Not an AIBU but seriously need help with baby! Advice needed please FTM

[MRSDoos]

7 week old for the last week or so is spitting out his bottle and crying despite being hungry. He is taking a lot longer to feed. I’ve asked GP, Midwife and HV who have advised me to try different things but nothing seems to be working and I’m getting stressed as it’s 10pm and he’s taking 10ml then screaming, 10ml then screaming. We’re using colic relief, he is already on Tommee tippee teat 2 and has been since 3 weeks as teat 1 was too quick. We’ve used vari flow and fast flow but they’re too fast.

I’m at my wits end! He is quite a big drinker so he takes 6-7 oz per feed usually but because he’s taking less and longer to feed he’s hungry and crying all day long!

can anyone suggest something? I’m sure there is mums out there who have had this x

I meant to say teat 1 was too slow

Have you explored reflux (possibly silent) or CMPA as well as tongue tie?

My baby wanted to feed constantly but not take a lot. She’d then have screaming episodes lasting hours. We had Infacol which did nothing and quickly progressed to prescription milk, Omeprazole and a tongue tie snip.
It might also be worth trying your bottles and changing them first. She wouldn’t feed much at all just home from hospital and we were told Tommee Tippee teats can be hard for them to grasp. We changed to the very cheap, skinny plastic bottles you can get from Boots, with smaller trays and she did much better with them, albeit still with the crying episodes!

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this too. It’s exhausting and awful, make sure you look after yourself too x

Has he been checked for tongue tie? Are you doing paced bottle feeding?

It is possible to feed from a cup, it takes absolutely ages but they don't get full of air, you hold the cup up to the mouth and they lap it up like a cat or alternatively you could use a calpol syringe. I did both of these when did couldn't bf properly due to a blocked nose.

Have you tasted the milk to check it doesn't taste bad? Formula could have been a bad batch and turned.

Have you checked out physical reasons, teething? Tried some calpol or whatever is appropriate in case its pain related?

I presume you've winded him? My daughter does this when she has trapped wind in her belly.

Might sound strange but is his nose blocked? When mine would have a blocked nose they would struggle with the feed and spit it out and cry, saline drops worked a treat!

This does sound like colic tbh op i think we had this at about the 5 week mark. Colief helped only occasionally. The Dr Brown's bottles seemed to make a difference (I know a lot of people think they are a load of rubbish but they did something even if only psychological for me!). And frequent burping, warming tummy rubs, walking around while trying bottle on and off. sobbing helps too

Its shit but it passes and gets easier, honest. Hang in there!

For your own sanity though get some ear plugs, wear headphones, noise cancelling if possible when tending to LO. It'll block the shrillness of the cry which seems to make everything feel worse and more urgent and certainly made my patience wear out faster, blocking out the noise and makes it easier to deal with. Listen to whatever works for you audio book, comedy show, relaxing music.

Just in case anyone misread - I DO NOT mean wear headphones to ignore baby's cry, just to reduce sensory input for the parents!

Is this with every feed or mainly certain points in the day/ night?

@MikiSu So he will take it fine (albeit slow) when he’s tired but when he’s alert he refuses bottle and fusses

Reflux possibly,

Try mam bottles. Or dr browns

Tommee tippee are rubbish imo (nicu nurse and mum of 3!)

I didn't bottle feed so I am a bit clueless around types of bottle and types of milk (sorry) but... he sounds over-stimulated, have you tried only feeding in a darkened, quiet room?

It’s definitely worth talking to gp/HV about tongue tie/colic/etc that people have mentioned.

my dd was a nightmare feeder and would do similar. Like your baby she would be fine when tired but a nightmare when alert. We had to change which room we were in (very trial and error). I think she was a little older at the time but not much, but I also had to give her something during a bottle feed (like a muslin, rattle, comforter, blanket) as she was wiggling and fussing and fighting as she was far more interested in everything going on around her than feeding (can still be similar now she’s fully on solids haha) and these items seemed to calm her down and distract her enough to get a feed in her.

@mrsneate I can confirm I am sure it’s the tommee tippee bottles!!

We panic bought other bottles late last night and he took it fine this morning for once

Maybe the tommee tippee ones are too soft for baby

Could it be the teat? My DD didn't move to a 2 until she was over 6 months (though she did have relux). She would have screamed the house down with a faster flowing teat.