My baby is just a few days away from 15 weeks old and currently weighs just under 15lbs. Since their 12-week vaccinations, they’ve dropped a feed but haven’t increased the volume of their bottles. In fact, they’re actually taking less overall. They’re still very happy, have no fever, and are producing plenty of wet and dirty nappies, so I didn’t think too much of it at first and assumed they might just be regulating their intake.
The issue now is that feeding has become a struggle. About halfway through a 150ml bottle, they start to fuss and cry, and from that point on it becomes a battle. They cry because they want the bottle, but also cry when it’s near them. This is making feeds take a long time. He usually feed every 2–2.5 hours, have around six feeds a day, and sleep through the night.
Today, he didn’t want a feed until closer to three hours, so I made up a 180ml bottle, but he only took 140ml, with a lot of moaning throughout. Because feeds are so drawn out, he will end up taking even less overall today. As he sleeps through the night and don’t like a dream feed, I’m unsure what the best approach is to encourage better feeding. I’ve considered offering smaller, more frequent bottles, but my concern is that a lot of their wake time is already taken up with feeding and then keeping them upright afterward, which doesn’t leave much time for play. Smaller, more frequent feeds would only add to that. He only stays up maximum 1.5 hours per window but most times it’s around 70 minutes so splitting feeds is still going to be a problem.
He is a very happy baby, but this past week has been hard work. We currently fed using a medium Lansinoh teat on a MAM bottle. I’m unsure whether to switch back to a MAM teat, although I don’t think he latched particularly well with it before. Has anyone else experienced this? At the moment, he will only feed for me, so my partner can’t help with feeds either.
I’m wondering if this is just a developmental phase. Feeding is calm and low-stimulus — no TV during the day, just the radio on low in the background.