Please help with bottles!

[Slinky1987]

Hi, I'm really hoping someone will be able to help me or offer some advice for my son. He's 4 weeks old and has problems feeding from the very beginning. So to give the background story I wanted to originally EBF. In the hospital he wouldn't latch on despite being there for 24 hours and trying multiple times. Midwife's said he was just tired and were happy for me to go home. So for the first few days I expressed into a syringe and fed him that way. After a lot of persistence I managed to get him to feed from me but it was a nightmare. He'd never latch on properly so would drink for like 20 secs come off scream, bob around trying to find the nipple and get himself so worked up. When he was attached he'd gulp the milk so strongly you'd here it hitting his stomach. So he suffered badly with wind (we tried infacol but this didn't seem to do much to help) so after 3 weeks of this I couldn't take anymore and decided to move onto bottle feeding.
(Should mention as well that I bought nipple shields which he was able to latch onto better but they seemed to reduce my supply so he wasn't getting as much as he wanted.)

Now bottle feeding is giving us as much hassle as on the breast! So far we've tried -

MAM
Dr brown (standard and wide neck)
NUK

We've been using the slow flow tests on all but he just can't seem to get a good seal round them. He leaks milk out of the side of his mouth, makes really loud sucking and clicking noises and chokes on them. The NUK ones are the latest ones we've tried and he can finish 4oz in minutes! He then gets
Bad wind any ends up bringing milk back up with each burp. So far in my opinion the DR brown wide neck seem to be the best (not by any means the solution to our problem because he leaks milk the worse with these but he doesn't seem to make
As much noise and seems to struggle less).

I'm really at my wits end now because he is a very hungry baby and I sometimes dread feeding him because the poor thing gets so worked up.

Can anyone with Similar Issues shed some light on a holy grail bottle or test combo??

Thank you!

 

[Teri7489]

Had he been checked for a lip or tongue tie? Lots of babies who have them struggle to get a good latch or seal with a bottle and makes feeding a nightmare. Either milk dribbles out or they take in lots and lots of air then often vomit the milk back up. x

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

I would see a lactation consultant and a pediatrician.

 

[MindUtopia]

I could have written this myself. This was exactly how my daughter was when she was born. She persisted until about 10 weeks with BF, but it caused all sorts of supply issues, that even with expressing regularly, I couldn't sort out. She also really struggled to gain weight. Similarly, with a bottle, she was really noisy, couldn't keep a latch, constantly falling off it and a very slow eater. It lasted until about 4-5 months and then things evened out a bit and she was fine from a bottle after that. We didn't really have the tummy issues, but I'm guessing it's wind. Baby massage and the tiger in the tree pose helped us with constipation, so I suspect might help with wind as well. We used gripe water occasionally if she seemed uncomfortable (though usually this was due to constipation more than anything). We used tommee tippee bottles, but I don't know that the bottle makes too much difference.

For us, the problem was really down to structural issues in her mouth. Has he been checked for a tongue tie? Tongue ties can cause bottle feeding issues as well, not just BF, so worth getting assessed and clipped if you need to. Mine had a 'short tongue' which is like a posterior tongue tie, but it's just really a tight tongue but nothing to be clipped, so we just had to live with it. She also has a lip tie and a high palate, which similarly cause latch problems. I also have a high palate, so I suspect it's genetic. I had feeding issues as well as a baby. You can't do much about those, but it might help to just have it looked at so you understand the cause of why he is struggling so much. Really in that case it's just time. Mine did get better at feeding around the 4-5 month mark. Tummy massage, tiger in the tree pose, and keeping her upright helped. I wore her in a wrap a good part of the day.

 

[ambertwogood]

Hi, I'm really hoping someone will be able to help me or offer some advice for my son. He's 4 weeks old and has problems feeding from the very beginning. So to give the background story I wanted to originally EBF. In the hospital he wouldn't latch on despite being there for 24 hours and trying multiple times. Midwife's said he was just tired and were happy for me to go home. So for the first few days I expressed into a syringe and fed him that way. After a lot of persistence I managed to get him to feed from me but it was a nightmare. He'd never latch on properly so would drink for like 20 secs come off scream, bob around trying to find the nipple and get himself so worked up. When he was attached he'd gulp the milk so strongly you'd here it hitting his stomach. So he suffered badly with wind (we tried infacol but this didn't seem to do much to help) so after 3 weeks of this I couldn't take anymore and decided to move onto bottle feeding.
(Should mention as well that I bought nipple shields which he was able to latch onto better but they seemed to reduce my supply so he wasn't getting as much as he wanted.)

