Upping Avent teat size from 2 to 3?

[balkanscot]

My DS will be 12 weeks on Sunday and for the past few days he has been increasingly fussy when taking his bottle (he is fed EBM and then topped up with Aptamil if needed): fidgets with his hands a lot, grunts and has been sucking at the teat (size 2) really hard, almost as if pinching it with his lips. I wonder if this is because size 2 is now too small for him?

I tried size 3 yesterday (packet says they are suitable from 3 months onwards) and although he didn't seem to be choking he ended up dribbling quite a lot.

He is also suffering from colic quite a bit. I've heard two conflicting theories: that upping the teat size may exacerbate his colic and vice versa: that they tend to swallow more air if the teat size is too small as they are trying to suck too hard.

If anybody has any advice on this it would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

I'd he's breastfeeding most of the time it's actually advised to only use newborn size treats the whole time. As if you up the flow of the bottle teat they are more likely to get fussy at the breast, as the flow is normally much slower then a bottle.

Is there a reason why you are typing up? If he needs more milk after a feed just offer the first breast again, your breasts are never empty.

Unfortunately BF didn't work out, that's why I am expressing, to at least give him my milk somehow (i.e., via bottle). I meant to say that he is fussing at the bottle, not the breast.

My ds went up the teat sizes fast, he did at one point seem to be getting too much too fast, dribbling etc but after a few days he got used to it, trial and error really xx

I just stabbed a few more holes in the teat, with a clean needle obviously, and re-sterilised.

Yes, not sure whether to preservere with size 3... It is also a struggle to reintroduce the bottle after he has been burped - he screams blue murder and sometimes puts his fist into his mouth after he has pushed the bottle/teat away.

Needless to say, it is driving me crazy as I don't know if this is just a phase they are going through or is it something I am doing wrong???

You can buy variflow teats in Avent bottles ( or certainly used to be able to) that if you start them one way and then increase the flow by turning the bottle.