When to change teats?

[BellaBoo0512]

When Thomas was around a month old we changed his milk to cow and gate comfort milk because he suffers with colic. Because the comfort milk is thicker than the other milk he was on he was struggling to suck the milk through the stage 1 teats. He has tommee tippee closer to nature bottles and has been on the stage 2 teats ever since. Now he is on 8oz bottles and it is taking him about 20mins - half an hour to drink his bottle. Is it time for me to change over to stage 3 teats or is it still ok to use the stage 2 ones?

 

[HanaK]

I would say if you think he's becoming frustrated, switch. They're likely to give him wind at first and it'll take a while to get used to then though!

 

[BellaBoo0512]

He doesn't seem to be getting frustrated he just doesn't seem to be very interested after having about half of the bottle. The HV told me a while ago that when this happens to start weaning but I don't think he is ready for that yet.

 

[Bonnie11]

Does he seem to be sucking and then pulling away? Like he's trying to suck too hard?

You could try a stage up teat, just be careful he doesn't suck too hard/fast an make himself sick! See how you get on. Is he showing any other signs of wanting to wean? It's hard to know if he's just going through a not that hungry stage or if he's bored.
If you take the bottle away when he starts messing about will he still be hungry?
I would buy a couple of larger teats and see what happens, you can always switch back

 

[BellaBoo0512]

Does he seem to be sucking and then pulling away? Like he's trying to suck too hard?

You could try a stage up teat, just be careful he doesn't suck too hard/fast an make himself sick! See how you get on. Is he showing any other signs of wanting to wean? It's hard to know if he's just going through a not that hungry stage or if he's bored.
If you take the bottle away when he starts messing about will he still be hungry?
I would buy a couple of larger teats and see what happens, you can always switch back

He doesn't seem to be sucking too hard, he is guzzling the first half of the bottle and then doesn't seem too interested in the rest of it but if I take it away from him he cries for it, so I give it him back and he will have an oz and then stop sucking and cry again when I take the bottle out of his mouth. I've just changed him from 5 bottles a day to 4 bottles a day so if anything I thought he would guzzle the whole lot.

He is showing a few signs of being ready for weaning but I'm going to hold off that until he starts waking up for a feed in the night again (he's currently sleeping 7-7ish) I don't know if he is possibly teething too so maybe that could have something to do with it?

Might give the larger teats a go and see how he gets on. Thank you x

 

[Bonnie11]

Yes you may as well try it. You might need to sit him up a bit more as he might suck hard not realising the milk will come out quicker! If he really wants to wean you could try him on a risk or something for him to chew on rather than actually weaning food

 

[BellaBoo0512]

Yes you may as well try it. You might need to sit him up a bit more as he might suck hard not realising the milk will come out quicker! If he really wants to wean you could try him on a risk or something for him to chew on rather than actually weaning food

Ill pick some up at the weekend and see how he gets on. Ill sit him up and just keep giving him a bit at a time until he gets used to the flow. Are babies allowed to suck/chew on rusks before they are on solids? I thought they could only have it mixed with water before then x

 

[Bonnie11]

They often chre on the teat for some teething relief. You could get one of the teething rings you pop in the freezer? Then when he starts messing around with his bottle give home one of those so you can see whether it's the relief of chewing or hunger.

Yes rusks should be given when you start weaning, I wasn't sure whether you wanted to do that but it was our first food for DD. use the sugar free hard ones that don't dissolve easily, it was more about the chewing than the food for her for the first month or so. The guidelines were 4 months then to start weaning so your baby is there now, but I think they may have changed them to 6 months now I'm not sure, it changes so much! I think you will know when you and baby are ready and it sounds like you want to wait so see how you get in with the bigger tests and teething rings, and then wean when you feel ready. I would deffo make sure it's not teething before you decide x