Now bottle feeding is giving us as much hassle as on the breast! So far we've tried -

MAM
Dr brown (standard and wide neck)
NUK

We've been using the slow flow tests on all but he just can't seem to get a good seal round them. He leaks milk out of the side of his mouth, makes really loud sucking and clicking noises and chokes on them. The NUK ones are the latest ones we've tried and he can finish 4oz in minutes! He then gets
Bad wind any ends up bringing milk back up with each burp. So far in my opinion the DR brown wide neck seem to be the best (not by any means the solution to our problem because he leaks milk the worse with these but he doesn't seem to make
As much noise and seems to struggle less).

I'm really at my wits end now because he is a very hungry baby and I sometimes dread feeding him because the poor thing gets so worked up.

Can anyone with Similar Issues shed some light on a holy grail bottle or test combo??

Thank you!

When I was transtioning my LO from supplementing to EBFing my BF's were the Medela Calma Nipples (https://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/594/calma )
they were most like the breast and actually helped with BFing, and didn't cause any "confusion" and they also helped tremendously with the LO and being able to switch back and forth, but she had stomach issue's too, almost to the point of Colic and these were a God send! These nipples, once I found them, were literally a Miracle. I LOVE them and they were fantastic for what I needed them for, and from what I read of your post, I think that they would be a game changer for you too They "stimulate" how a baby has to feed while BFing, so NO milk will come out of the nipple if they are not actively sucking and "working" to get milk out. I had read in a lot of places, that bottle/nipple design combined with faulty feeding positions were being linked back to infant/child obesisity and these nipples also took care of that concern (which may be just me, bc I'm weird like that, but I really LOVED these, and you can find them on eBay for MUCH cheaper, and they fit all the medela bottles, even the ones you pump into, but they will fit several other small "necked" bottle brands too, so you can use whatever you want with them really. They are extremely durable too. I bought two nipples and my LO will be 2 in Feb and they are still in GREAT shape and are used very frequently *not so much now that she's getting older, but my MAM nipples which are my second fav for BF/Bottle feeding transitions or combo's, are ripped to shreds at this time, and I had to replace all of them about one year in, the Medela's didn't have that problem. The only other thing I would like to add that may help you out is this video on how to bottle feed a baby so that they don't "over eat" and so that they are not ingesting too much air https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH4T70OSzGs and another https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cvF1nawMNI (But there is A LOT of info on YouTube/Google about this and all it's benefits, so you might enjoy researching it a little) (Something about when they are laying back it is actually a reflex that makes them drink like are ravenous, but they are actually trying to keep up with too much milk pouring into their mouth, and their sucking/gulping is a reflex that they can't control- here's an article on that one (actually 2, lol, sorry): https://milkontap.com/paced-bottle-feeding-bottle-feed-breastfed-baby/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/1151630 )

Oh, and Gripe Water ( I always loved Mommy's Bliss, but their are some other USDA organic ones that are better) is MAGIC for gas, hiccups, upset stomach, etc. Literally Magic! So you may want to look into grabbing some of that too, I didn't like a few of the cheaper brands of it though, the only OTC one that I saw in most stores that really works is Mommy's Bliss, but if you order online, the Organic one's are wonderful and Target normally carries a good variety of brands and higher end products, BabiesRUs is a good place too to look for good Gripe Water.


Well, anyways, Good Luck, hope that some of this helped! I know when I first started out BFing my LO, if it hadn't been for YouTube, Google, my Forums, Phone Consults/Support, I wouldn't of been able to keep going as long as we have, she will be 2 in Feb and she still nurses every now and then at this point, mainly for comfort, but I am just over the moon that I was actually able to stick with it and get it all worked out, bc it was not an easy beginning for us either, and I really needed all the support that I luckily got, and it's really what made the difference with me continuing and sticking with it no matter how hard it got. I hope that you can find that same kind of net for you and if you need to talk feel free to PM me anytime! Sincerely Wishing you ALL the BEST and really hoping some of my ramblings are actually useful to you

 

[george83]

My ds1 was bottle fed from the start but he also struggled with leaking milk out of mouth and then he was simply just a windy and sicky baby so would bring a lot of milk back up. He had no feeding issues and eventually he learnt to drink slower but the sickness never went away. I'm not for one second trying to make light of your difficulties (we all know how exhausting 4 week old babies are) but just to reassure you it doesn't have to mean something is wrong

 

[Nibblenic]

Personally I would go see a Doctor/pead as there could be many things going on there.

 

[noon_child]

I agree it sounds like baby might have tongue tie, as this causes both breast and bottle feeding issues. Can be suck your finger and if he does can you feel his tongue cupping your finger and pulsing as he sucks or is it all gum?

 

[sstar]

any advice from doctor?

 

[Ellivort]

Barring a physical issue like tongue tie, its just a matter of finding the right nipple. For us we used Avent Newborn Nipples which were designed to be used in tandem with BF so were very natural/similar to nipples. DD had a very small mouth and could never get a solid latch, but had no issues with t he Avent nipples