Feeding and sleep

[Gwenno]

I breastfed my baby until 2 weeks and then switched to bottles. He drained a 3oz bottle at about 3 weeks old so since then I’ve made 4oz bottles. But he’s never increased on this at all, he's now almost 9 weeks old. If anything, he’s gone backwards and has less than 3oz a lot of the time and wakes every 2-3 hours at night.

A few times he’s been fussy in the evening and has about 6-7oz (sometimes more) over the course of around an hour to an hour and a half. When this happens he sleeps for 6 hours straight through! So what I’m wondering is, how can I get him to increase his feeds regularly rather than just when he’s overtired and fussy?

Presuming you’re already burping mid-feed to rule out wind, I’d try going up a teat size so he gets the milk a bit faster.

I do try to burp mid feed but because he's hungry he screams when I take the bottle away and just swallows more air so I don't do it...

I did wonder about teats. I replaced all the slow ones with medium flow at about 4 weeks and they say 3 months plus. Could he really need fast flow ones already?

In that case it does sound more like wind than the tear flow, since you’ve already sized up I’d be reluctant to go to fast flow. I’d definitely try and keep burping mid-feed if you can, it’s tricky when they cry though!

Thank you. I will persevere with winding mid feed. I'm trying to get him into some kind of routine with naps and feeds but he goes from napping all day one day to three bursts of 20 - 30 minutes other days which clearly is too much/not enough! It's a nightmare but I do feel like it's related to his feeding. I know it's frowned upon by lots, but I just want him to be in a routine. Thank you again for replying.

@JosellaPlayton just wanted to say thank you - I had given up on the winding thing due to crying, reattempted and it is working - regularly having 6 now and has slept 9-3 past two nights. Thank you!

Excellent to hear, glad everyone is getting some more sleep