Any ideas on how to get DS to drink more?

[Fisha]

DS is big strapping 4 month old who appears to be living on air? He's on a four hourly schedule but rarely takes more than 3oz per feed and feeds once a night taking max 3oz. His weight seems fine although he could do with being a bit heavier according to HV. Short of force feeding any ideas he's really not drinking much? Have changed bottles and formula but makes no diff. I should know better than to worry second time around but DD was a much better eater!

[starlover]

unless he is losing weight I wouldn't worry at all.

[kiskidee]

some hv's seem to think that they have to say something to justify their existence. or that making mums worry is part of their job description.

smile sweetly and ignore her.

[forevermore]

my dd only drank 2-3 ozs every four hours till she was 7-8 months old. she is now 9 months and sometimes still only drinks 5 ozs at a time. i found she drank more if it was the ready mixed formula (lighter on the stomach perhaps???)

i still mainly give her the ready mixed aptimal. in tesco you can buy it as a value pack so it doesn't work out much more expensive than buying a tin of powder. she is now on solids and drinks more milk when on milk alone

my childminder thinks the solids has stretched her stomach?

she also had okay weight gain, and only dipped once she started moving about more at 5months or so. but then i weaned and she picked up again.

HTH

[jakeyscousin]

Just wanted to reassure you that I aslo have astrapping 4 month old who also is on a 4 hourly schedule and also rarely takes more than 3 ounces at a feed and also feeds once in the night and still only takes 3 ounces. It is amystery to me as she is well and trhiving and on 75th centile...has dropped from 91st

[Hillbilly]

My ds was a bit like this. He is now 6 months and during the day has no more than 5oz at each feed. At bedtime he has 7oz and another 6oz at dreamfeed.

He's over 7kg and quite a chubber really so not worried although everytime I feed him I wish he would take more.

[designerbaby]

Seriously though, folks, if anyone has any tips for getting more milk into babies, I'd also appreciate them...

I have a 5 1/2 month old, who will also only take 3-4oz per feed. Unfortunately though she's not doing as well... she's dropping down the centiles of weight (started on the 98th, now nearing the 9th) and is freqently dehydrated and constipated.

I gave up breastfeeding as she was refusing to feed, but tbh bottles haven't helped as much as I hoped, other than to rule out several variables of supply/taste etc. Still what's done, is done...

So any tips for getting more milk in very gratefully received...

db
xx

[designerbaby]

anyone? please?
xx

[barking]

Have you thought of freezing the milk as lollies - sort of like 'minimilks'? - my dc3 (now 3 years) has been a very difficult feeder/eater and putting milk into lolly moulds was the bridge between the two.

[jellyrolly]

How often does your baby feed designerbaby? If she is feeding often then maybe you could stretch her feeds out so she is hungrier? I found that helped with my 'little and often' snacker. Apparently his tummy never got the chance to get any bigger and he was full quickly as I was feeding him every hour or so.

Do you feed in a lively place? Mine will only have milk now before a sleep and in a darkened room as he's a nosey b*gger. Some babies are more interested in what's going on around them.

I'm sorry she isn't doing as well, it must be a worry.

[designerbaby]

Thanks JellyRolly... At the moment every 3 1/2 to 4 hours... at the HV suggestion I did a day of feeding every 2 hours to see if she would take more (washing and sterilising so many bottles was a pain, but hell, I'll do anything...) and guess what - she took half of what she normally does at each feed. So, same amount overall, twice as much washing up and unhappy baby twice as many times

TBH honest it's not really the distractability thing that's the problem, when she does drink I can just follow her swivel head with the bottle (another benefit of bottle feeding... far less easy to do with boob...). It's just she'll take 3-4oz happily, but any attempt to get her to drink any more - even if left for 15-20 minutes between attempts meets with red in the face screaming and a tightly clenched mouth...

The screaming is totally out of character, she honestly NEVER cries at any other time the little love.

Having said that, today was a better day - she averaged 5oz per feed, and she had the occassional day when she'll even do 6-7oz per feed, but these are very rare. It's very worrying... esp. with the constipation, which I think is due to dehydration, as on the few days when she feeds well she poos well too...

I'm wondering if it's:

a) she's still a novice bottle drinker and is still adjusting (she was 5 1/2 months more or less exclusively BF) and eventually she'll get used to it... She does seem to get quite windy, although no amount of burping can encourage her to feed more

b) the constipation makes her not want to drink, which makes her more constipated etc etc. viscious circle ensues...

c) the formula wondered about changing it, although she doesn't seem to object to the taste of Aptamil and I've heard it's less likely to constipate than some of the others... I'm reluctant to chop and change too much unless this confuses things (her) even more.

I don't know - I'm reluctant to battle with her a each feed time because I don't want to make it an upsetting event for her, but at the same time, I'm desperate to get some weight on her - she's so darn skinny... At the HV keep giving me grief. Want me to go back fortnightly for weighing, but it's just so depressing and they don't have any helpful suggestions... other than to feed her more...

Maybe I should give up and just look forward to the day when she's a waifey supermodel and can look after us in our old age...

db
xx