A first time Dad with questions

[dUnKle]

Hi all
Hope ok that as a Father I turn to the forum for some help / advice

Our daughter was 1 month old yesterday (25th)
She was born 3 weeks early by C section having been found to have raised heartrate and then being found to be breached

Since being born she has been back for a couple of overnight stays in hospital.
This was down to her not feeding at home. She was found to be tongue tied (although nothing extreme we are told) and could not take to being breastfed. I went out and purchased pretty much ever make of bottle and teat, but still nothing. We discovered she would only feed using the disposable hospital teats, made by Sterifeed, so I managed to get a 100 of these

Anyway, we went from her loosing quite a bit of weight and only having about 10 to 20 mls a feed (which took about 90 minutes to get into her) to having at least 40 to 50. Since then feeding has come on leaps and bounds, she is now using the Tommy Tippee bottles and number 1 teats and has between 90 and 120 ml a feed ( 3 to 4 oz )

One thing is though she seems to feed too fast for my liking, I know I am probably worrying to much but she is like drain once that teat goes in her mouth and as such she seems to get hiccups a lot and suffers from wind (bottom half worse than the top) - im using number 1 teats and I dont think there is anything slower

Secondly, she was jaundice from birth up to and beyond 14 days, as such she had to have the prolonged jaundice test, after a few return trips for urine catches it was found she has a urine infection which we started to give antibiotics for on Saturday. Since then she has been more sick after feeding and has poor running stools - I presume though this, as in adults, is a side effect of the medication. Her feeding habbits remain the same, she wants feeding every 3 hours, again taking on average between 90 and 120 - again however she seems to feed quickly and is positing more than before

Lastly, and I think you will probably all say "thats Colic" to this one, she has real bad bouts of crying in the evening. Usually from 1900hrs (give or take 30 minutes) which last 3 to 4 hours. She is not a huge cryer to be fair at other times (only really when its feed time and Daddy is too slow with bottle) but in evening she makes up for it, very hard to calm down, goes very red faced. A Dummy can settle her for a short while and a feed for a little longer. Eventually she just starts to close her eyes and with a cuddle goes to sleep (however if we put her down too soon she cries again)

As said from what I have learnt I guess this is Colic, whats best for her in this case ? Would it be made worse by the speed she feeds ? Can we give her anything to help ? Would this be ok with the antibiotics ?

Thanks for time

Hope ok as a Dad I ask

Do NOT GIVE HUNGRY MILK. Sorry for shouting but it is basically normal formula with a load of grubbins in which makes it sit heavily in the stomach for longer meaning baby wants to be fed less often. It doesn't actually address the issue that babies cry to be fed as often as they need to be fed and giving them hungry milk actually stops them being able to feed more no matter how thirsty they are. It's not recommended for such small babies anyway as they really must feed in demand. You have no way of knowing if baby is going through a growth spurt, is thirsty, is gearing up to sleep a longer stretch at night and trying to control how often they feed, be a schedule or by hungry milk actually interferes with all of those things and will make the baby far grumpier than making up small bottles little and often.

All sounds pretty normal baby behaviour to me. The antibiotics are probably giving her a bit of an upset tummy but it will go when she finishes the course. My ds was exactly the same (although ebf) and by 12 weeks had grown out of it all and would be fast asleep by 7. Just give it a bit of time. Their digestive systems can be a but immature at birth so wind/griping to be expected.

Again, thanks to everyone

I have the hungry milk, but based on the above its not being opened, maybe when she older etc (and if needed)

We did try the cluster thing last night, she had a feed around 1730hrs as normal and took about 3.5 floz (did sick up more than normal but think thats down to antibiotics)

Anyway at 1920 she screamed and cried as normal. So off I went to the kitchen and made a small 2 floz feed up, she had half of that and dozed off to sleep

2030 hrs she started to stir and within 10 minutes was crying again, back to the kitchen, and another 2 floz feed, this one she pretty much finished

Then sleep, sleep for just over FOUR hours, until she woke to be fed and had 110 mls

From then its back to her waking (give or take) every 3 hours

Its rare she goes more than 3 hours without a feed and gets fed throughout the night, I assumed this was normal but when mentioned some people look at me strange as if to say "shy she being fed during the night"

Anyway she just had the last dose of antibiotics, so hopefully the runny poos and increased sickness will disperse over the next 24 to 48 hours

I read your op and it sounded just like my son who had a kidney infection as a baby. If she has had a UTI she should be scanned to make sure she doesn't have an underlying kidney problem. My son was scanned and referred to GOSH. He had surgery to correct the problem and has been fine since. He cried a lot at 4-6 weeks, but it was kidney pain. Ask your Gp if she should be followed up.

For me hungry milk is more for when you're trying to hold off weaning but they aren't satisfied on milk alone.

The vast, vast majority of one month old babies have night feeds!! It's usually 4/6/12 months that people start to insist they should be sleeping through, although all babies are different. Some sleep through by 4 months but a lot keep waking much later. Some don't sleep through until 2 or 3 years although that is rarer, and tends to be less disruptive at that age.

Yeah the scan is going to be arranged for her regards Kidneys

Ignore anyone who looks at you funny wrt overnight feeds!!! My dd is ff and still has the odd night feeds at 9 months depends on how active she has been and how much food she has had in the day.

Pleased to hear re scan. My son was sick a lot and dropped weight but it was the infection that was the issue not just normal baby stuff. If she has more problems with sickness or weight gain or seems unwell take her straight back to the GP and ask for a paediatric referral. Also with UTIs you get a funny nappy smell

I'd still consider getting the tongue tie snipped if it can be arranged. Even if it's only minor, it can still have long lasting effects - not just on feeding, but on tooth health, speech and social issues later in life! (Not that you want to be thinking about those just now, or indeed until she's 40ish if you're like most new dads! )

Both my DSs had tonguetie, DS1's was snipped at 2w, DS2's at 5w (earliest appt available) and it made a hell of a difference to their ability to feed. DS1 was a long slow feeder, DS2 was a gulper who took in enough milk but huge amounts of air as well. After the TT was dealt with, he was able to feed more steadily and his reflux/vomiting, and his colic, were both much improved. They were both breastfed but I believe the air gulping is still a problem with bottle feeding when TT is present.

As a small aside, it annoys the SHIT out of me that tongueties are dismissed by the medics so readily, when the correction is so quick, simple and virtually painless. It should be part of the routine baby check, and should be dealt with when found, IMNVHO.

Most babies don't go without night feeds till atleast 6 months. Mine was 11 months when he finally dropped 5am feed. Don't worry about what others might think. At 1 month at least 2 night feeds is probably average. A three hour stretch of sleep is good going at that age.

Agree completely, Thumbwitch. As DD2 was bottlefed, the GP, HV et al insisted she couldn't possibly be tongue tied, as it was only a problem for BF babies

She didn't get it snipped until 8mo.

I'm just going to agree with the others, get the tongue tie snipped. It can cause lots of problems feeding no matter how you feed, including wind. It's relatively minor. Whoever posted the Milk Matters link is right, just go to them privately if you can afford it, or ask for their help in your area.

I can't advise this strongly enough!

Sounds like you are doing a great job so far though