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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Formula feeding question - help please

16 replies

Clarabell78 · 08/09/2013 16:15

My little boy is 10 weeks old on Wednesday and I'm concerned he is not eating enough. He is around 13lb (weighed 6lb 12 at birth). He feeds roughly every 3 hours but is still up twice through the night. I offer him 4oz at each feed but it's rare he will take all of that, normally only 2.5-3oz per feed. So his day normally
Looks like this... Bottle at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 6.30pm. Then he normally goes down between 7-8pm and then wakes between 12-1am and 3-4am. At night again he never takes his full 4oz.

For a while about 3 weeks ago we had him up to taking nearly 5oz most feeds during the day but he seems to be regressing and I'm worried :-( when he was up
to 5oz during the day he had dropped one of his night feeds but is back up to two again. he suffers badly from colic and the dr has given gaviscon but it hasn't made any difference, nothing has and I have tried EVERYTHING! Am at my wits end and just worried about him as he's not feeding well. Any advise/opinions welcome!

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ilovepowerhoop · 08/09/2013 17:13

what teat are you using? Have you tried a faster one?

Clarabell78 · 08/09/2013 17:41

He's on a tommy tippee size 2 which I already think is fairly fast for his age? Reluctant to put him up to 3 as they are for 6 months plus and mat actually make his wind worse?

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stargirl1701 · 08/09/2013 19:31

Is it silent reflux? Or reflux? Gaviscon is crap. I would go back to the GP and ask for Ranitidine. I filmed DD on my phone to show the GP how distressed she was.

Clarabell78 · 08/09/2013 19:59

That's a good idea. I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow, typically though everytime we set foot in the surgery he behaves like an angel or sleeps through the whole thing! I think they think I'm making it up!

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stargirl1701 · 08/09/2013 20:00

We were the same. GP was pretty shocked by the video though. We found the Ranitidine worked really well (but only for 2 months, I'm afraid).

Totesamazeballs · 08/09/2013 20:03

Have you tried DR Brown bottles? They made a huge difference to wind/ reflux for our DS. I tried them thinking there is no way they would work but they did! I am sure someone will be along in a minute and say they didn't work for their DC but perhaps worth a try?

thisisyesterday · 08/09/2013 20:13

tbh what you describe really sounds normal!
babies are designed to eat little and often and the guidelines on formula packaging are just that... guidelines!
your little boy is eating how much he needs, when he needs to. i would follow his cue.

10 weeks is really early to not be waking at night. he's growing, and otherwise healthy yes? if you were breastfeeding you'd have no idea how much he was taking, so be reassured that generally babies do eat as much as they need to eat :)

i say go with the flow and enjoy your boy :)

Miggs28 · 08/09/2013 20:32

I can really recommend the Dr Brown bottles. My 15 week old DS has reflux (treating with gaviscon) and suffered with colic and these bottles have helped sooo much! The colic crying disappeared at about 10 weeks for us and I do think the Dr Brown bottles helped speed this up. DS started sleeping from 8.30 to 7 (with a dream feed at 10) from about 11 weeks. We follow his cues with regards to the amount of milk he has at each feed it can range from 3.5-4oz up to 6 oz. Your little one will let you know if he's hungry!

pudseypie · 08/09/2013 21:01

Agree with other posters about dr browns bottles. They are brilliant.

Clarabell78 · 08/09/2013 21:16

Thanks all... I've been using the tommy tippee anti colic bottles which also have the pipe in them. Do you think it's worth trying the dr browns? I suppose I'd sort of thought they were essentially the same.

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stargirl1701 · 09/09/2013 07:20

IMO, they are the same. We tried 12 different types of bottle as we thought DD had colic/trapped wind. It made no difference as she has silent reflux. Once we got the meds sorted, standard bottles worked.

MisselthwaiteManor · 09/09/2013 07:26

Is he having enough wet and dirty nappies? My DD was born nearly 8lb and is now 13lb at 12 weeks so I wouldn't worry as your baby has gained even more than that. He may have been eating 5oz through a growth spurt and has now slowed down again.

MisselthwaiteManor · 09/09/2013 07:27

My baby also has reflux and prefers to eat little and often so I agree that might be something to look into. We have ranitidine too and it made so much more difference than gaviscon.

LittleBearPad · 09/09/2013 07:34

Waking twice at night sounds pretty normal to me. I wouldn't worry too much about the waking. As another poster said up thread the feeding guidelines on formula are only guidelines. DD was still on three hourly feeds in the day up to 6 months.

Regarding the reflux, we found Dr Browns bottles very helpful and you should talk again to your Dr. Try keeping him upright for 20-30 minutes after feeds to hope gravity helps with the sickiness along with the gaviscon.

MortifiedAdams · 09/09/2013 07:40

Sounds about right to me.

What about spacing his feeds out to four hours? He may take.more at a feed then?

Clarabell78 · 10/09/2013 06:30

I've tried spacing him out to 4 hours but he gets absolutely frantic and screams with hunger :-( thanks all for the reassurance though its help me feel a bit better. I think we will just keep doing what we are doing for now providing his weight doesn't start dropping or anything.

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