Bottle feeding laying down

[Munchkinmommy]

Hi everyone. My little girl is 13 weeks old. Overall she's pretty chilled, only cries when she's hungry, sleeps through at night and is gaining weight normally. Over the last few weeks we have struggled with her bed time feed. She cries a lot and seems to be hungry but then is really fussy when I give her the bottle, taking some and then turning away and crying. She is being treated for reflux with renitadine and when she first had it that seemed to help (she was arching her back at every feed). This problem with the bed time feed developed after that. So still not sure why she is doing this. Was thinking maybe she's over tired, could be a bit colicky maybe ( although thought colic would be improving rather than worsening at this age). Then tonight she started feeding and after a few mins we had same performance I lay her down on her back for a few mins so that I could go and grab something and when I came back she was no longer crying and started smiling at me. I thought I would just try her with her bottle in that position for a bit, so she's lying down on her back with her head to the side. She took it straight away without any problem, nearly polished off the whole bottle with smiles all through. It was so lovely to see her enjoying her bottle in comfort! But now I am worried that I shouldn't do this and am also puzzled as to why this worked. Any thoughts? Thanks!

You shouldn't really bottle feed a baby who is lying down because of there is an increased choking risk and it can encourage a build up of fluid in the middle ear which can lead to more ear infections.

Yes I have read that, and also people saying that's not so, all so conflicting. My friends who breast feed tell me they are advised that feeding baby laying down with head turned to side is good. Why is it different for bottle feeding? Also wondering why it calms her so much ....

The baby uses different muscles when sucking a breast to those it uses when sucking a bottle. The muscles used when sucking a breast stop fluid building up in the middle ear when the baby is feeding lying down.
It is so hard when they are tiny and colicky that I think most of us have done things we shouldn't really because they work just to get some peace.
Although you're not supposed to do it if it's working for you then I'd still do it but just be very careful to watch her for signs of choking and accept that you are risking an ear infection.

If it's any comfort my DD was a nightmare with colic for the first 6 months but once she could roll and move about it cleared up. I feels like forever but this will pass.

My DD is now 10 months and has only ever really drunk a bottle well (bottle fed since 4 mo) lying down flat. I was aware of the ear infection thing, but I didn't really have an option, as she fussed massively in any other position. Even now, she might have half an ounce or so in a sitting-type position but has to lie down to finish the bottle. No ear infections yet, but I keep a close eye out. Obviously I keep an eye out for choking too. I wouldn't leave her on her own with a bottle in that position.

Maybe she's teething? My DS got vey fussy when bottle-feeding at around 4 months because his lower bottom teeth were coming in (didn't actually appear until 5.5 months but apparently the build-up to first teeth can take a while) so I bought bottles with a very soft nipple that were aimed at mothers who use a bottle for expressed milk and that helped a little.

Other advice I got was to give him a little Calpol prior to feeding, if the pain was particularly bad, and to feed him in smaller amounts frequently rather than one large feed, which can be tiring if he's in pain.

My DD went through a stage of doing this. I think that she was getting overly warm by being held (or annoyed because she didnt want to be held) I used to prop her up on a soft pilllow so that she was lying down but at a slight angle xx