on the time and space out her feeds to 4 hours apart and see what happens.

oh also...do u use dummies? i swore id never get my son one but ive found he doesnt use it often but does like it for naps/bed time just to settle him when he wants something to suck on for comfort. she could be wanting to suck?

We just weaned her off the dummy last week as it was proving a nightmare and she was waking 10+ times a night for it. Yes she does like to comfort suck, but deffo not going back down the dummy route! I know when she is using the bottle to comfort suck tho, as she just opens and closes her mouth round the teat and doesn't actually drink the milk, bless her!

my dd will be 7 months next week and will sometimes (rarely) drink 4oz. most of the time 2 or 3. She just may be a snacker like mine. Although I didn't think that you were supposed to feed a bottle for longer than 1 hour as it grows bacteria or the saliva in the mouth breaks it down or something. if shes in the 91st percentile there is no hard and fast rule about what she needs to eat. she gaining and happy= don't worry momma

That maybe it....a snacker. But she never used to be!

As for the milk being out more than an hour...I thought that was the case with forumula (I am very careful with formula) but with breastmilk I thought it could be used a lot longer?

 

[fingers_cross]

as far as im aware (my son is now on formula but was on breast milk for first 8 weeks) u can leave breast milk out for around 8 hours as its got natural antibodies in it so doesnt have the same bacteria risk as formula. x

 

[rory83coyotes]

Well I thought you could store it out but if they have fed from it you used the same rule as formula but you may want to check with the breast feeding forum for sure. I'm not sure now.