Breast to Bottle - very unhappy baby

[SharpInTheWoods]

After 5 months I have been forced to wean my little boy onto formula/bottle due to him biting and generaly making such a huge mess of my breasts I am unable to feed him or express or wear a bra!!!

It took 1.5 days for him to finally accept a bottle (and about 7 different types of teats) and has now been on the bottle for 7 days. The problems I am having are:

1. He is not getting enough milk no matter what I do. Be it, delay feeds or break them down into smaller ones.

2. He is so very unhappy about the bottle it's frightening. He screams before, during and after but generally seems more settled in the afternoon.

3. He arches his back before and after as though he has wind but this is not always the case (I have just bought some C&G Comfort to try on the advise of Health Visitor). But it's more like he's trying to escape the bottle.

4. He throws up a lot after every feed - I am led to believe this is normal for formula (it's certainly not enough for me to run to the doctors, just very frustrating) and again, the C&G may make a difference.

My main concern is him being so upset about it. He's gone from being such a lovely, happy, contented baby who slept through the evening and night (with one wake up feed), to an absolute miserable, sh*tbag. Obviously, I know the sleep will correct itself once he gets enough feed, but has anyone else gone through the same thing who can confirm that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and he wont be miserable forever???? And any tips re getting more milk into him would be great!

Thanks

I would repost this in Breast and bottle feeding as there are some experts there who will be able to help you.

I'm not an expert but do have 5mo twins who are mixed fed. Why do you think he's not getting enough milk? If you're looking at the quantities on the tin they are not gospel. Maybe if he's been used to bf he needs to have smaller more frequent feeds as far as I recall bf babies drink fewer oz in a day than ff babies.

It isn't really normal for a ff baby to throw up a lot after each feed. Did you HV say this?

Hopefully an expert will be along soon

I've asked MNHQ to move this so you get more replies

I would question whether he might have an intolerance to cows milk - his arching/sickness etc would say yes especially as this is what ds did when I tried formula. The arching could be because he's bringing up acid with the milk as it can trigger reflux.

You need to push for allergenic milk because you risk him going on nursing strike.

When did you stop BF? Are you able to express at all? Try that and see how he gets on - that might tell you if he's reacting to the formula.

Thank you everyone for your advise and moving me to the correct place. The hv has advised cow and gate comfort. He's only had the one bottle so far but (touch wood), hle wolf ed down with very little fuss afterwards. Not only that, but he wasn't sick afterwards. I really hope this is the end of it now and he can settle happily into a routine again. As for amounts we've been looking on the cartons at the recommended measurements. Obviously its not been an issue before with me bf. This bottle feeding is certainly taking some getting used to!