help feeding is a nightmare! UPDATED ITS REFLUX

[sparky]

Update

Last night was a really horrible one, she was up all night coughing grunting etc and gettting really upset.

I took her to the docs today and he thinks its reflux. He's given her infant gaviscon to try and see if this makes any difference.

Thanks for the help ladies, its great to know your not alone when all you seem to see are good little babies happily taking their bottles.

Jollypops..will definately give those bottles a try, was scared stiff that i'd have to fork out tonnes for a new set of dr browns or something!!

How long did the gaviscon take to kick in? and did you continue with infacol too, that seems to be making her fart tonnes..and better out than in eh?



feeding isla has always been difficult, but its getting me down now.

she feeds every 3 hours, but the bottle can take up to an hour, with fussing, pulling away, falling asleep, or just opening her mouth and letting the teat sit there etc, then she wont bring up her wind!! and i'm there for ages. i usually try after every ounce.

re taking the bottle, i have to resort to undressing her, putting her down, changing her nappy to keep her awake. tried letting her cry beforehand so shes really hungry for it, tried having it ready for the second she awakes, changing to a medium flow teat, i thought she would have grown out of this by now - i put it down to her being a 36 week'er -, but i feel like she doesnt enjoy it, she pulls a grimace when i try and put the bottle back in like its disgusting! i just want her to enjoy her bottle, rather than it being a battle!

i feel as if i'm having to force the bottle!

for the wind just started infacol and will try and feed her sitting up, she wont part with it and ends up moaning and farting loads! she is quite grumpy, and seems restless in her sleep, brings up after every feed, she doesnt pull her legs to her chest tho

am booked to start baby massage next week which i've read helps

i'm loosing the plot

i'm using ttctn bottles, feed 3 oz every 3 hours...sometimes a wee bit more, she weighs about 8.10lbs now

 

[Laur_250]

Sorry I cant offer much help but wanted to say it must be tiring....

Reggie was 35+5 when born and after un-succesful latching we had to bottle feed until my milk came in and his suck got better, the bottles would take about an hour cos he just wasnt interested and it was so frustrating!! He's a milk monster now though and breastfeeds really well!

Hopefully as she gets older it will change but have you thought about trying a faster flowing teat? If you dont need to breastfeed then I wouldnt worry about using the closer to nature bottles as they are a slow flow like breast and maybe she finds them too much hard work. Maybe try normal bottles and chose a medium flow teat to see if she takes it faster, those are the ones we use when I bottle feed expressed milk and he drinks it really quickly. xx

 

[1sttimemum]

my baby took an hour to take 4ozs and she used to scream during the feed, struggled to get her wind up and was constantly possetting bits of milk up to 2 hours later

She had reflux

 

[Hazel]

Connie is slow with her bottles. Changed to the medium teat which has helped a bit. She's very snotty and can't breathe through her nose so every feed is a bit of a battle at the moment. I also do the changing her halfway through to keep her awake. She's getting wind becasue she's having to breathe through her mouth while on the bottle. When she's lying on her front she farts like a trooper .

 

[Steelgoddess]

Hey hon,

I have no place to offer advice as im stil very new to it but just wanted to say hang in there honey theres always a solution to a problem... And im sure you will find it

 

[sparky]

thanks ladies have been on the medium flow teats since the weekend. she seems better in the day but worse at night. will speak to hv and then docs if it doesnt get any better. she wont take more than 3.5 oz even on her best feed and i'm worried she wont be getting enough...

 

[sparky]

my baby took an hour to take 4ozs and she used to scream during the feed, struggled to get her wind up and was constantly possetting bits of milk up to 2 hours later

She had reflux

out of interest did she grunt, cough, squeek a lot when she was trying to settle, Isla is soo noisy and goes as stiff as a board/throws her head back when you are trying to wind her

 

[CoreysMummy]

My LO, who also has reflux, and a CMP Intolerance it would appear used to grunt alot when settleing, used to sound like he was straining in the morning when Id hear him in his cot - he wasnt, it was somethign to do with either the reflux, or the intolerance.

reflux is very common, expecially with early babies. Smell her possett, does it smell like our sick, acidy? Or does it smell milky - which, lets be honest, Is all shes drunk so it should!! Is she happy aside from feeding?

