cant get 14 week old to take more than 5oz

[HeidiT]

Hi could someone please advise me on what I can do. My 14 week old will never take more that 5oz and that can take an hour to get into her.

She goes to bed at 6:30 and has 5oz then I wake her at 10:30 she has between 2 - 3 oz then wakes at 2am for 1 - 2 oz and at 7am when you would think she would be starving wont take anything. She fusses so much that I now leave it till about 8:30 before I even start to feed her as I has a 21 month old to look after aswell and found myself getting nowhere.

She will then have another 4-5 oz at noon and sometimes will miss her afternoon bottle altogether and then wont have anything till 5pm.

When she does have the bottle she always seems to fall asleep aswell and I spend half my time jiggling her about trying to get her to take some more.

Try not to worry. My DD never has taken more than 5oz and she is 11 months. I can count on fingers and toes how many 7oz bottles she has had. That is only in last 2 months.

She went through a stage of droping her afternoon bottle too. She may not be a big eater. My DD isnt. Have stressed loads but she is fine. Not helping that she was born 9lb 1 but has followed 25th centile chart ever since.

If you are worried see your health visitor or GP to double check nothing wrong.

I hope this helps.

Heidi is she bright and alert at other times? Is she gaining weight? What does your HV say?

do you think that if perhaps you don't wake her for 10.30. she;d take a bigger feed later on?

it's usual for babies to take differing amounts at each feed.. she might go through a growth spurt soon and be guzzling down lots more milk..!

have you tried different teats to see if that helps, if she is getting too tired sucking she will get sleepy and not feed as well

an hour is a long time for a feed. I would try a faster teat and see if it helps

I have tried size 4 teat on Avent and vari flo and size 3 on tommee tipee and she gasps when using them but I think I will persevere with them.

I have noticed tho that she seems more happy to take feed when she is about to take a nap or go to bed.

I spoke to HV and they just said maybe she justs wants little and often but it is little and not often.

LitlebearH has your DD slept through the night? As you can imagine this is my aim and it seems to be a long way off when I cant get her to consume enough milk in the day to see her through the night.

I see all my friends who's baby guzzles down 7oz whilst she has fussed about having 1 oz.

I try not to be out when it is feed time cos I know it will take ages and both of us will just end up frustrated.

Her feeding takes up so much of my time in the day. I am thinking of waiting till she is begging for food then limit it to an hour but I know that sounds very cruel but I dont know what else to do!

Could she be uncomfortable from the milk itself? I only say this because my DS started fussing with his feeds then eventually went on nursing strike - he had silent reflux and associated feeding with pain. In the end I had to feed while he was asleep. He did the thing where he wouldn't feed in the morning then it became all feeds.

Might be worth trying another milk or trying her when she's asleep. Or trying slower teats because if she's gasping then it's too fast.

Another comfort milk I meant to say.

sorry yeah she is bright and chirpy when she is not feeding she spends half the feed time crying as soon as i show her the bottle.

she is putting on weight each week aswell.

hi iggly thanks for response she has so far in her little life tried aptamil,then aptamil comfort then the doctor said that she may be lactose intolerable so put her on soy milk she was on that for 6 weeks and it didnt seem to make any difference and then she had constipation from it so i put her on SMA yellow one which she has been on since.

she is only gasping when i tried to put her on a higher teat than she was already on.

Gosh you could have been me a couple of months ago - had the exact same problem. i suspected silent reflux so the doctor gave me infant gaviscon and it was a life saver - DS started taking bigger feeds and not screaming throughout them, apparently the milk and stomach acid starts coming back up the oeasophagus when they are trying to drink which hurts and leads to crying and fussing and refusal to feed.

We are both so much happier now maybe speak to your GP and give it a go? All it actually is is a feed thickener so there is no harm and trying it out.

My BF 17 mo baby has never had more than 5 oz of expressed milk in her life. I don't know whether there's a difference between formula and BM in the amount they require but she is very healthy and happy. Assuming that your baby is alert and happy and growing, do you think she is well? And have you asked your HV about it?

In answer to your question, no. She is a terrible sleeper! She wakes 3 or 4 times still some nights. I was BF her till 5 months and she hardly fed for long but kept on her centile. I was very stressed as convinced she wasnt getting enough. (she was) Then when I went on to FF she only would take 3 or 4 oz to begin with. I started weaning and relaxed about her low milk intake. She is not hungry at night, she just is very active. She would cry at the bottle when she didnt want it. I am seeing a cranial osteopath to help her sleeping.

