Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

10 week old takes so little formula.

57 replies

WankPuffins · 28/10/2020 09:48

Sorry if it’s a bit long, just want to address everything in one go.

Dd will be 10 weeks on Friday. She will not drink more than 2oz of formula at a time. Sometimes she will drink 3, but never any more than that. And if she drinks 3 at one feed, it will be 1oz the next.

She eats around every 3-4 hours. Very good sleeper.

Will wake once or twice in the night (depending on if you call 5:30/6am night or day!) and will take two oz - although past two nights it’s been only one oz. She falls right back to sleep after.

She will not take dream feeds, mouth clamped shut.

Will not take any other feeds if offered. If you try and offer the bottle back after a burp she won’t take it. She’s taken to laughing at me if I try to offer the bottle back Grin

Will sometimes take the teat in her mouth after she’s had her 2oz and a burp, choke and bring up everything she’s that taken, so it’s not worth trying really.

She’s good at hungry cues - e.g hand rubbing mouth and a couple of others that are idiosyncratic to her. Doesn’t cry for feeds but that’s because I see the cues and we co sleep so I wake when she stirs.

She’s taking about 16oz of milk in 24 hours. Which seems little for her age - she’s 10 weeks old in two days.

Nappies are sometimes wet but bone dry throughout the night. No other signs of dehydration.

She was on cow and gate and only having a dirty nappy very 4 days, however we switched to Hipp organic two weeks ago and it’s got much better She’s a lot more comfortable.

No signs of silent reflux (My son was a reflux baby, so I know the signs well).

No colic, no real wind issues.

She doesn’t fall asleep on the bottle, she’s just had enough. She drinks it in a about 5 mins.

Teat is fine - variflow from 3 weeks as she was taking so much wind sucking so hard to get anything from slow flow. Medium seems too slow, fast too fast so she seems happy on variflow.

As for weight She was born on 3rd centile at 5lb 8oz but was back to birth weight in ten days. Was 25th at 6 1/2 weeks and again at 8 1/2 weeks (was 10b, 3oz).

I did speak to the nurse at the vaccinations last week as I asked if she could weigh her when she had her vaccinations last week as I was worried she wasn’t taking enough milk (the nurse was a HV when she worked for the NHS - it’s a private practice I go to so she is providing the HV aspect re weighing etc as we don’t use the nhs HV service or GP), who seemed to think it was ok but didn’t really respond when I said it was only 16oz a day, just that not to get hung up on milk and centiles as they are all so different.

Which I get totally. But it’s a worry when she’s still on the same amount as she was at a week old!

Seeing the doctor for 12 week vaccinations in 4 weeks (he’s specialises in paediatrics) so will speak to him then. Any probs our health insurance is good so we’ll get referred right away.

She’s happy, alert. Sleeps well. It’s just that I’ve had two other babies who were milk monsters!

I’ve never had a baby take so little (although, I did persevere with EBF for the first four weeks of my older two children’s lives. I produce next to no milk, they both starved for the first three until I topped up with formula and then gave up BF at 4 weeks so I think they thought, “finally, food!” And guzzled away! I didn’t try to BF this time as I knew what would happen. Not a drop of milk came in at all again).

I just want to know if anyone else has had a baby who eats so little?

I’ve googled but all I can find is babies who take 2oz every hour or so - not every 3 or 4!

I guess all I can do is keep an eye on her weight? But the nurse was right, I don’t want to get too hung up on it. I think o just worry about her as she was so small when she was born (my other two were only 6 1/2 pounds but seemed so much bigger).

OP posts:
WankPuffins · 15/11/2020 18:41

Yes I will update. I've been frantically googling for weeks. I'm sure there are many other parents in the same boat.

OP posts:
UnicornAndSparkles · 16/11/2020 10:00

If it were me (and 3y ago, it was) I would go back to the GP as the gaviscon isn't working. Ask for rantitidine (sp?) It was the only reflux meds that even touched the sides for us. Its very weight dependant so you will need to regularly weigh baby and increase the dosage as baby gains weight.

Good luck all. So worrying, I remember it well.

What i didn't know at the time, and what may be useful for those bottle feeding with expressed milk, was that babies should never be expected to take more than 4oz of expressed milk in one sitting as your milk gets more calorific as the baby gets older. Obviously this doesn't apply for formula fed babies.

WankPuffins · 16/11/2020 10:10

@UnicornAndSparkles I'm seeing the gp again thur for her vaccinations but will hopefully hear from insurance today or tomorrow regarding the referral.

I just don't know if it's the reflux causing the low milk intake or something else.

It's so hard to know what to do.

We've tried all avenues with what we can do - demand feeding, feeding every four hours. It's always 17-20oz a day whatever we do. Tried all different tests. Nothing makes a difference to the volume - even her age. It's been exactly the same for 8 weeks now.

OP posts:
WankPuffins · 16/11/2020 10:11

*teats, not tests.

OP posts:
Tme21 · 07/07/2021 02:27

@WankPuffins i could have wtitten every word...in exact same situation at mo
Could you please update on how things are now..my little girl is 10 weeks old.

Mummingmayhem · 20/01/2022 17:06

Hi, I know this post is from a while ago but I’m in a similar boat with my baby and I wondered what happened with your little one?
Would love to know x

Floryella · 27/01/2022 15:04

@Mummingmayhem I’m in the same boat. My baby was happily taking a bottle until 8 weeks but since then had become almost afraid of it and only takes a couple of ounces at a time. She’s almost 12 weeks now. I’m trying to breastfeed more but have never had enough milk so still need to supplement. She is still gaining weight somehow, but very slowly. GP and paediatrician think it’s silent reflux so I’m now using baby gaviscon and hoping over time she will regain her trust in the bottle.

How are you and your baby doing?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread