Bottle feed amounts - help!

[wobblymum]

I know all babies take different amounts when they feed, but very roughly, how much would you say a 3-month old bottle-fed baby should take?

Today when dd woke up she coughed up loads of yellow bile and we rushed her down to the doctor who said he thought she was fine but to keep an eye on her.

Since then she hasn't fed very well, had 2oz at 9am, 2oz at 11am, all of which she brought up again immediately. Then she had another 2oz at 1pm which so far she's kept down. Also because she sleeps through the night, the 9am feed was the first for 8 hours. So in effect, she's only had 2oz in the last 12 hours IYSWIM.

Just wondering how little she can get away with taking, purely from the dehydration angle and how long I should leave it before calling the doc again. Also, she hates water on it's own so I can't get any down her instead of a feed. I was wondering whether to offer her sugar water but I don't know - advice please!!!

Don't know, but this sounds like a question for NHS direct.

There's a really good self-help thing on their website here (the vomiting in babies section).

Hope she gets better soon.

Thanks lucy - just last time I phoned NHS Direct about dd they insisted on calling an ambulance to come and look at her!!!! Oh well, better to be safe than sorry!

Thanks for the link, their website looks good but I can never find my way around it!!!

Oh, and she just brought up about 2oz of yellowy watery stuff so I can consider the 1pm feed mucked up too!!!

wobblymum - at least it was an hour sisnce she had it though - some of it at least would have been absorbed into her system. But, yes, I'd be worried about her fluid intake.

I wasn't sure about the answers to a couple of questions so I did all relevant variations and the advice ranges from give her more to drink (can't), give her rehydration salts and ring NHS Direct. Not sure about me giving her rehydration salts (ie how often, what if she throws them up etc etc) so I'll probably ring NHS Direct anyway. Would it be better to ring them or my out of hours GP? The GP this morning said to ring the out of hours one if I was still worried.

Thanks again lucy - it's ok getting a GP's advice but good to know that there's always a mumsnetter on hand too!!!

If you read this before you manage to get in touch with a GP: I do know about rehydration salts! You basically make up a load, but give her the same amount that you would normally give her of milk. If she won't keep rehydration salts down then you need to see a doctor (in fact go to Casualty)

However, since it has been so long I think you are quite justified in ringing the out of hours GP - you can never be too careful with babies.

Just rang NHS Direct - waiting for a call back

Hope we don't have to go to Casualty - DH just gone to bed after 24 hours up and last time we went with dd all they were interested in doing was taking blood and keeping her in. Oh well, if we must, we must!

Come phone...ring! Lucky the PC is by the phone, gives me something to do while waiting and watching dd like a hawk!!!

NHS Direct rang back - said to ring out of hours GP or go to Casualty. Can't get hold of GP so Casualty it is.

Will look at this quickly before we leave but anyone any ideas on what could be wrong when vomiting is the ONLY symptom? Just that the hospital paeds never tell us anything, so might be helpful to have some idea of what could possibly be wrong. Also would blood tests/tube feeding seem justified in this, as these have been suggested before and terrify me.

Update - just before I was going to take her to Casualty, I tried her with some plain water which she loved (for the first time!). She drank 3oz of that straight down then started her angry/hungry cry but refused the water. So I made the rest up into milk and she had 3oz of that. 10 mins later she was sick but there was no bile and it could only have been 2oz max.

So now I don't know whether to wait a bit longer or not. 1st - do you think that if she feeds normally from now on there's no need to see a doctor? 2nd - if she feeds normally will she catch up on the fluid she's lost so far? 3rd - should she still have rehydration salts and where do I get them from at this time? 4th - after she's not had much fluid for so long, is it safe to wait another 4/5 hours until after the next feed to see if she'll be normal again?

Thanks!!!

wobblymum

You get rehydration stuff from the chemist and the pharmacist will be able to advise you regarding what to do and how long best to leave it before you seek further treatment. If they think she has some sort of tummy virus you could be advised to leave off the milk altogether for 12 hrs or more and just offer regular small amounts of the fluid. We used Milupa GES45 sachets which you serve chilled (make up the litre and put in jug in fridge) and offer small sips. However our dd was quite a bit older when she first went through this. Has she had diaorrhea (sp?) too as once this starts dehyration is far more rapid.

Hope she feels better soon,

wobblymum

Given the concerns you had earlier in the week which I have just caught up with, I think in your position I would seek a medical opinion to be on the safe side.

Thanks LIZS, but I don't know any chemists that will be open at this time on a weekend? Live in Cornwall, so everywhere shuts as soon as it can! If she carries on feeding normally, will the rehydration salts be necessary or will the amount she missed make up eventually?

Will ring NHS Direct to see what they suggest seeing as I can't get hold of a GP or pharmacist, just waiting a few hours to check dd still seems ok. Little scamp seems totally fine now, refusing to sleep instead of permanently being asleep.

My main problem is that if she seems ok from now on, should I forget the whole thing or could there still be a problem?

Thanks, because of everything earlier on, I was more worried than normal which is why I almost whipped her off to casualty and may still do so but I want to wait and see what she do on the next feed and also see if I can get hold of the GP. As it's been 15 hours since last totally normal feed, will another 3 hours make a huge difference?

I thought most areas operated a late night/Sunday chemist rota, usually found in the info section of local free paper (near Church services and other listings), posted outside the local chemist if closed or Dr surgery, or may be on the answerphone of your nearest Boots store.

Would still advise the rehydration fluids as they contain minerals and sugar which help the body absorb the water more efficiently. I think you could do a homemade version though - perhaps NHS Direct could advise. I'm sure she would catch it up eventually but you could be in for a tough few days in the interim. If she is very lethargic and still can't keep much down then I suspect they might want to put her on a drip to speed it up.

Hope this helps,

Will phone NHS Direct again - but drip sounds scary and at our hospital they do every procedure they can even if it's obviously not necessary (why I took dd home on Thurs morning), but if that's what we have to do...

DD has managed to keep down a total of 7.5 oz of fluids since 4pmish, so a lot more than before but still not huge. Will try to find out about chemists too. Thanks!!!

Finally got back on here to post more! Managed to keep a little bit more down her overnight, but got hold of out of hours GP at 10pm, who said it would be safe to wait until morning, and booked me in at the emergency clinic. GP this morning said dd doesn't seem dehydrated and should slowly feed better today and be perkier tomorrow, and shouldn't need any rehydration drinks.

Thanks lucy and lizs for the help, her not feeding (especially drinking) is the one thing that gets me really panicky about her!

Relieved to hear she is perking up, must have been very worrying