fussy feeding

[LaDiDaDi]

dd is now 18 wks old and has been mis fed since coming home from scbu. She has been having breastfeeds and cow and gate premium. For the past fortnight she has been extremely fussy when feeding. She is clearly hungry but if offered a bottle will gulp down 30mls or so and then get very cross and upset, screaming and arching her back. If I'm with her then she will settle with some breastfeeding but only for a very short time, less than 5 min. Then she cries again and looks hungry but appears unsatisfied by my breast and frustrated by the bottle too. It's horrible to see and really difficult if dp is feeding her as he can't offer her a breast like I can. I've tried her with a faster teat but it doesn't seem to help. I was wondering if it was reflux although she isnt a particularly sickly baby and this has only been a prob for the past couple of weeks. Things seem to be getting worse not better and I really don't know what to do.

[LaDiDaDi]

I give her a dream feed at 11-12 at night and this is the only time that she feeds happily.

[LaDiDaDi]

bump

[aitch71]

no advise, just sympathy. i have some recollection of dd doing the same at about 4 months... can't remember how it was resolved, but it was so it must have been a phase in dd's case. hope someone comes along with a suggestion soon.

[aitch71]

advice

[LaDiDaDi]

Thanks, just having someone else say they've experienced the same helps a bit. I was in tears when I posted earlier but feeling a bit happier now as she took her bedtime feed really well and fell asleep all lovely and cozy with her head on my boob . Let's hope it continues.

[alibobble]

You have my complete sympathy as have identical problem with dd. V. traumatic as is first baby 2. Have had to give up BF as was too traumatic for both of us as she was clearly hungry but wouldn't feed. fortunately would take from a bottle but often sicks it up. Am covered head to foot in milk as we speak! Those new tommeetippee bottles are pretty good as she can get a good latch on it because of the wider shape but sometimes the anti colic valves don't work which is another heap of pain! Have found that it has to be quiet and calm for her to feed at all well. Fed her on a train the other day thro necessesity and was a disaster! Sometimes find that feeding a split feed is good. Btw little and often doesn't always sit well on tiny tummies. When I switched to bottle I didn't expect her to take much and have to make a million little ones but she's got into it tho her 10/10.30 feed often needs a top up 11.30. Hope this helps. Best thing someone told me was that her son had it too which made me feel like I wasn't alone and going mad. You're not doing anything wrong, it's just hard and we try whatever it takes to make it work.

[alibobble]

Btw I often find when dd is being particularly fussy that later on, like an hour later, when ur in tears and she's still refusing to feed that a massive burp appears out of no-where and your like "O so that was it!" Not always but sometimes. Trouble is with her it can take ages, way beyond the point of hungryness and into insanity. Sometimes I find boiled water brings up her wind better though you do get the sick problem with that too! |The other thing is my massive reliance on infacol which has been a life saver. Hope some of this helps.

[LaDiDaDi]

Thanks again. This morning at 11 she was a bit fussy, ie looked hungry had a go at the breast but then got fed up, had a taste of formula and then wasn't happy so we gave up, but half an hour later she happily took about 100mls of formula and is currently have a little breastfeed.

[alibobble]

This will make you feel better! Yeterday was trying faster flow teat with dd to see If I could get more into her before she started faffing! Anyway, since switching to bottle, is more bunged up and goes red in the face and has to put loads of effort into pooping. Was half way thro feed and face appeared. Unfortunately the effort required caused her to vomit entire feed back all over me, herself and the chair! Never mind!

[mum2monkeys]

Going thru v similar thing at the moment with DS, have found if I make him wait (easier said than done, I know) for a bigger feed he is much more settled afterwards - slower teat also seems to help, brown ones not silicone. When ds starts thrashing, I get him upright and walk about for a bit keeps milk down and also helps ds to 'forget' - sometimes think he rejects second time because he remembers that it hurt when he drank before(hope that doesn't sound like utter tosh)

[alibobble]

My mum suggested swadding dd. (She's 12 weeks but still loves it) and sometimes that helps. You just have a million strategies and keep trying them till you find one that works - like they say with colic