Bottle feeding advice 2 weeks old

[Bobzybaby]

Hi

I can’t seem to navigate this site properly so I’m sorry if this is the wrong place to post!

My son is 2.5 weeks old. We’re using Dr Browns bottles. He’s been taking between 70-90mls each feed but taking over 2 hours so feeding is pretty constant through the day. Over the last few days he’s really seemed to struggle to get his wind out. Crying and being restless, particularly in the evening.

The HV suggested a variflow teat which Dr Browns don’t do. She said he’s maybe having to work too hard to get his milk and giving up / sleeping. And in turn then not winding effectively. She didn’t want us to go up to level 2 teat as it’s for 3+ months.

I read online that Boots own variflow teat fits dr browns but it’s out of stock. So, I bought Avent ones to try (not realising it was for 3+ months). Anyway, he’s just taken 70mls in 20 mins and is asleep! That’s never happened before. I’m currently feeling like a bad mum though as he’s only 2.5 weeks and I don’t know if he’s too wee for that kind of teat. All the stuff I’ve read online about variflow has been with older babies or babies on comfort milk any reassurances?!
Thanks

Hi!

Congratulations on the baby!

If the teat was too big for little one he would have struggled to drink from the bottle. The milk would have flowed out too quickly for him to manage. You would have known. My little boy with a too big teat would have milk flowing out of his mouth and gag as it was too much too fast.

But if he drank it without any issues then I would say not to worry.

How long did it take to drink that much before?

Also- with regards to the wind have you tried the usual of

• making sure not to give him the bubbles (if you have to give a freshly made bottle angle the bottle so the bubbles aren’t in the teat)
• making sure the bottle is angled so that the teat is always full of milk and baby isn’t swallowing air.

X

@Rkay2 thanks for replying!

He would normally take 1-2 hours to take that much. Like he'd take 30-40ml then have a sleep then take 20ml, have another sleep and so on over a couple of hours. But he feeds every 3-3.5 hours so no matter when he'd taken his last lot, we'd need to start all over again with a new bottle every 3 hours.

I'm just conscious he's only 2.5 weeks old so everything is still new to him. But at the same time, we don't want him to be in distress! He seemed to take the teat ok, a teeny bit of spitting out but that could just be because it was the first feed.

We've tried everything with the wind including making sure the bubbles aren't in the teat. The only thing we could think is that he's too sleepy to manage it and then getting distressed when it builds up. He's passed a bit since taking his bottle so that already seems a bit different. I've got everything crossed this works for him! X

When I swapped teats the time difference was quite noticeable!
Your little one might be able to wind now he’s not taking so long?
I did start my little one on infacol quite early to help with the wind and it did. He wasn’t on it for very long though!

@Rkay2 thanks for this, I feel reassured! It blows my mind how much of this is just guesswork!

We've got the health visitor on the 11th so I'll double check everything with her! The wee man has had a massive sleep since his feed which is unlike him. I really hope this has cracked it! X

My baby couldn't wnd effectively for a couple of months, I don't think it's unusual. Although obviously can be very painful for LO :(

The new teats sound great - if it was too fast, LO would choke and protest. Ignore the age range, they're just guidelines for average babies. Same as nappy size weight limits, once they start to leak pee up the back, size up :)

Thanks @Liland this first time mum anxiety is real it's so good to hear others real life perspectives and not just 'official' advice :) x

As others have said - you would have known if the flow had been too fast for him. There would have been spluttering, trying to pull away, crying.

Sounds like the change in teats was exactly what your baby needed and feeding will be a much happier, swifter process for you both going forward.

Sorry guys looking for more advice on this bottle situation.

The teats we got, turns out are unreliable with dr Browns bottles, last 2 feeds were leaking everywhere. We had a free tommee tippee bottle so used that with TT variflow teat and went great.

So, do we buy new tommee tippee bottles or do we try Dr Browns level 2 teat (we'd have to buy them as only have level 1 ). I dunno if he'd have the same control with the level 2 as with a variflow. Can't seem to find the right information online!

