18 week old not taking milk during the day . . .

[LittleElephant123]

Hi ladies! Im looking for any advice on this. My daughter is 18 weeks old and is just not interested in her bottle during the day. She'll take 2-3 oz every few hours. She was born c-section a day late and has never been a great eater.

However during the night she's taking 5-6oz every 3-4 hours. She used to sleep from 8.30-2.30am then up again at 6. But now she's going down at 8.30 up at 12 then 3/4am then 6. The health visitor just keeps saying she's putting on weight your doing the right thing but her eating is just getting worse.

I'm starting to avoid going out because she screams for a bottle then only takes 2 oz then another 2 hours later she's screaming again. I've tried taking her into a dark quiet room to stop any distractions but it doesn't make a difference.

Sorry for such a long post! Any advice would be great! X

[MigGril]

Night waking sounds normal for her age, she's got a sleep regression quite common around 4 months.

As for feeding that's probably a different problem. Have you tried a faster flowing teat on her bottle? You say she's always been hard to feed, how is she unbetween feeds?

Did you try breastfeeding at all and if so how did it go?

[LittleElephant123]

Yip we're on size 3 teats it made a difference for a day or two then she just went back to normal. In between feeds she's great, smiling and playing so I know she's ok.

Yeh I tried to breastfeed but she didn't take to it at all. We spent a long time trying but unfortunately it wasn't for us.

[MigGril]

How you don't mind me asking a few more questions about the Breastfeeding. Did she not latch very well? Where feeds always painful for you?

Has anyone ever check your baby for tounge tie, this can make bottle feeding hard for them to.

[MigGril]

What is her weight gain like though.

[LittleElephant123]

Don't mind the questions at all!

Her weight gain is good following the 75th. She was 9lbs6 when she was born and 2 weeks ago she weighed 15lbs4. Hv happy with it.

She latched on at first really well but then it went down hill. Any time I put her on she screamed and got herself so distressed. It got to the point we could hear her little tummy rumbling and that's when they said no enough enough.

Never had her checked for tongue tie. Is that something they would have picked up on at any of her visits?

[MigGril]

You can ask but not all HV will be trained to spot it unfortunately.

Although her feeding pattern is not that uncommon though. Babies do well with little feeds more often and if that's what she's happy with and you can make more smaller bottles during the day then she is putting weight on well.

Although I wouldn't rule out a tounge tie until it's been checked give the Breastfeeding history and her reluctance to take much from a bottle at a time. Could be she finds it hard work.