Please Help! How do I get my dd to increase her feeds??

[samD]

Hello

Please can someone offer any advice on how to get my dd to take more formula during daytime hours,

she is 12 weeks old and has reduced her feeding from 5oz down to anywhere between 1-3oz, she then pushes the teat out and refuses to take more!

The problem is this reduced feeding during the day has now increased the amount of times she wakes in the night, last night she woke 3 times when before she would only wake once!

Please can someone help!!!

I'm always saying this - MN is going to think I'm obsessed with teat size! - but have you tried going up a teat size or making an extra hole in the teats you have? (using sterilized needle). She might be getting frustrated if the milk flow is too slow and then taking in wind because she's sucking hard.

I think you need to try and extend the time between feeds so that she's hungrier for each feed iyswim. Take her out for a walk so that she sleeps longer, play with her, try baby massage or do a slow nappy change to distract her.

You will find that feeding patterns change a lot during the first few months, so try not to read too much into waking three times a night. It's very common, although I can understand it must be a shock when you were only being woken once.

She is still tiny so you don't need to worry just yet, sleep if she sleeps during the day and hopefully the night feeds won't seem so bad.

Thanks I will get some next size teats thats definately worth a try!
I have tried to extend the gaps between feeds but she usually gets quite impatient if she doesnt get her milk, I will try some of the distractions sugested and see if they help!

Thanks for the ideas