Yes agree with pp’s

A normal feed should be no longer than 20 minutes. Should aim for around 10-15 mins (no faster nor slower). Any longer than that means you need to go up a teat ‘size’. Just check they aren’t choking/struggling with big gushes of milk. Otherwise will be fine.

Thanks @Cocomobile so you think trying up a teat size first and see how that goes? (As opposed to buying all new TT bottles to use with variflow).

My HV didn't want me to go up a teat size but said she wasn't familiar with Dr Browns bottles and didn't know they didn't do variflow teats. Plus, her visit was a week ago and I feel a lot has changed since then. X

If he feeds better with the TT bottles. Just get them. Dr Browns are very expensive.

I agree with pp - we had to go up a teat size very early as baby was falling asleep.

Have you tried infacol for wind? It has worked wonders for us and if we remember to do it before every bottle throughout the day it has stopped that evening witching hour.

Maybe just bite the bullet and buy size 2 to try as, if that works, you wont have to pay out for a new set of bottles? And if not, then you buy the bottles. Or you could probably pick some up 2nd hand and just buy new teats if you wanted to reduce cost.

Good luck!

Are you breastfeeding as well? The only concern I would have with a teat being too fast (apart from them not coping with the flow and possibly aspirating) is that it can cause breast refusal.

I’m always sceptical of people giving advice on breastfeeding and bottle feeding. If you talk to ten lactation consultants, each one will most likely give you different advice. However in my experience I have found a lot of midwives/nurses (I’m not in the uk atm, so we have nurses that visit us at home after having a baby) give bad advice re breastfeeding and bottle feeding.

In your particular situation I’m sceptical of your hv’s knowledge because 2 hours is very clearly too long and he would be exhausted from it. He might be fussy just from exhaustion and nothing to do with wind even if he is ‘windy’.

So, my advice is to get proper advice from a lactation consultant. Not sure if that’s an option for you! There’s heaps of excellent advice on line as well. Eg look at la leche league or even Australian breastfeeding association. I know it’s for bottle feeding but they cover bottle feeding too in some of their content.

We went up a teat size around 3 months. It worked wonders :)

Oh and I don’t have any experience wit variflow. But I use the dr browns bottles and tests with my 6 month old now. I chose dr browns based on a masters dissertation that was done by a lactation consultant that found that dr browns had the most consistent flows and also slowest flows.

I’m breastfeeding so wanted slow flowing teats to protect my breastfeeding.

I’m a scientist (medical background) so approach breastfeeding and bottle feeding as a scientist..

Sorry that should say “teats” not tests...

Amazon has the TT starter set for £16 with two small bottles and two large bottles and they come with the first size teats. Also the
Variflow 2 pack on amazon is £4.
They also have packs of 6 of the bottles
Which are more expensive.

But for about £20 you can purchase more of the TT.

Also every baby is different and you will find your way with your baby. And sometimes cheap and cheerful works better than expensive and most recommended.

I think I had an amazon prime delivery every day after my son came!

On the bottles, I'd stick with dr browns and get the entire size up teats. They seem to be the top recommended ones for wind, colic, reflux etc, to make feeding easier. We had to abandon Tommy tippee at a few days old because of the wind problems and have used nuk happily ever since. Would have got dr browns of they were in stock locally when we were desperate!

Thanks everyone, your advice is very much appreciated!

We've decided to buy a level 2 Dr Browns teat to try. I'm so reluctant to give up on the bottles as they're widely recognised as the best for wind / colic. However, we'll buy the TT ones as back up and just return them if they're not needed!

I'm not so fussed about the cost as we can pick up TT pretty cheap. But, I'd pay anything for a quiet life and happy baby lol!

I'm solely bottle feeding so don't need to worry about changing from bottle breast thankfully!

I'll discuss his wind with the HV and see if medication is required. I'm hoping it works itself out if we can get the flow of his feeds right 🤞🏻 x

For bad wind etc we changed formula to C&G anti reflux milk and he was prescribed infant gaviscon. Within a week it had helped no end.