Baby wailing during Formula Top up

[mschillpill]

Hi folks,

My DD is 17 days old. Until 5 days ago I BF her exclusively. However, since she didn't regain weight after losing it initially, I was advised to give her formula top ups after every feed.

To avoid breast/ bottle confusion, I feed her using a little beaker. Even though I ensure that the formula is at body temperature my LO wails inconsolably when I feed her the formula. She is certainly hungry because she keeps rooting - also she goes back to the breast readily. When I give her top ups using expressed breast milk, she doesn't wail as much. The health visitor was not able to throw light on why she cries this way.

Should I use a different formula? I give her Aptamil First Milk now as I heard it was closest to breast milk. Or could it be something else?

Has anyone had a similar experience and overcome the problem?

Cam you keep feeding her until she stops? It sounds like that's what she wants.

Have you spoken to a bf counsellor? They will offer more support than a HV on feeding , there are phone line numbers on here if you want to speak to someone tonight

How often are you putting her to the breast? Can you do so more often? If she's going back readily that's an excellent sign.

I would strongly recommend calling the NCT breastfeeding line on 0300 330 0771 to talk through your specific case because you could quickly get back to exclusively breastfeeding pretty quickly with the right advice.

Giving milk in a cup is an excellent way of avoiding nipple confusion. Well done there. If you want to exclusively BF though, and your baby seems happy to feed, I'm sure you could do so very easily.

Best of luck :)

Agree with the others, try and speak to a bfing expert. HV do not always understand how bf works. The more she feeds, the more milk you will make.

If she needs more milk I would offer the breast more often. Offer the second one when she comes off herself and even the first one again if she still seems interested. And if you want to top up, use expressed milk if you can, especially as your baby seems to prefer it.

Is she having lots of poos? Do you have any pain when bfing?

I had a similar experience although I think it might have been a bit earlier on. I did overcome the problem. I didn't really understand the issues, but with the right advice I was able to get back to exclusive bf within about a week. I have to tell you it was not an easy week. Well worth it though.