Help! Bottle feeding problem!

[KathrynWales]

My son is 14 weeks old. I bf exclusively til he was 4 weeks, then combined for 3 weeks. has been exclusively bottle fed since 7 weeks old.
The problem I'm having is he will only take about 3-4oz max from his bottle in one sitting, but then over the next 1-2 hrs will accept a bit more in small doses. Whilst feeding, he arches his back when I hold him, and sticks his tongue out and pushes himself off my knee once he has had a few ounces. Sometimes, I can only feed him at all if he is lying down in his cot (yes, I know that isn;t recommended), or in his bouncy chair but these feeds are all really sporadic and time consuming. The only time he seems to feed without appearing distressed is at night when he is sleepy.
I tried changing his formula, saw an improvement for one day and now he's back to the same pattern. He possets quite a bit of his feed (although my health visitor says it isn;t enough to be reflux) and has appeared to have colicky episodes.

I can't see anyway to develop a routine whilst feeds are so long and drawn out and bitty, and it also means he needs feeding frequently (at night too) because he just isn;t getting the volume down at each sitting. one feeds often goes into the next
Any suggestions? Am very frazzled!

What a shock - I think your hv is talking rubbish. I don't believe reflux is defined by the amount of sick (some babies have it without throwing up at all). Everything you've written sounds very much like my ds, who was definitely a refluxer and definitely improved by:

• Omneo Comfort
• Dr Brown's bottles
• Infant Gaviscon

I would suggest you give any and all of these a try!

Go along with everything tribpot says. To be honest I would by-pass your HV and go and see your Doctor. This can of feeding pattern cannot be doing either your ds or you any good whatsoever. Explain your concerns to your GP and perhaps book an appointment at the time he is due a feed so the GP can see his reactions to the bottle. Good luck and I'm so sorry that it's such a stressful time for you both.

Thanks to you both for your advice. Will definitely phone GP on monday morning

Kathryn - email me if I can assist you at all, tribunicia underscore potestas at hotmail dot com.

Hope your GP will be reasonable, but would be tempted to try the things I outlined anyway if you wish to - Infant Gaviscon is not (apparently) meant to be sold without prescription if the baby is under 1 year, but they don't know that in Sainsburys pharmacy (I got the advice to try IG from a consultant paediatrician friend of mine, so am not just drug-crazed).

Hope little one is feeling better soon. Reflux/refluxy symptoms are so awful, esp in a first baby where you are convinced it must be all your fault - with ds, we seriously could not put him flat ever for 11 weeks, he had to be carried/held 247. Of course we could only do this because both me and dh were at home full-time but I do look back now and think "what* were you doing?!".

hi! My baby is 13 weeks and EXACTLY the same, had to wake up at 4 every night to feed her at least one time properly! Our gp explained to us that this has to be with her stomach producing too many acids and gave us a prescription for a mild antiacid called ranitidine. Things have improved a lot but were still strugling about wich formula should we use. Some of them make her constipated and with others she is in pain when she does her poo. We were on Cow and Gate but stop that because we found an insect inside the box!! What formulas have you tried? P.S. It is comforting knowing that there are other babies like us, thoug...we are just so frustrated and tired!

p.s. gaviscon didnt help her as much as ranitidine because gaviscon has more to do with the kind of reflux that comes with spitting and babies being sick. It helps the milk staying in the stomach. If baby cries during feed (mine was doing it specially after swallowing) then it is an acid problem. So sorry for my awful english.

Kayzed - if the gaviscon is losing effectiveness go back to your GP. There are medications available that help and also gaviscon shouldn't be used long term anyway because of the 'double dose' of sodium the baby will be getting - your GP can prescribe enfamil AR (milk with the setting agent already in it) for the same cost to the surgery as gaviscon and it's better for the baby.

My DS1 had silent reflux too and he had it so severe he was hospitalised at 13 weeks. He didnt throw up at all or even posset and would only take 1/2 oz to 1 oz a feed, arching his back and screaming the majority of the time.

I would by pass your HV and see your GP. I am not saying your DS def has reflux but its worth looking into.

worth trying different formula as well
we switched to Nanny goat's milk formula and saw a dramatic improvement (going from 2oz feeds to 4oz feeds literally overnight, baby 6wks old)

kayzed
a friend's dd (7 wks) has the worst reflux ever, she was in so much distress the poor love
she is breastfed and a consultant paed told my friend to cut out all dairy as he suspected cow's milk/lactose intolerance
she did and her dd was transformed immediately. eats, sleeps well and is as chilled as you like. Like my ds, some babies can't tolerate cow's milk protein, whether through your breast milk (the dairy you eat) or through cow's milk based formula. worth giving it a go.

poor you and your ds

poppiesinaline, that so awful, why was he hospitalised? was he losing weigth? poor thing...

Well, i went to the GP. he didn't think it was reflux and didn;t really think it was intolerance either, but (to pacify me, I think) prescribed some soya formula which DS has been on now for 4 days......with absolutely NO effect ! !

Said as DS's weight was doing ok there wasn;t a problem...but his weight is only ok because I am prompting him to take a bit of his feed every ten mins...as my HV said, if I had other small kids around, or he was at a nursery, there wouldnt be time for all that, and prob his weight would be suffering.

Anyway, GP also said that I should try DS on small amount of solid food, as bottles are proving such a nightmare. Even though DS is only 15 weeks, decided to give it a go. He seems to really enjoy the rice and has taken all the solid feeds...but absolutely no change with the bottle pantomime!

GP said too that he would be reluctant to prescribe Gaviscon as apparently it has a lot of salt in it which isnt good for babies

Actually,am not sure it IS reflux, having read all your posts. My son quite often will ONLY take his feed lying down...so acid can;t really be the problem???

Think I must just have a high maintenance divas for a son....

its really frustrating, isn't it? everybody has a different opinion! so glad he's taking his rice, though...at least you have a break and also you're sure that he wont lose weight...
it is strange that he can eat only lying down, with reflux they rather be straight ( i have to carry her all day in the sling)...
yesterday i went to the pediatrician and he prescribed me nutramigen, said this reflux could be related to milk protein allergy. However I wont give her the nutramigen because i read the label and it's basically glucose syrup and corn. I'm a nutritionist and personally i think that both these ingredients are not suitable to small babies.
Maybe a diary with all the things you eat could help you to track an allergy? If it is reflux you should avoid chocolate and caffeine, dairy products, spicy and fried foods...