Baby just won’t take much formula!

[SassyPants87]

DS is 12 weeks and I stopped BF about a week ago due to faltering growth. He’s been taking formula the last few days but will never take recommended daily amount! At this rate I’m like what difference did it make with him being on breast! He’s having weekly weigh ins and still hasn’t put on much weight

is it just a simple case of having to get used to formula and he will take more once his stomach is bigger?

I don’t want to keep forcing him and create bottle aversion! He’s only just accepted bottles

he should be having 720ml each day, I’m lucky if I hit 500!

Anyone else gone through this before? I feel like I’m getting obsessed and driving myself crazy. any advice would be most appreciated

By this age most BF babies take roughly 25 floz/739 mls of BM per day so the new amounts of formula shouldn't be an issue, unless he wasn't transferring enough milk before?

Has he been assessed for Tongue Tie. Do any of the symptoms in the link sound familiar?

Is it just the weight that’s the worry? Is he otherwise alert? sleeping an age appropriate amount? Nappies age appropriate? Has he been ill lately?

It seems like breastfeeding wasn’t at all causing the weight issues, so obviously switching to formula hasn’t changed the pattern of weight gain. He wasn’t taking enough milk because he didn’t want to. So it’s a matter of establishing if that’s a problem or not.

personally, in an otherwise healthy child I wouldn’t want to force feed, I don’t think it’s right or helpful. But you should get him checked over to be sure he is otherwise healthy. A bottle aversion is bad, worse ig you get a feeding/milk adversion

@PritiPatelsMaker yes he had a tongue tie so don’t think his milk intake was sufficient, hence the faltering growth and me stopping BF( it was just getting too much for me). He’s had his tongue tie snipped twice, second time was on Friday just gone. So maybe he just needs to get used to the volume of formula?

and me stopping BF( it was just getting too much for me)

There's no judgement here, you're obviously doing all you can to help your baby.

It could very well be that he just couldn't transfer the milk if he had TT.

How's his feeding been since Friday?

Thank you @PritiPatelsMaker it was really upsetting stopping BF and thinking I couldn’t adequately feed my child.

he’ll have around 600/650ml a day since Friday. I have to add he’s only been taking bottles very recently too since about last Tuesday so I might be being very ambitious in thinking he can drink as much as he ‘should be’

it’s just upsetting when you get told they have faltering growth and I want to do everything I can to help him gain weight better

thinking I couldn’t adequately feed my child.

It was nothing you were doing. Tongue Tue can seriously inhibit the amount of milk that they can transfer. It's nothing to do with how much you produce

If he's having 600 ml since Friday, I think he's doing really well. He may just gradually increase over the next few weeks.

If he's bright and alert between feeds and is meeting his milestones, this could just be his normal though.

Op it's so hard.

Ok so I had to mix feed, but my second baby was very different.

Which bottles are you using, and which teat size.

Some babies are needing the next stage teat faster, others don't, my three year old would sip milk out a new born teat now if poorly, never got them off her. The second was needing a slightly faster one straight away.

Just had a wee look at mam, which is what I used. Zero was first baby, second baby was in two and then three very quickly.

How much does he weigh?
Also how long does he take to feed and how much does he take ? Which size teats do you use ? Just thinking at 12 weeks he could use size 2s (but the flow could be fast after being breastfed)

How are you both getting on today @SassyPants87?

@Teafor1please he weighs 5.3kg. it doesn’t take him long to feed but he’s just done after 3 ounces max without any desire to feed anymore. I might try size 2 teats and see if that makes a difference. He might be just working too hard trying to get the milk and then not interested

@PritiPatelsMaker he’s taken even less milk today! But I called the HV who doesn’t seemed to be concerned and thinks we just need to give him some time to get used to formula and bottle feeding as he’s still very new to both. It’s just daunting seeing him not take as much as he should be taking

I can imagine it's very daunting. Have they advised you on how often to offer a feed in the day?

As it's only been a week, you'll still have some milk. Is it worth combining with breastfeeding if he was happy with that?

@PritiPatelsMaker they said to just go with his lead and feed on demand but if I do that he hardly drinks anything. He has a weigh in on Wednesday next week and if he’s following curve it’s fine but they’ve said if he drops again then we’ll look to put a feeding plan in place

Ok so my DD slowed down her weight gain at the sane age. Think she got too nosey to bother feeding. If I left her to her own cues she would go every 3 or 4 hours in the day but if I offered her a feed every 2 hours she would feed.

Does he go over 3 hours in the day without a feed? I'd be tempted to offer it every 2.5 hours in the day, 3 at most and every 4 hours at night.

I'm really sympathetic- neither of mine took much and I had the same BF journey as you for one. It pretty much ruined the first 6 months for me with worry.

The conclusion I've come to is that the guidance is nonsense. Other countries have much lower quantities recommended.

Saying that though, DD just wouldn't take much and after much shouting and pleading, we were referred to the dietician and she went on infatrini (more calorific). She definitely slept better after that.

DS was fine and just didn't like milk (still doesn't).

They're both thriving and very healthy 2&4 year olds

@nannyquestion5 thank you so much for your post. It’s so helpful hearing from someone who has been through the same and a bit further along in their parenting journey. That’s exactly how I feel it’s robbing me of the early days, I feel stressed, every time I give a bottle of milk I get anxiety around how much he will finish

can I ask with your DS did you just accept he just didn’t drink much milk and go with it? I feel like giving up forcing him to drink it’s just making us both upset

Yes that's exactly what we had to do - everything else we tried made it worse. DD actually ended up with a feeding aversion as I was so stressed and tried to trick her to take more. Ended up trawling the internet and ended up on Facebook groups for feeding aversions and bought a book (Rowena Bennet one). They all basically tell you to relax, only offer once every 3 hours and just CHILL OUT!

God, I don't even like thinking about it!

I also hated weaning, but it all feels like a long time ago and we now have the loveliest family meals where everyone enjoys their food and we enjoy each others company. It doesn't last long x

@PritiPatelsMaker still not having much luck! I have a suspicion it may be CMPA as he’s displayed multiple signs of delayed symptoms

If it is CMPA this article from Allergy UK might help