What has FF got that I haven't??

[trufflesbum]

My DS is 13 days old, and mostly BF. He had some problems feeding after a difficult delivery and as such had a few small 'top-ups' of FF to help him. After these few days we stopped the FFs.

His latch has been checked by several people and is good, isn't painful and he appears content. I have plently of milk and am able to express for him too. He has periods though, where he simply will not sleep, no matter how much I try. I've fed him from both sides, and given him a top-up of expressed milk and he's still wide awake (and screaming!). His record so far is 6 solid hours of screaming and sucking (though I am aware it's early days!).

If I offer a FF top-up though, he drinks a little (maybe around 30mls) and promptly falls asleep! Any ideas? What has the formula got that I haven't? And how can I help him get back to sleep without resorting to formula? I would love to continue to BF but hate that he seems happier with the formula

Please don't worry about FF being better than your milk, it just isn't for (nearly) a million reasons. It might just be a coincidence that he's exhausted himself by then and fallen asleep.

He might just finding the sucking comforting (maybe he's in a little discomfort or finds the world a bit overwhelming). After the 2nd breast have you tried putting him back on the first? You always have milk so don't worry about having to refill.

Have you tried a sling? A stretchy wrap is good to hold a newborn and trundling about can send them off. Also skin to skin, maybe in the bath (some love it, some hate it at this age).

ds is a screamer so I do sympathise, holding them, with earplugs in if necessary, lets them know you are there and you care, even if they don't shut up.

I think formula is heavier on their tummies so sometimes sends little babies to sleep in the same way that a heavy rich dessert would make us sleepy.

But your milk is best for your baby. You're doing the best thing for your baby.

I was lucky that my DD wasn't much of a screamer but she did want to be held all the time and was forever on the boob. I used to think 'surely she can't still be hungry'. But in the months since I have realised that BFing isn't just about nutrition. I think most babies just want to spend all day either suckling or just being held.

Sounds like he is cluster feeding, where they want to be on the breast for hours - you can keep swapping back and forth between breasts.

What does formula have that you don't? Fish oil, vegetable oil, sweeteners, flavouring, emulsifiers, stabiliers, bovine whey protein I think it's the whey that can knock them out, as it's hard to digest so sits in the stomach making them feel very full.

Oh gosh I remember that stage, its so exhausting isn't it. There's a bit on kellymom about fussy evenings and it being a standard thing for some babies.

With my ds it turned out to be colic, a combination of vigourous winding and the sling dance. Have you tried taking a warm bath with them on your chest? It might be worth a shot?

30mls is not a little for a 13 day old baby, it is actually quite a lot. His tummy is very small indeed. Bottles make it easy for babies to glug down a load in one go, often more than they want/need, so it is bound to lay him out for a while. Especially as formula is heavier and harder to digest. Also by the time you get to the formula he is probably already very tired from the screaming and fussing, so he may well sleep after that.

His behaviour is perfectly normal for a 13 day old - sorry! It is tough no matter how you feed them and trust me (I bottle fed DS1) making up endless little bottles of formula in the evenings when they cluster feed is no more fun that BF. At least with BF you can just sit/lie down and do it.

I am worried that if you are giving large top ups of formula, your supply will be affected and you will end up giving more and more of them. If you want to continue to BF then I would ditch them altogether, let your supply catch up and expect a while of cluster feeding and fussing. It is very, very normal I'm afraid.

It's a lot (for a newborn) of relatively indigestible food so it fills him up for ages. It's not better though!

Are you giving EBM top-ups the same as formula though?

Thanks for all the advice. It sounds like I'll just have to tough it out for a while! Good to know it's relatively normal though.

He does have a sling, and he loves it. We often go out for walks (I have two dogs) and he falls alseep in it happily, but wakes the minute I put him down so I don't get any sleep myself! This baby stuff raelly is exhausting

TheProvincialLady, if I do give him a FF top-up, I express at the same feed to try to keep my supply up. I appreciate that it isn't the best idea though. It will be easier to cope with knowing that it's normal and that he is getting what he needs.

Japhrimel, I try and offer him as much EBM as he wants, but he usually isn;t overly bothered. Maybe he does just want to suck all day!

Thanks again all

Something that helped me a lot was to get DH to put the baby in the sling and go for a walk or jiggle about in the house, so I could get some sleep. Here's wishing you some rest and sleep tonight (ps are you co sleeping? I have found it a godsend, especially when I mastered feeding lying down)

The sudden distraction/change could be what is sending him off - they get confused and forget to grizzle!