Help! Have a slow/lazy feeder!

[LindsayS79]

Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with a slow/lazy feeder?
My LO is 4 weeks old and is starting to drive me to despair! She falls asleep all the when feeding (ff) and usually only takes about 1/2oz on most occasions. There is the odd feed where she'll take 3oz and she'll last about 2 hrs max until the next feed.
However most of the time she takes about 30 mins to finish 2oz and then wake up 30 mins later for a top up.
I think she's using food as a soother now and I'm getting to the point of not leaving the house as I'm just constantly feeding her. There's no in between with her hunger either. She wakes up and goes absolutely nuts until her bottle is ready. You would actually think someone is killing her and I'm struggling to cope now!
Does anyone gave tips on trying to get her to take more formula but less often and also to try and get her to stop falling asleep midfeed?!

It will get better, but babies tummies are really, really tiny. They can't contain much so they need feeding frequently. At 4 weeks she may be having a growth spurt which means she will be wanting more frequent feeds.

A lot of formula feeding mums get anxious if their baby isn't taking the same amount of milk as recommended on the pack, but all babies are different - some have more, some far less. So long as you're getting plenty of wet and dirty nappies, baby is growing and seems (mostly) happy, just stick with it.

Don't get hung up on volume, just make sure she's gaining weight and is full and hydrated.

Thanks for your kind words! I feel like I'm doing something wrong as when she decides she's hungry, she turns into an animal. There's about 10 seconds of rooting and then she just goes nuts, even if she's been fed recently!! My neighbours must think I'm a bad mother, but there's no stopping her screeching until she gets her bottle!

In the west we have so much control of everything in our lives, having a baby can be a real puzzle. We want to fix everything. In reality we can only do the best we can. The first 6 weeks (at least) are the toughest and then a pattern starts to emerge.

Some mums find cartons or bottles of ready made formula easier in the early days as there's not so much angry waiting around for a bottle to he ready.

The Wonder Weeks app and books are great for helping to understand growth spurts and developmental leaps.