Help- feeding

[2magpie]

Hi, I am hoping for some advice! My baby was born very prematurely. He is 6 months old actual (3 months corrected) but weighs less than 10 pounds. I breastfeed him, but I am being pressured to supplement with a high calorie formula to help him grow. I am willing to do this but I cannot get him to take a bottle! Ive tried MAM and Tommee tippee, as well as Nuk. Please help with any advice or tips! I am so worried my breast milk is just not enough for him 😩

My two would never take a bottle either but we did have some success with a cup.

Have a read of this on alternative feeding methods.

I'd also read How Might I Increase My Baby's Weight too

How are you both doing today @2magpie

Thank you for that , the resource you linked are very informative. We are okay today,
trying to feed as often as he will allow. He keeps trying to sleep through (!) But i did 3 dreamfeeds last night and he fed really well and didnt wake up so i felt quite happy that he got that extra milk. Im gonna do frequent dreamfeeds if he will allow until he starts piling on some weight! We have another weigh in next Saturday so that should allow a decent amount of time to see if the dream feeds are working xxx

I'm glad that the article was helpful and that you're both doing a bit better today.

If he's sleepy, have you read this on feeding sleepy babies?

And have you tried some breast compressions? They might help to keep him awake during feeds

Dd simply would NOT take a bottle, not at any point. I second the sippy cup idea. We were actually advised to use that method when ds was born with jaundice and so was very sleepy and didn't want to make the effort to breastfeed. When the Dr (?) came to do his newborn check in hospital and asked if I wanted to feed him myself and I said yes, she told me to under no circumstances introduce a bottle yet as that would be game over. She advised sippy cup method instead.

(This did NOT go down well with the nurses overnight who kept pressuring me to just give a bottle and "stop starving him" - resulting in me in tears after one accused me of "abusing" him by not giving a bottle, followed by an angry husband making a formal complaint in the morning, and a furious matron type nurse in charge demanding their names and ensuring I never set eyes on either of those nurses again for the remaining 4 days and nights we were kept in hospital.)

The sippy cup / lapping baby thing did work, though.

Uh will he do dream feeds with a bottle? That’s how we cracked it with DD - she was too asleep to notice how she was being fed I think.

Thank you for the suggestions. I have ordered a sippt, its the tum tum tot one. Because hes so small still I am nervous to try it but really willing to try anything because his consultant is adamant that breast milk alone lacks full nutrition (baby has vitamin drops and daily iron supplements too due to prematurity). Can anyone remember the brand of sippy they used that might be suitable for a very small baby? I am really grateful for the replies. My husband is amazing but he refuses to believe baby needs anything other than breastfeeds, I'm really trying my best. Im doing 3 dreamfeeds a night atm as je just wants to sleep through! I haven't tried with a bottle though! Maybe i should do though x

You could try a supplementary nursing system? It's basically like a tube that goes in their mouth while they're breastfeeding. I looked into it for my premature baby, but in the end he just put on enough weight for the health visitor to be satisfied. He was also on iron, folic acid and vitamins. Have you any contact with the infant breastfeeding team? I also found la leche league very helpful.

I will say that DS2 was born on the 50th centile and is now on the second. He's nearly 2, it's a fantastic eater, but was seen by a dietician because of his size. They're happy he's just small, and his neonatal consultant always felt he was just "following his own line". He never lost weight, which seemed to be the main concern.

I've never heard of the supplementary feeding system! I'm looking into it now. My baby has always been on the 0.4th centile and a slow grower. He dropped even below that when he was very poorly a couple of months ago. He never lost weight but he was in hospital nil by mouth and just maintained. Since then he is following his own line but he hasn't made it back up.to.the 0.4th line yet x

If you haven't already, ask to be referred to the specialist feeding team (not just advice from a midwife)

We are under NICU still, so still being seen by the NICU nurses and consultant. Also been seen by dietician, who very helpfully (or not) advised if he could have approx 350ml formula and 350ml breastmilk a dsy, he will grow properly. Prety unhelpful as I obviously can't measure what he takes at the breast and he wont take a bottle. When he was poorly in hospital recently I breaastfed him for comfort and they aspirated his NG tube- he had taken 70ml in under 5 minutes. So I an hopeful the volume is there for him. X

That is awful, what a terrible experience for you. I am glad the matron dealt with it properly. ❤️

My son was premmie too. We used these groceries.morrisons.com/products/cow-gate-1-first-baby-milk-formula-liquid-starter-pack-from-birth/106857555?utm_source=tradedoubler_Velkashopping.com+%28UK%29+-+Google+Shopping+CSS&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=0&sprogram=246156&affiliateId=3241174&site_name=Velkashopping.com+%28UK%29+-+Google+Shopping+CSS&tduid=f88f01802279b66ca1a2d53a0fe7338c the teats are small and soft. We also found the really cheap one you could get from the pound shop we're good too because the teats were smaller and softer!

In hospital I topped up breast feeds with a Doidy cup

It's really hard with NICU and breastfeeding. Ideally they want you to express and feed from a bottle as then they know exact volumes, but I refused to do that as I knew that the likelihood of DS2 exclusively breastfeeding after that was low. It's really tough though, as you obviously want to make sure that they're getting enough! Since I expressed for so many months when he was NG fed I was confident the volume was there, but I did spend a lot of time initially doing breast compressions and naps with him latched on to me just to encourage a bit more in.