Newborn won't take feeds

[coopos]

My baby is only 2 days old but since the beginning he has been totally uninterested in having his bottle and might suck a tiny bit but that's it, the rest sort of has to be forced and in hospital we were using the ready made bottles where the midwives showed us how to help get it in them by pushing the teat but this doesn't work well with the actual the proper bottles. Last night he had 2 really good feeds where he took them himself and was sucking normally but is now back his usual refusing/not taking them and it's sometimes over an hour just to get 25ml in him. I'm getting myself frustrated and upset with it as I really don't know what I can do. Can anyone please advise? I feel useless. We are using cow and gate formula and have a mixture of tommee tippee, Philips avent and Mam bottle that we have tried.

do you touch his cheek with the teat to stimulate him?

I agree with touching his cheek, I used to also rub the teat across his lips

No I hadn't heard anything about that, DP is currently feeding him and he has just tried those but hasn't made any difference 😔

I work on nicu and we find the Tommy tippee and avent bottles are useless. Stick with the mam bottles but get a size 0 teat. Sometimes they automatically come with the size 1 teat and it's too hard for little ones to feed from.
Change your baby before you feed as it tends to wake them up a bit more.
Feed in front facing position rather than cradle hold as they get too snuggled in cradle hold.
Have they checked for tongue tie? Is he jaundiced? As these conditions can cause feeding issues.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/baby-friendly-resources/bottle-feeding-resources/guide-to-bottle-feeding/amp/

There's a few tips on this guide to get the feed started.

My boy was murder to feed until we went to the size 2 teat, would take ages for only a wee bit of milk. Turned into a right guzzler with a better teat.

My boy didn't really feed much for a few days and he had jaundice.
Can you spoon feed? Put some milk onto a tea spoon and touch it against his lips and he should lick it up. My midwife showed me this with my boy in the first few days
Has your midwife been in to visit you? Are you at hospital still or home?

You should always speak to you midwife with such a tiny baby. You aren't bothering them.

I'd be fairly concerned about this, and would definitely recommend getting proper advice that day. It may, of course, be fine.

It's such a worry, isn't it? Hope you get some answers soon.

I agree, midwife is first port of call

When mine were tiny (31 weekers) I had to strip off their clothes and tickle their feet. We also had to use varicose reefs and turn them all the time.

Yes please ring the midwife or the ward you were on. These early days are so stressful but they do get easier

Is he sleepy? Or screaming and still refusing?

Ds was like this to begin with, he was born at 37 weeks and had jaundice , we were in hospital for nearly a week after he was born because of this. I would definitely speak to your midwife about it. For ds I think it was just too hard work to start with, he used to either start screaming or fall asleep mid feed!
Some possible solutions- can you syringe it into his mouth with a calpol syringe or similar. Put it in a cup and tip it in (this one never worked with ds but was suggested by the hospital) The hospital also gave us really tiny bottles which your midwife might be able to get for you. And some formula companies sell packs with a few ready made bottles in which he might find easier.
He will most likely be fine in a few days when he is stronger, its just getting him there!

i had to tickle ds feet to encourage but hope you have contacted your midwife

My boy only started out having 15ml at a time, this lasted for maybe 5 or 6 days. He's huge now at 3 months and takes 5oz at most feeds x

How is your baby doing this evening, OP?

At such a young age, I would echo PPs who have suggested contacting your midwife or the delivery ward. Not wanting to scare you but DD stopped feeding at 4 days old. The midwife felt it was concerning and sent us back to the hospital. Initially we weren't taken very seriously but we were admitted for observation - a few hours later DD stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. She went downhill rapidly and we nearly lost her, and she was unconscious in NICU for a week.

We never found out exactly what had gone wrong, but infection was given as the most likely cause. Thankfully she recovered, but I cannot bear to even think of what the outcome would have been if we hadn't sought help.

Thanks all for the advice, the midwife actually came out later that day so asked for her advice on it. She advised changing to feeding him every 4 hours instead and we also changed to the NUK bottles and he's been feeding so much better, takes it himself no problem and will only occasionally have to give a little encouragement.

that's good to know

You might find as well the latex teats work better than silicon ones as there’s more “give” in them so they are easier for the baby. I’m also a bit surprised at feeding 4 hourly for such a tiny baby, as the usual advice is to feed on demand. Maybe something to just keep an eye on and if he seems hungry I would offer a feed.