 

[1sttimemum]

my baby took an hour to take 4ozs and she used to scream during the feed, struggled to get her wind up and was constantly possetting bits of milk up to 2 hours later

She had reflux

out of interest did she grunt, cough, squeek a lot when she was trying to settle, Isla is soo noisy and goes as stiff as a board/throws her head back when you are trying to wind her

I dont remember her grunting but it was soooo difficult to get her wind, we had to wind her every ounce!! shes been on infant gaviscon and is a totally different child, but the docs want to look at weaning her off the gaviscon

 

[Jollypops]

feeding isla has always been difficult, but its getting me down now.

i thought she would have grown out of this by now - i put it down to her being a 36 week'er i'm using ttctn bottles, feed 3 oz every 3 hours...sometimes a wee bit more, she weighs about 8.10lbs now

Please dont put it down to her being born at 36 weeks, but do understand your frustration. Try buying a cheap bottle with medium flow teat (Tescos do a pack of 2 for about £2.50) some babies find these nicer as they are softer than the ttctn ones. We now use both and its working for us.

With regards to wind i had major problems with Calum, i tryed Infacol but found this didnt really work for us as Calum then become lazy, so fed until he wanted to stop (i noticed he lifted his arms or more come out of his mouth) and this seems to working as now he winds straight away. It might take awhile, he through it back up acouple of times but we're getting there. As when i took the bottle away if his tounge was at the roof of his mouth its saying they need winding.

Good Luck

 

[Jollypops]

She's very snotty and can't breathe through her nose so every feed is a bit of a battle at the moment. /quote]
Pop along to the chemist and pick up some normal saline nasal drops, put a couple of drops up each nose about 15mins before feeding, nose will clear and feeding will be easier for her.
good luck

 

[Daffodil]

I totally understand!!!

Meadow is exactly the same right now and sometimes doesn't last 3 hours between.

She also arches back when I'm trying to wind her and last night we had a really bad night where she didn't want to eat and she screamed and pulled up her legs.

I know its hard, please don't lose hope and just remember this time will pass (thats what I try to remember!)

Dawn

 

[Jollypops]

Update

Jollypops..will definately give those bottles a try, was scared stiff that i'd have to fork out tonnes for a new set of dr browns or something!!

How long did the gaviscon take to kick in? and did you continue with infacol too, that seems to be making her fart tonnes..and better out than in eh?


I personally wouldnt give Infacol and gaviscon, just try the gaviscon to see if it is reflux.

With regards to the bottom burps at least you know everything is working!!! (Calums a right stinky bum!)

Let us know how you get on.

 

[1sttimemum]

the gaviscon makes caitlyn trump loads, lol the docs want to try n wean her off it now

im scared

 

[Jollypops]

How are you getting on ...Has it got any easier for you?

 

[laracomps]

Sorry, I missed this earlier!

It took a good week or so I feel to get the full effects of Gaviscon for us. She's also on another medicine called Domperidone which a Paediatrician prescribed - if it doesn't sort itself out with Gavsicon, make sure they refer you... I didn't think the Domperidone was doing much, but I forgot to give her some the other day and she was a lot sicker, so I don't know.

Come and join us in the reflux thread

Hope its working! Phoebe went from drinking 5oz to 7oz at a time when she started on Gaviscon! Just goes to show really.

 

[sparky]

Thanks ladies, shes definately improving and is so much better on the bottle now, she practically downed a 4oz bottle earlier before i noticed (it normally takes that long to drink an oz or two) then sat up and did a proper man sized burp..shes been asleep for almost 5 hours now..longer than ever!

And shes put on weight too, fingers crossed the gaviscon will sort it!

 

[Weez]

HI there

What at coincidence!! I have a little girl called Isla as well who had terrible reflux. It was a nightmare, everyone (including doctors and the health visitor) kept telling me that she had colic which was really common and advised me to give her infacol and also prescribed gaviscon, none of which did the trick. She would cry and cry for hours at a time, a really piercing cry, and no matter what I did she wouldn't stop! I just assumed that is what new babies did, since I had no experience of babies before. She needed to be topped up with milk all the time as she would constantly bring little bits of milk up and couldnt get her wind up. Eventually a dr took me seriously and prescribed ranitidine, which apparently neutralises the acid in babies tummys so that when they burp the acid does not come up and burn their throats. 48 hours later she was a different baby and has been fantastic ever since!