Teats
Hi
i am not sure if anyone can help but I'm having a really stressful and exspensive time feeding my little one who is now 4 weeks.
we started breastfeeding for a few days but she wouldn't latch on so moved to bottles. This started off ok but then she began to develop colic and reflux being sick after every feed. I moved her to dr brown bottles which helped sickness but not the colic. I was then advised to use comfort milk which I did, however my next problem was it would not come out the teats. Therefore I bought more teats in size 2 and 3. Size 2 my little girl would get frustrated and 3 would drown her! Someone recommended vari flow however de brown only do 9 month plus. Therefore I have now moved her to tommee tippee colic bottles and vari flow teats. My new problem is she is only really drinking 2-3 ounces before falling asleep where before she was on 4 (however probably was losing an ounce from being drowned by the teat) my question is is this normal? She is also bringing much less wind up with these? We have probably spent about £60 on changing bottles teats and milk plus at the start a £100 breast pump and I don't want to waste anymore money any ideas?
Replies
Sorry to hear about your problems feeding! Could it be reflux? I was convinced my baby weren't feeding because she was in pain with wind then I thought it was colic etc etc and it wasn't until a paediatrician said she was suffering quite badly with reflux that It all made sense. She was only taking 1-3 ounces at a time. Now she is 12 weeks and takes 5oz per bottle.
Also, is she putting weight on ok? I am obsessed with numbers and how much she is taking butthe same ped reassured me to stop counting ounces if she seems well otherwise. It's also important to count how much she's having in 24hrs rather than per bottle.
I can imagine it's tough and expensive.... it gets easier !!
Thanks for your reply. I think she has both to be honest and I felt I got it under control with the dr brown bottles but I could not get the right teat for her comfort milk and she was drowning in milk round her face and neck even though I wiped regularly. Therefore I changed the bottle and teat to vari flow and she doesn't seem to take much. To be fair I only started vari flow yesterday so maybe i need to give them a bit longer but she doesn't seem to bring up much wind now compared to before. X
Have you been to see your doctor? Maybe some infant gaviscon/infacol/gripe water might help which are cheaper than teats and bottles. My baby has been put on ranatidine for the reflux and it's working really well. Sounds horrible! Hang in there x
Hello :-)
I have 2 boys - one is 4 years old and the other is nearly 10 months old. They were both totally different in feeding at around the age your little one is now.
My eldest would drink little and often, literally 2oz if that every 1.5 - 2 hours and he would bring a LOT back up, even only having a small amount. But he never suffered with Colic.
My youngest would take about 3-4 ounces every 4 hours ish and wouldn't sick any of it back! However, he suffered with Colic quite badly. We had the Tommee Tippee anti colic bottles which worked a treat, along with Gripe Water. Now your little one is 4 weeks old (or a month old) they can have gripe water and its only around £2.50 - £3 a bottle depending on where you get it from.
I think perseverance is the key - sometimes you just have to rid it out with the colic until they grow out of it - that's what we had to do with our youngest. And stick to the same bottles/milk/teats for a good week or 2 so you can see if its working. I was told, with babies, if you make any changes you need to give it around a week to see a change.
Can't offer any advice on a reflux as mine have never suffered.
Is your baby pooing OK? If she is blocked up, that won't help her colic. My second was terrible for constipation. The comfort milk can sometimes do that to babies too. A lot of people put their babies on it and they don't really need it (that's what the pharmacist told me, he was right for us, but all babies are different!).
I think one or two people have said it - just keep an eye on babies weight. That's the main thing :-) It doesn't matter how much milk they are taking, aslong as their weight is going on. With my first, he would sick loads and loads back up, and when I spoke to the health visitor she said it always looks worse than it is and they don't bring back as much as you think. She was right really cos his weight just kept going on nicely :-)
I don't know if this has helped at all, but it will get better honey. These first few weeks are the hardest. Just keep plodding on :-)
Jodie xx
Hi thanks both.
yes we did go to the doctors and it was under control I was just concerned as she was on size 3 teats and drowning as that's the only one the milk would come out on And was worried she would get sores in her Neck and around her mouth. She would finish a bottle in 5 minutes and want more Where she lost a lot. So now on vari flow she drinks hardly any of the milk so not sure if there is a certain way to use vari flow teats? X
Sorry yes she was putting on weight I just don't know what's best milk round her mouth and neck and risk sores or her drinking from vari flow but she gets tired from this does that makes sense X
I would stick with the variflow for a bit hun, see how they go. Or if you would rather use the other teats, double up on bibs and then shove a muslin under her chin too :-) xx
Thanks swanny I thought bottle feeding would be simple lol X
Nothing is EVER simple with these little people!! And if you have anymore, you will be back to square 1 cos you never get 2 the same!! It will get easier :-) Just think aslong as she is happy and gaining weight, everything else will just happen. I am sure you are doing a fantastic job xx
To add to all of this I have just found out the vari flow teats aren't comparable with the tommee tippee anti colic bottles! Oh dear if only she had latched in breast feeding! X
Bless you! I didn't even try to breast feed, just went straight to the bottle, so I don't know the difference! x