How settle bottlefed baby??

[Tinaland]

I have started bottlefeeding my 3.5 wk old DS for various very painful reasons, but find it much more difficult to settle him than after bf. He's often wide awake for 2 hours at a time at a night which is killing me.

It's not the formula as he is the same whether it is formula or ebf in the bottle. After a bf he used to be pretty much zonked out, after a ff he is alert and grizzly for ages.

Any tips gratefully received.

Forgot to say, I am using Infacol and winding him a lot during and after feeds but with little result.

A dummy! After BF went wrong for me (not going into that right now) I was pleased to given DS the comfort of sucking a dummy.

Tabouleh, I was considering that (although I wanted to avoid dummies!) as I think he used to stay on my boob for a bit after drinking whereas with the bottle it's just over as soon as he's finished feeding.

Am missing the lovely sleepy cuddles on the chest after bf too How can I get those back??

Everyone in my family always say if you pull a little on the bottle when they are sucking it makes the baby work harder and tires them out more, making them more sleepy after a feed, always seemed to work for everyone else

Cuddle him whilst he is sucking the dummy!

Also I introduced bedtime stories very very young - and it became part of his going to sleep routine.

I am truely grateful for the dummy - and I really do see it for what it is - part of the alternative to breastfeeding (i.e. bottle feeding plus dummy for comfort).

There sometime is just no choice when the BF goes wrong - and all these lovely BF ladies who have not actually had it happen to them - cannot know exactly what it is like. (Really not trying to offend anyone just a bit emotional about the DVO thread elsewhere).

Tinaland - you can have the sleepy cuddles on your chest that you after bottle feeding

Just give him the same skin to skin contact he had when bf.

Tiktok - problem is he always seems too awake after the bottle to want cuddles.

Tabouleh - I appreciate what you say about bf going wrong. I have had a horrible, painful time with it since my DS was born 3.5 weeks ago. I've had every councilling imaginable but no good and having to start ff after 3 weeks is breaking my heart as I planned to bf for a year. It's very emotional and depressing for me.