Fussy 14wo formula feeder

[EMS23]

My DD has had various problems with feeding from the start..

She was born 5lbs 7oz & didn't take to the breast. Fed fine from the bottle after we switched to formula but never very much, always taking a good hour to do even 2oz in the early days. She also never slept more than 2 hours at a time, would never be put down & was always unhappy.

At 8 weeks she became impossible to feed & always seemed in pain so we tried Infant Gaviscon, which did little for her and made her terribly constipated.
At 11 weeks the doctor prescribed Nutramigen 1 hypoallergenic milk and she became a different baby within 24 hours, sleeping 6 to 8 hours in one stretch at night and much happier to be put down on her playmat or in the car seat/ pram etc..

But the fussy feeding remains and seems to be getting worse. We're now finding she'll only feed if i hold her across my body with her head tilted right back and the bottle almost over my shoulder, almost like she's feeding from the breast, so the bottle coming down to beside my nipple. Plus i have to be walking around! If I sit down or stop moving she starts screaming crying!
And it takes at least an hour to get 5 oz's down on a good feed, 3.5 more the norm though.

The HV has suggested the next teat size (she's already on Dr Brown size 2) or maybe a sore throat.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this or does anyone have any ideas to help her enjoy feeding a bit more and feed a bit faster?

although more geared towards BF, this page should be useful. In some regards we came to treat DD's fussy behaviour like colic, in the sense of once we'd eliminated what it could be, we just tried to survive and get through it.

good luck as it's incredibly stressful. Also there are other drugs available for reflux that you try, if you feel like the symptoms still fit that.

My 5 week old is the same so I know how stressful it is. My ds was born at 8.4 and hasn't really gained loads of weight so much so that I am leaving it a month before having him weighed at my hv advice as too upsetting for me.. He has always fussed over feeding (ff) from birth and now at 5 weeks lucky to get 3 oz in him and sometimes takes an hour.. I am now making him waiting at least 3.5 hours in between feeds if I can and will only allow him to feed from that bottle for 40mins what he doesn't take after that time I throw away otherwise he gets used to snacking rather than taking full feeds and never gets truly hungry by the time of next feed.. Don't really have any advice other than I know how u feel.. But as long as they gain then think it's ok as most babies fuss at times and I think u wouldn't know what a breastfed baby took so I try not to get to hung up on oz's :)

What you're describing sounds just like my first born. We were told colic then reflux but I never thought his behaviour was consistent with colic and Gaviscon didn't do a thing. It's interesting that you mention sore throat as David used to take a bit and then rear off the bottle screaming as if in pain. In the end we went to see a cranial osteopath on the recomendation of a friend whose baby had severe colic. I can't tell you what he did but after one session, David was a different baby. After 3 sessions, totally sorted. He said he could feel a restriction at the beck of David's throat which meant he might be in pain when he swallowed. Whay sort of delivery did you have? The osteopath said he'd seen this before on ventouse delivered babies. David wasn't ventouse but I was pushing for 2.5 hours so he was a bit of a cone head from being stuck for quite a while! I hope this helps but please do get back to me if you want to chat more about the osteopath x