Bottlefedding my newborn baby - 2 weeks old - Help needed!!

[fridh74]

Hi all,

For medical reason I can't no longer breastfeed my baby girl, emotionally I have taken this rather hard since I do miss the closeness. I do need some serios help with bottle feeding though. I am currently using a slow flow teat and she is drinking 60/80 ml in a couple of minutes compare to breastfeeding where a meal took 30 min at least. I know there is a different but a couple minutes? Is this normal? She is also not stop screaming and gets to a tantrum until the whole bottle is finished which makes it hard to stop and wind her. She seam to be also getting more wind.

She is getting around 500/600 ml per 24 hrs/ her weight 3,4kilo.

Can anyone help? I be so grateful.

Many thanks

It sounds to me as though she may need winding mid-feed. Screaming during a feed was always a sign with my babies that they were in pain. Is she drawing up her legs and kicking out when she screams?

I do try to wind her half way through but she do not stop screaming until she is getting the full bottle first then I can wind her. I will try again this afternoon in spite her screaming

I mix fed DD and she woudl always scarf down a bottle much quicker than she would BF (although the latch was always rubbish, so my expereinces are not the best to go by!). She might just need a bit more time to get used to the bottle and that the milk comes out of it differently than it does when she BF. Do you need to break off mid feed to wind her? If she feeds OK and burps well and with no problems after she's finished her bottle, then could you try letting her drink the whole thing if breaking off jst upsets her? How long are you going between feeds? If she is over hungry (but might not realise that she is) she might gulp it down all the more enthusiastically. I know this is what happens with DD - if we miss that window of "hungry enough but not ravenous" then she hoovers it up in seconds. Which bottles are you using? Newborn teats? I know it is a huge faff to experiment, but a different make of teat might suit your dd better. Oh and the guidelines for total volume formula per day i was given by paed was 120-150 ml times their kilo body weight. But was also told that a bit over or under that is also fine. So your total is prob fine. Good luck. It can be so hard.

oh thats interesting about he volume cardamom, as i have recently put dd onto bottles, she is just 8wks and weighs 12lb, she will only take 3oz, occasionally 4oz at a feed, but happily goes four hours during the day and 5/6hrs at night, she is having 5 feeds in 24hrs, i worried a bit that she wasnt having enough, but she seems happy, content, wet nappies, smiling and very settled. and according to your paed that is an ok amount :)

babies do ime bottlefeed much quicker than bfeeding and some babies need winding in the middle, others like my ds4, would get REALLY cross if i took the bottle away adn tried to wind them in the middle of the feed, he wanted ALL the milk and then to be winded.

dd however has to stop at least once to be winded, they are all different, i am sure you wil learn what your baby likes :) remember they are learning as well.

Oh and fridh74 I understand about missing the closeness. But there's nothing to say that you can't have skin-to-skin when you are bottle feeding. And I found that staring into my newborn's eyes when I bottle fed (something I could not do when BF) to be one of the most emotionally rewarding experiences of my life. I treasure every one of those moments. If that's not a bonding experience between mother and baby, I don't know what is. You are doing fine . xx

oh yes i am enjoying bottlefeeding, i can look into dd's eyes, my boobs always got int he wya when bfeeding and i still do skin to skin and co sleep so getting plenty of snuggly time with dd, oh and she loves the moby wrap sling i have. do you have a sling you can try?

dd is my 5th baby, i breast fed the first three totally. with no 4 i breast and then bottle fed, he is now almost 3 and my bond is just the same with him and it is with dd now i have put her on bottles, i do feel a bit sad, but honestly you will still be just as close to your baby, you could also try having a bath together, many babies like that :) xxx

Thank you all for your replies, I will will try different type of bottles and your suggestions. Still very emotional about given up breast feeding but will give it ago.