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Crying on feed - Bottlefed


Hello ladies,

Please help me!! My 12 week old baby girl is crying on feeds and we are battling to get 3oz into her during her daytime feeds. Ive started dreading feeds and we both end up crying however much I try and stay calm and not let her see my anxiousness.

Started a few weeks ago, she would take about 2oz and then cry and push the teat out of her mouth. Her legs would be going mad, I would wind her, giver her a break and then offer her the bottle again but as soon as I would attempt to put it in her It improved for a short while bu then it started back up again. Saw the HV who suggested it may be a bit of reflux although she will happily let me lay her down and isnt always sick..:\?
Saw the GP last week who prescribed Infant Gavison (He wasnt the most forthcoming, thing he only gave it to pacify me) and again it improved for about 3/4 days but we are back to the crying and refusing of the bottle again.

Strange thing is that our night feed we have no issues on, she will happily take 4 oz before needing winding and does not even murmer during this feed.

We are using Avent Bottles and Variflow teats, have tried all 3 feeds but doesnt make any difference. It almost seems as though she is wanting to feed but getting frustrated.
We were using Infacol before the Gavison and have tried feeds with and without this and it makes no difference.
She is on 4 feeds during the day and 1 at night and at the moment, we are struggling to get 15 ish oz into her during the day :cry:

Can anyone offer any experiences of this or can see a reason this may be happening that I cant? my head is muddled from over thinking this and I canot see the wood for the trees at the moment. :cry:

Replies

  • I remember going through something very similar with my LO and to be honest, we never got to the bottom of it. We did however regularly have to change bottles and teats, which seemed to help. Instead of the variflow, have you tried a more medium flow? It could be that she's getting the milk too slowly (or quickly) and while she's happy to wait at night, there's too much going on in the day.

    Does she suffer from wind? Do you manage to get it up or does she end up being sick? You may want to try Dr Browns bottles, they really cured my LO's wind problems.

    Hope others can offer more advice and I hope you get sorted soon xx
  • Thanks for your reply lawso.

    She does suffer with wind but 8/10 I think I get it although not always the case and sometimes 2 hours later she is burping or hiccuping.

    Have tried Dr Brown Bottles and TT but nothing changes. Will try another teat.

    Its horrible seeing her so distressed, sorry you experienced it oo. How long did it go on for?
  • It seemed to be at its worst for about a week, would fade away with whatever I'd changed, then come back a few weeks later for another week, until I tried something else. That's why I said we didn't get to the bottom of it. Even with the Dr Browns, he still suffered but nowhere near the same as with the others. It settled right down after using them for about 2 weeks, which was probably when he was about 18 weeks.

    It is horrible and you can't help but end up in tears with them. I really hope others can offer a solution for you and really do hope that she settles soon xx
  • Thank you again lawso,

    Im so confused as to what to try next, little and often and back to 3 hourly feeds, new formula, etc etc
    Will try the Dr Browns again...I could opne a bottle shop with the amount of brands I have floating round.

    :cry:
  • We had the exact same problem and the exact same age! It wasnt wind, she could burp like a trouper! We changed teats, bottles, feeding position....the doc thought she had silent reflux, but couldnt be sure, so wouldnt prescribe anything. We had to battle through until we could wean her just to get something into her, as she want gaining any weight She still isnt great at taking milk.

    I know how you feel, it is so frustrating , In our house feeding time alway resulted in a battle and both of us in tears, it still does sometimes at nearly 24 weeks!

    This is what we tried -

    Emilia was on the TT variflow teat and I tried her with a medium flow teat, that didnt work so I had to tried a fast flow. This kind of worked for about 5 weeks and got us to the point we could wean her. We weaned using milk in most of her meals. Babyrice with veg or fruit.

    A lady on her recommened trying feeding her in her bouncy chair...this did work when she was particuarly fractious.

    I also alternated between Aptamil liquid and powdered milk. This worked a bit too. Not sure if it was just a difference in texture that interested her???

    I am sorry I can not help a bit more...it was such a frustrating and upsetting time. I know exactly how you are feeling. If I can help anymore please ask xxx

    [Modified by: joemoeuk on June 15, 2010 09:43 AM]

  • We went onto Doc Brown bottles and it worked a treat - combined with gripe water. Now we haven't needed to use gripe water for 3 weeks - YIPPEE.

