BOTTLEFEDING ADVICE - DESPERATE

[Sophpop26]

Hi there.
I am wondering if anyone can help me. I have a 13 and a half week old who has been bottle fed since 6 weeks. She was breastfed initially but never latched well which led me to wearing nipple shields. I then completely transitioned to formula. She has always been a windy baby and her last feed of the evening - 6/6:30pm is a nightmare - she screams and fusses/turns her head when i try to put the bottle in/arches/stretches etc. What has happened now is that this fussiness is happening at EVERY bottle. We had to switch teats and use narrow neck teats (not the wide neck ones) as a friend pointed out the her little mouth does not go over neck of teat. For 2 days using the narrow neck teats worked a treat but she has gone back to fussing...her feeds can take 1- 2 hours! im desperate for her and for me. Has this happened to anyone. Any advice would be SO greatfully appreciated.
Thanks xx

Are you using slow flow teats?

Sophpop, sorry you are struggling with this.

What does your HV say?

Would paced bottle feeding help your baby?

This website has some info.

Jennypiccolo - yes using slow flow teats. We were using advent bottles with level 2 (changed to that a while ago and she coped better with the level 2)
Then changed to the medela bottle as she fed easier from the narrow teat (her whole little mouth fits around teat as opposed to just nuzzling the nipple of the teat) NOW we are using dr brown preemie bottles as i cant find the standard bottles anywhere in the uk but the teat works well and thought i would use dr brown incase its wind.

Soph -ditto to Jenny's question, there are different flow teats so you could try a faster flow perhaps? How about trying her on a different type of formula? Or the ready made rather than the powder? (Not much help at 8pm on a Sunday, sorry). Are you warming up her bottles? My 2 have been happy to have them at room temperature - That might make a difference. The only other thing I could think of trying is perhaps letting her drink from a small cup (or the lid of the bottle) It will be slow going but might help you get some formula in to her? Good luck.

thank you tiktok - unfortunately the HV was not helpful at all and told me after 30mls "well then she is full" absolutely disagreed as when she does get going after a number of tries she laps it up ....thank you for the website i will try that! ANYTHING is worth a try

Hi there,
Has she been checked for reflux? DD fussed a lot when being fed until she was diagnosed with reflux. I found the Dr Browns bottles best. You can buy the regular ones from Tesco/Asda and probably Amazon. Another possibility is MAM anti colic bottles, they have quite a narrow teat, DD moved onto these once she outgrew her colic and the reflux improved. I also found Aptamil Comfort milk to be good for my windy/fussy baby, might be worth trying this to see if it makes any difference. Cow and Gate also make a comfort milk.

Another possibility is variflow teats, I think Avent do one maybe, I know Tommee Tippee do, but they're wide necks. She might want to set her own pace and is becoming frustrated.

Hang on in there! It does get better. I have spent a fortune trying to find bottles/teats to suit DD, it's a real case of trial and error. Good luck!

Dr Brown bottles and infacol or gripe water. Make sure to get her wind her properly. Don't give her cold bottles, make sure they are slightly warmed. Mine was like yours, it is torture to watch your baby in distress but if you do all of those things, you will see an improvement.

I mixed fed Pippa from birth. Maybe, you need a bottle with more holes (to let more milk through) or something to distract her. My Pippa was the same so i started feeding her while sitting under the fan on our ceiling and she just watched that while i fed her. A mobile or fan should distract her enough for you to feed her. I used Breastflow bottles, as i was still breastfeeding as well.

Hang in there! don't give up, she will have to feed one day, it may take hours but she will get hungry at one point and just take whatever you give her.

Hope this helps, hun :)

My one month old seemed windy on SMA and using Tommee Tippee bottles stage 1 slow flow teats.
Just changed to aptamil (kept bottles) and feeds much better. You say she coped better with the level 2 teat of Tommee Tippee.
Is it worth going back?