ff problems

[juliec26]

hi - my 6 week old is a real fussy feeder he has been ff since birth on aptimal with tommee tippee bottles - he was born at 8.4 and is now 10lb so not a great weight gain and is dropping on his centile - saw HV and no tongue tied that they could tell - I have used a 2 flow teat since birth as advised by MW as he had jaundice - It takes me an hour to feed him 3oz and he usually will only take 3-4oz more like 3oz every 4 hours. The HV today said he really should be taking 5oz and suggested Avent bottles instead and to maybe be go back to the cartons as its sweeter (recently changed to powder) - Its really worrying me - what might be wrong with him?? My dd gained at least 1lb every 8-10 days and drank at least 5-6 oz at this age - Any advice would be great - have seen GP and also have my post natal check next week, but am worried, tired and fustrated by it all - any advice would be great :)

I am no expert, but bumping you.

FWIW, you can't force it into him, if he will only take 3oz at each feed then it's all you can do. Have you tried feeding more frequently though? 4 hours sounds like quite a big gap for such a young'un, could you try offering every 2 or 3 hours during the day?

Try not to compare to your DD, every baby is different. I only have a DD so I don't have the boy's charts, what centile has he gone from and to?

I think your HV is talking rubbish re powder/cartons and agree with RJandA - he's a snacker. With dd I just a bottle on the go constantly so she just had an ounce here and there whenever she fancied it.
When I accepted that boob or bottle she was a slow and little but often feeder things fell into place a bit more.
Trying a different bottle might be worth a try though. I saw improvement moving from born free to tommee tippee.
Good luck and try not to worry too much.

If your DS continues dropping through the centiles I would think that would merit some further investigation. Does he have any other digestive issues? EG unusually bad wind, diarrhea, excessive vomiting?

Has the jaundice completely gone?

Also, some tongue ties are very hard to spot - especially posterior ones. 6 separate health professionals missed ny DS's one. e t

Tried the avent bottles yesterday and he seemed much better - seemed to actually get what he should be doing and feed much quicker - I even managed to get 5oz on 1 feed :) but then last night back to 2.5/3oz - He seems to wind ok, but does show signs of being in discomfort at times (pulling legs up, red face etc) no diarrhea - He usually goes every other day and mustard smooth poo - maybe like you say pommedeterre I just need to accept he is a snacker - reason behing making him wait 4 hours between feeds was to see if he was any hungrier, but seems the same - the last oz is the problem he gets cross and plays with the teat spitting it out - I will get dc to check his tongue next week when i go for post natal check - Thanks ladies :)

Hi julie, if he is spitting out the teat he is showing you clear signs that he's had enough! I can see that you are worried about him not taking enough, but do bear in mind that babies' intake will change from day to day and will also be different for different babies. Each has his or her own growth pattern. If you are FF then you need to be careful about overfeeding, and following his cues/preferences is by far the best way to judge what's right for him. Hope this helps!

Hi - My DS was exactly like this at that age (exclusively ff from 3 weeks), I know how frustrating and worrying it can be. He used to take a good 45 min - i hour to take 2-3oz, especially slow at night feeds, but from about 8 weeks started to scarf his bottle down much quicker and now, at 14 weeks, finished in about 20 mins. I don't have a definite answer but I think sometimes they take a while to get to grips with feeding, maybe getting used to how much they can take in, etc.
My HV also gave me a ballpark-type figure they should be drinking at that age, which got me really worried because DS wasn't hitting it (born on 9th centile, down to 2nd after a few weeks) but is now punching above his weight (6.12 at birth, now 11.5, so to speak and regularly taking in 35oz and shooting back up to the 9th centile again.
Sorry for long reply, but just wanted to reassure you that it may get better. It's nothing I did - he just kept offering same size or bigger feeds in the hope he would eventually finish them, and eventually he did. I know it is really unhelpful to say 'just give it time' as people said to me and I hated it, but in my case it was apt. Hope this helps.

Sorry. forgot to say - we have tommee tippee bottles as well, can't advise on others as still using them, but with medium flow teat now.

My DD is a "snacker" too. She is now 5 months and has always been like this. Sometimes she will drink 6oz in one go, but often it is 3 or 4oz and then back for the rest later. She hasn't had any worries with weight gain and I have just gone with it. Luckily she doesn't do it at night. If I try to persuade her to have more than she wants she has been known to throw up in a dramatic fountain effect, so I just take her cues.

Thank you all for you replies - they have really helped relax me ..I am going to just try and go with it and maybe just offer him the bottle every 2 hours and see if he wants it - I do feel like I force him and perhaps like you say should just go with it - saw my lovely nan today who said in her day they didnt have growth charts so to try not to worry as long as he gains - he may just be slow and not to compare to other babies and my dd who was a whopper - thanks again :) x

glad you are feeling better Juliec26 and that the avent bottles are working out better for you. We had the reverse problem. We started on Avent and ended up switching to TT. I wonder if it might be that the flow on TT was too fast for your little one causing him to reject it? I noticed when we switched bottles that the TT 2 teat was much faster than Avent.

Your nan is very wise.

Babies never used to be weighed so regularly, and even now the official guidance is that once they've regained birthweight, you should weigh once a month at the most so long as there are no other health concerns. Then after 6 months it's once every two months max. It's just that no-one tells you that - I was going every 2 weeks for ages before I finally realised that getting her weighed doesn't make her gain any faster!

just went to see the doctor as he tends to gasp alot when feeding and sometimes when i lie him down to go to bed - told her about slow feeding - she said breathing was fine and checked his heart as apparently slow feeding can indicate a weak heart - She said he heart sounded fine and that she listened carefully too it and his breathing, but can never be 100% sure but she was happy - I feel like a nervous wreak now - talk about frighten me - but guess that if there was anything wrong with his heart they would hear it or major issues would of been picked up on the 5 scans i had??

Try not to worry - sounds like your GP was just being extra-cautious as they often are with little ones.

She said everything was fine. Keep repeating that to yourself!