How the hell do you bottle-feed?!?

[duchess22]

In desperate need of some advice; I've had to stop EBFing as 2 month old has been diagnosed with a lactose intolerance, all the things that were supposed to help haven't so I have moved onto lactose free formula prescribed by the doctor.

I'm sad about having to stop as it was initially going great, this is my first baby so I'm panicking about every decision I make and now I have no idea what to do! Basically I am so confused about bottle feeding, before my baby would just feed whenever she wanted for however long she wanted but now I'm concerned she might overfeed or might feed her too little?!

How much formula are you supposed to give a 2 month old and how often should they feed and how many times a day should they feed and how long is too long to sleep for at night?!

I've tried googling all this and got sub par answers, I need real help MNers sorry about the long post but I'm a very anxious first time mamma!!

[GummyGoddess]

I mainly breastfeed but he has a night bottle of formula. We tend to just let him drink until he is full and ignore the amounts on the box, so he is 5 months and drinks about 10 ounces. He is perfectly following his centile line and doesn't vomit so I don't think we can be overfeeding him.

Just feed when they start showing feeding cues and you'll have picked up a rough schedule within a week.

[Afreshstartplease]

At two months ds was on about 5-6 oz every three hours
Now at four months he has 8 oz every three hours

Since about 10/12 weeks he has slept 8/9pm til 5/6am with no feeds

[CuriosityDoor]

My 5 week old has 4-5oz every 2-3 hours. Maybe put in 6oz in a bottle and when baby stops drinking or pushes the bottle away they've had enough. Just look out for their hunger cues (smacking lips, chewing fist etc) and feed when necessary. You'll soon get into the swing of it!

[savagehk]

If it's lactose intolerance you can cut dairy from your diet and continue EBF. It takes about 2 weeks for dairy to completely work out your system though. Have you had advice from (eg) the La Leche League as well as the doctor?

[MrsDustyBusty]

At that age, we were using the little disposable bottles and teats we got from the hospital. These are the same ones, but we were able to get the wholesale size directly:
www.boots.ie/aptamil-1-first-milk-starter-pack-ready-to-feed-6x70ml-10175040

We gave her one every three hours.

Hope it works out.

[queencrunch]

Start at 4 oz. They let you know if they are hungry. If they polish it off little bit more in next bottle till you get it right. I still did on demand feeding. But it was about 3 hours apart.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

savage breastmilk will always contain lactose though, as that's a constituent part of breastmilk. Do you mean an allergy to cows milk protein?

[savagehk]

Yep, that's probably what I meant, sorry

[ShuttyTown]

I would start at 5oz. 1 scoop = 1oz. So fill bottle with 5oz of water (or get a prep machine, they are life savers!) then put the scoops in. Make sure to wind baby half way through feeding as sucking on a teat rather than a nipple can cause more wind! Start with size 1 teats but you may need to move to size 2 if they are too slow. As a general rule aim to feed every 2-3 hours but baby will definitely let you know when they want feeding and more formula per feed!

[TheDisillusionedAnarchist]

You feed them when they want, as much as they want using paced bottle feeding techniques. My 12 week old eats 1-5oz, most usually about 2-2.5oz 7-8 times a day. His gaps between feeds are usually around 3 hours but range from 2-5 hours.

He does have breast as well but I have very low supply. Ignore amounts and timings and feed on demand. If he regularly drains the bottle put more milk in it.

[duchess22]

Thankyou all!! I'll give that a go, she feeds a lot from me so I guess it's just going to be trial and error to begin with to see how much and how often she wants it, I just don't want to do a number on her little digestive system with my lack of knowledge!

[duchess22]

shutty ooo a prep machine?! I'll look into that pronto, I cant get my head around this boiling and cooling and warming!!

[cherryblossomcarpet]

I found that both of mine really chunked up when I switched from ebf to formula. Also watch out for constipation if you switch suddenly, and formula nappies are really gross after bm ones. You may need to give cooled boiled water if this happens.

It is quite hard to overfeed an ebf baby, as feeding is effort so they won't take more than they need. With a bottle it is actually quite easy to overfeed. I didn't realise this, and looking back at pictures of my first she really was obese as she zoomed up the centiles from 50th to 99th. The HVs didn't say anything, they tend not to comment unless babies aren't gaining enough. I was more careful with my second and didn't assume he was hungry every time he cried. Often he wasn't. He still went up the centiles but not to such an extreme and looked much healthier.

[Heirhelp]

Yes to a perfect prep machine.

With bottle feeding you feed on demand as much as they want when they want. There should always be a some milk left in the bottle.

You can't buy premade up lactose free formula so you need to to take out with you hot water in a flask, measured out room temperature water, empty bottle and premeasured powder (Tommy tippee have good containers). In the empty bottle measure out the hot water (I do 2 oz) added your powder (6 scoops) then shake for 35 secs (advice for aptimil lactose free formula) add the premesaure room temperature water (4 oz), shake and the bottle is good to use.

Bottles should be used as soon as possible within 2 hours or 1 hour if the baby has started drinking from it if that is sooner.

[Heirhelp]

Baby need to be sat up to feed not laying down in your arms.

The advice is to look in your baby's eyes as they feed. My DD has never done this but we did swap from bf at 6 weeks.

Not all baby bottles are the same. You need to find one your little one likes. The MAM anti colic bottles can go in the dishwasher and are self sterilising in the microwave.

[tiktok]

Stopping bf is hardly ever necessary for lactose intolerance. This is secondary LI - not primary, which is massively rare and congenital. Secondary LI is temporary and almost always best treated by continuing to bf as the baby gets better by himself. Not sure what your doc is thinking....are you confident doc knows what's what?

[Whatsername17]

Feed on demand. She may go longer between feeds than on three breast but that is it.pwrfect prep machines get great reviews from my sil as they are so quick.

[skerrywind]

I agree with tiktok- I would seek a second opinion.

[watermelongun]

Stopping bf really isn't necessary! Cut dairy from your own diet. Drs, in my experience, are not the bests people to ask about BF - the ones I've met have all been clueless and given incorrect info.

[Afreshstartplease]

The baby is lactose intolerant

[tiktok]

No point in cutting out dairy for LI. Lactose is in breastmilk.

[duchess22]

This Dr is great, we've tried everything, cut out dairy completely for weeks and she was on drops and stuff to help break down the lactose in my milk but nothing worked she stopped feeding completely and was rapidly losing weight; she's had an immediate positive reaction to the lactose free formula so just need help with bottle feeding now please

[duchess22]

Making notes on all this advice,hopefully I'll be a pro soon, thanks MNers

[Heirhelp]

My DD either has secondary lactose intolerance or primary with slow on set. We are awaiting referrals.

She was a different baby after we started on lactose free formula.

[tiktok]

If he diagnosed LI and had you cut out dairy he is misinformed. Might be a good doc apart from that.