Have done CC too. Helped a bit.

Anyway the bottom line is, she fed little to me. But it is normal for her and she is thriving.

Fast flow teats is a good idea. She may get more this way and not take so long to feed.

If she is gaining weight, showing no signs of illness and has wet nappies, relax.

Seriously before weaning my DD took 4oz at each feed.

My anxiety was for nothing looking back.

I hope you take comfort from my experience.

duchesse there is a difference between EMB and FF. With BM, it's get fattier with time so intake does not go up. With Formula, as calorie needs are increased, then you have to increase the amount as the content can't change.

OP What is her weight gain like? If there are issues then investigate further e.d. silent reflux. Can't hurt to try different meds for a bit each. Otherwise for the immediate future, you may have to accept that's how she is.

Also, have you tried not waking her night feeds and just give to her while asleep. Hopefully instinct will take over and she won't fuss so much. I have BF and bottle fed DD this way.

DD asleep so have a little more time now

What I was trying to convey earlier was that there is no guarantee that if she takes more milk she will sleep through the night.

I have a SIL with twins who took 7oz at feeds and slept through the night at 4 months. This made me feel inadequate and that I must be doing something wrong as to why DD didnt feed for more than 5 mins BF and would barely take 4 oz first thing at 6 months old.
I used to cry up until very recently that if she took less than an oz or refuse her milk completely before bed then the night ahead was going to be horrendous and she was going to lose weight or wake hungry. Which was not the case.

I would look at all the advice here and if you can rule out illness and she is thriving as you say she is, then try not to worry. (my gp said look at your baby..that is the best guide, ignoring the charts!)

It is hard though, I felt the same, try not to compare your DD with others, they are all different. I still worry about DDs size (she lost weight not so long ago, but made up the next time) but reassure myself when I look at how healthy she is.

Heidi - lactose intolerance is very rare. It's possible to be intolerant to cows milk protein - and soya milk too (lactose is the sugar in milk so different). I'd keep an eye in her - when she's fussing, is she arching and crying? Or just distracted? If she seems to be arching and looks uncomfortable, go back to your GP and ask to try hydrolysed milk - the protein is slightly broken down. Soya milk is similar to cows so using that won't help. Or ask to try infant gaviscon - you can add it to the milk.

Gosh I'm glad I've read this-dd is 18wks and since 12wks she has been just like you describe-what I do is give her a dummy after offering bottle (if it is refused) and she will suck it + sometimes go dozy then I switch the dummy for the bottle. Sometimes she feeds, sometimes she doesn't. She does take a bottle over 2 hours though but I just offer it as I go. Its a pain though especially because I have my son to look after too. I thought about trying infant gaviscon as she was very sicky too when younger but have heard it can cause constipation? We are lucky in that dd sleeps all night, rarely cries + is on 91st centile though. Oh and I have noooooo idea why she sleeps through-it certainly isn't anything I have done given that I am often up in the night with my four year old!!

I have had a look at silent reflux and I think she may have it. She screams when I try to feed her arches her back and wil have a few sucks and yanks her head to one side. It is like trying to feed a cardboard baby sometimes she is so rigid.

I'm gonna take her to doctors this week and ask about it.

I just tried to give her bottle at 12 her last bottle was at 8:00 where she took 5oz. It took 40 mins of her crying and fussing to take 2 oz she has fallen asleep now.

She just kept bursting into tears aswell from nothing!

Heidi, that must be so hard for both of you. Hope you go on ok at the doctors tomorrow.

Yes Heidi sounds like it. DS had this - the acid comes up when you don't expect to :(

I'd suggest getting her a dummy asap because this will help her keep the acid down. Also don't lie her flat soon after a feed - best to prop her up or use a bouncy chair.

The acid reflux could be made worse by cows milk - so ask the GP for hydrolysed formula. And ranitidine is much better for silent reflux than gaviscon.

Hi she is fine to be flat after feeds and I have no trouble at all putting her to bed at night she has a little grumble for few mins then goes off sometimes she dont make a sound.

I have to say the majority of her day she is as sweet as can be and is no trouble at all it is just when it comes to feed times she gets all fretful and upset.

Did you manage to get to the GP Heidi?