Help - Newborn, formula feeding well but not settling between feeds

[MrsFish]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of formula feeding a newborn on Aptamil first. Ds is 5 days old and is feeding really well, takes a 4oz bottle within 20 mins no problems every 4 hours, but he will not settle easily in between feeds. He seems to have trouble with wind already and only seems to catnap in between bouts of discomfort. Could it be the formula, or perhaps the holes in the teats need to be bigger so he doesn't have to suck as hard to get the milk out?? I need to sort it out one way or another or else I am going to get no sleep as it takes about two hours out of the four to get him comfortable, when he feeds within 20 mins.

Any advice would be appreciated, I bf ds1 so don't have the experience of ff a newborn.

I found I had to keep my DD upright for 20-30 mins of gentle winding, even if she was asleep. If I put her down she would wake up with discomfort after a few mins.

My LO started on SMA Gold and we had lots of problems with wind so switched to Aptamil. My LO also needed Avent number 2 teats from birth (and then went onto number 3 teats a month early iyswim). It could be the bottles you're using (we found the Tomee Tippee ones that everyone raves about and supposedly reduce the amount of air that's taken in were useless - all babies are different!!!). We also found it helped to feed her sitting fairly upright (gets easier as they get a bit bigger).

Try winding after every ounce, and as 4jen suggests, keeping him upright for a while afterwards. I used to let my daughter fall asleep on me that way.

I would advise against getting a faster flow teat. If he's downing 4 oz in 20 minutes he's already drinking quite quickly for a newborn. We misguidedly switched up to a faster teat for the same reason as you, but this upset her tummy and she'd bring the whole feed back up.

MrsFish, I think ff babies need a lot more winding that bf babies. Possibly you should wind him more as lazyemma says. Also when we were trying every bottle on the market to get ds3 to take a bottle, we found the Playtex disposable bottles better than anything else, the "bottle" is a bag that collapses as the baby sucks so they take in less air.

Thanks for the suggestions

I have been using Infacol before the feeds the past 24 hours, and also warming the milk up, as I had been giving it to him at room temperature. It seems to be helping, I'm hoping he will start to settle in another week or so, he is one week old today

We had to wind ds1 half way through the bottle and then again after the bottle. He just seemed to suffer with wind and had to be winded for ages to produce burps.

ds2 was the amazing self-winding baby, you just had to bring him from a reclining position to sitting up and he'd produce lovely big burps.

Did bf not work out for you this time MrsFish?

No it didn't, I was in agony after the first 24 hours and was getting too stressed about it seeing as I was in agony with a c-section too. Lots of other reasons aswell

Poor you! Did you have a CS on your first baby as well?

No first baby was normal, well normal with episiotomy and forceps I nearly gave up bf him too as I was just in agony, but seeing as it was my first I persevered and managed to do 5 months in the end... bloody hard work though