    Although it sounds to me like she may have reflux.

  • Hi Sharmy,
    We're just coming out the other side of a few week phase of LOs feeding habbits changing for the worse. My LO is 18 weeks so was a similar age to yours when she started playing up.
    Does she go the same amount of time between feeds or is she hungry and asking for food earlier?
    About 3 weeks ago, my LO suddenly lost her appetite, we went from an average of 28oz a day to just 17oz. She would request food 4 hourly as usual, but would only take about half the amount she had been before pushing the bottle out and throwing a right wobbly screaming and fighting us if we tried to get her to take more. She would get so distressed till we took the bottle away. She was then fine and happy till the next feed 4 hours later where it would begin again. However she did seem to happily and calmly drain the last feed of the day.
    I was of course worried that her intake had halved for no reason that I could work out. Took her to clinic after a week of it for weighing and she was still gaining well. HV said she was just taking what she wanted and needed and that providing she was gaining and having wet and dirty nappies then I needn't worry...(of course I was still worrying!)
    We went on like this for 3 weeks, when she'd had enough, even if she'd only taken 2oz, I'd put the bottle away and leave her be. For the last 3 days however, she seems to suddenly have got her appetite back and has been nearly draining most of her bottles again.
    All very strange.
    I've no idea if what you're going through is similar to what we have been? But my advice would be to get your LO weighed if you can, keep an eye on her nappies and not to stress both of you out at feed times, let her lead you as to when and how much she wants.
    xxx
  • My lo was diagnosed with reflux about 12 weeks old. At least thats when we saw paed and they prescribed meds. We found vast improvement when she started on rantitadine (zantac).

    She wouldn't cry with every feed, night times were better but we struggled to get milk down her during the day. Like your lo she didn't seem to mind lying down, gained weight well, wasn't sick at every feed, it was all very puzzling. However, gp referred her to paeds and they were convinced it was reflux and started her on the ranitidine. Different child! I look back now and it was so stressful. As she is my first I didn't know any different but there is a massive improvement. We were on gaviscon at first and while it was ok she still struggled with feeds.
  • we had this and for us it was teething, applying bonjela before each feed helped a lot and it stoped after a few weeks, conenciding with a tooth at 15 weeks! it just happened in the day so we think his teething must have settled in the evening?
  • I agree with piggypops, i was going to say teething, sometimes their wee gums are so sore and it hurts to suck on the teat but during the night her mouth hasnt been moving and so gums are not as sore so when it comes time to take her feed she is ready for it, id recommend a teething gel about 15 minutes before a feed, and see how that goes. xxx
  • Forgot to add, they were also 'easier' to feed at night, but would have explosive napppies by the morning as they took the most milk at night.
  • I may be going to the extreme but thought I would mention our problems. My boys are allergic to cows milk protein. However, there were other symptoms that indicated this. I hated feeding them and would cry my eyes out as it was so difficult.

    Their nappies were green and incredibly smelly and runny. They would squirm about for a good hour after feeding, eventually refusing to take any milk, and crying constantly because they were hungry. They begun to lose weight but thankfully, I had been given an urgent referral to the paed before this became too serious. They also both developed horrid eczema.

    I tried everything too, but I knew the problem was more than that as their nappies just werent normal (and they are my first but I just knew this wasnt right!)

    The paed put us on cows milk protein treated milk and, with the help of Gaviscon for silent reflux also, they are great now. They still dont drink enough milk, and I worry as I cant put milk in food (I make theirs and mine and im not putting their milk in my food!!) but they are healthy and I try to make sure I put enough nutrient heavy food into their diet.

    I went to the Drs 4 times in one week before they would listen. My paed was amazed we had waited so long, although I know others who have waited A LOT longer! I now bypass my GP and phone the paed. They are much more helpful and are always happy to give advice (I obviously dont phone them constantly!)

    HTH, and hope you get to the bottom of things.

    Gemma, Ryan and Alfie nearly 8.5 months
  • hey sharmy
    how's it all going now?
    libby's started doing exactly as your little one was and she's 11 and a half weeks.
    xx
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