Baby who struggled at the breast and now a bottle, does anyone have any ideas

[TinkerBellesMum]

A friends baby didn't do well at the breast (I didn't know sooner or I would have helped get her some good support ) and she switched to the bottle. He's now (I think about 7 weeks) still having the same problems of not taking much and his weight is still not going the way they want it to. They've got her on weekly weigh-ins and feeling rather rotten.

I don't know much about bottle feeding or what could cause him to have problems so I was wondering if any of you could help? Is it possible that tongue-tie could affect bottle feeding if that's not been looked at?

I think tongue-tie can definitely affect bottle feeding.

Thanks for that. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

?reflux (silent maybe)

My friend's baby wasn't thriving at all and they paid for a private scan and found the baby's tube in his throat was partially blocked, they cleared it at 6 weeks and he rapidly gained weight. This was an extreme case though as he put on no weight.

the fact that he is on weekly weigh ins is good.
some HP's go all out for daily ones which is ridiculous, and unhelpful.
weekly weigh-ins will help to see if there is a real problem or if he is just a slow gainer- some babies just are

I've never heard of tongue tie affecting bottle feeding myself, but willing to be told otherwise.

it could be something liek a dairy intolerance? but I am sure they'll figure that out if GP is involved now

Sorry to be so abrupt earlier - was meant to be working Hope your friend gets some answers soon.

TIY - I was basing my answer on my friend's experience. She has two DDs both with tongue tie which eventually meant she switched from breast to bottle with both of them. With DD1 the move to bottle was easy, DD2 had a much more severe tie and still struggled to take a bottle - it took ages to geta feed into it. She had it cut at about 6 wks and now feeds much better. So I guess a severe tie does affect any feeding motion - bottle or breast - though obviously breast more so due to latch issues.

Ours lost over 10% of body weight in a week despite apparently feeding well. we startd on breast, he was on formula within a week and exclusively formula by 3 weeks. He had a dairy allergy it transpired manifested by an initial all over rash (we think) then colicy symptoms and persistent blood in the nappy.

What a horrid typo

Thanks for your answers, I will ask her if they've looked into tongue tie. I really feel for her having to stop bfing when she didn't want to and even the bottle not helping.

Hi has she already tried all the different bottles? We struggled with exclusive BF for about 7 weeks and baby had NGT at one point, but when we eventually tried bottles it was like trying bottles with a 'proper' breastfed baby if you know what I mean. Tomy tippee closer to nature worked well, avent teats seemed too big for his tiny (prem) mouth.

Also, our baby had silent reflux so he would sometimes scream at the breast and the bottle, and eventually refused all feeds. When we sorted out meds he was ok. Tell her to try feeding baby in a more upright position. And its easy for me to say now, but don't panic, don't keep continually trying to force bottle into screaming mouth, try when baby is a bit sleepier. I really feel for your friend, reading this back those early weeks were a nightmare. Our baby now eats solids vey happily and is a better eater than most!

dd1 screamed the whole time breast and bottle feeding, she had a tongue tie and also thrush in her mouth, which made feeding difficult (I guess they will have checked for thrush?)

We tried a lot of bottles, and DrBrown's seemed to be the one she was happiest with (we never had the tt cut). We have some Avent, and Dr Browns bottle which she can have for p&p if she wants to try them (it can be an expensive business, trying all these things!)

She also had colic (which stopped dead on 12 weeks), and we found it easier, when she was very screamy to feed her when she was sat in a bouncy chair/car seat (I know that it goes against all a mum's cuddling instinct's, but she did seem happier feeding that way).

Sorry for waffliness of post, i hope your friend finds some solution, and let me know if she would like the bottles.

the only reason I said I didn't think tongue tie would affect bottle feeding is that when breastfeeding, a baby with tongue tie often doesn't latch properly and can't suck effectively and thus can't get enough milk out.

with a bottle though it is much easier because you don't need a specific sucking action. and of course mum can see that baby is taking all the milk, so unless this lady's baby is struggling to actually feed from the bottle then I would have thought it was unlikely to be that? doez that make sense?
and baby may struggle to feed from a bottle, but in all likelihood would take all the feed eventually?

interesting actually, because I'd never really thought of it affecting bottle feeding. and of course it's best to get it checked, just in case.

If I remember correctly what she said, he's not taking much from the bottle either, it's like he's just not interested in eating. Which is, of course, leading to him not gaining weight.

To be honest when I left the group I thought a lot about it and tongue-tie was one of the things that got me wondering and if it affects bottle feeding too. Surely if it was that bad to affect bottle feeding they would have spotted it? Or do we have to worry about our HCPs?!

sadly sometimes they just don't check. my first wasn't checked for it, and I gave up BF before I realised why it had been so bloody painful. I saw numerous midwives, health visitors and a bfc about it too.

so it's def worth asking for iut to be checked. if it was a bad tongue tie, mum ought to be able to tell because he won't be able to lift the tongue very high and she'll be able to see it tethered down.

that said, even a less severe tongue tie can sometimes be problematic and it isn't necessareily that easy to spot.
does that make senes?