Hi All,
Has anyone any advice for getting baby to take more feed?! George should be on about 35oz a day (based on 2.5oz per lb of his weight) but he only has between 25 and 30oz.

Whats more frustrating is one feed he might have 3oz and then the next 6oz so i make up 6oz everytime but i'm throwing soooo much away.

He also fusses more and thrashes his head about when i'm trying to feed him.

Any tips? or should i just accept this is how things are!

Lxx

I don't have any advice but am bumping this up as you could be describing my boy and i was going to write a post on this today.

I have no idea what is going on. He used to consistently take 5oz at each feed up until he got ill in 2nd week of December. Whilst he was ill his feeding was all over the place and they advised me little and often. He's better now though and so I thought his feeds should be as well but they're just as you describe.

Take last night- he had a feed before bed at 7.30pm of just over 2 1/2 oz (but I had cluster fed so it was only 2 hours since a feed of 3 1/2oz so not too surprising). Over night he woke at 11.45pm which is pretty early for him and took a massive 6 1/2oz feed. He took 4 1/2oz at 5.20am and then when he got up at 8.40am he decided to fuss and fuss and took less than 2 1/2oz.

Feeds during the day are generally much much smaller than overnight which I assume is down to the frequency (i try to feed 3 hourly) but I would say they are averaging just under 4oz each and often this is done with the sort of fussing you describe.

I've tried changing the teat size as I thought it could be to do with the flow but he gags and splutters on the next size up. We even changed his milk in the last week (from comfort to 1st milk) as I thought it may be to do with the thickness of the milk but still no improvement. When he thrashes about I wonder whether he is in pain or something?

I am a bit worried about why he's like this and selfishly part of me thinks how is he ever going to sleep longer at night if this is when his big feeds are taking place? If you take out the big night feeds he's averaging something like 18-20oz during the day- surely this is not enough??? (he's 12 weeks today and when I had him weighed this week he was 11lbs 13oz)

Sorry I haven't been any help to you but you're certainly not alone and maybe someone else could give us both some advice?

xx

is he thrashing about like hes in pain? my lo has silent reflux and as he takes hardly any milk because of the pain. after a feed he fusses, arches his back, goes stiff, thrashes about, cries, basically seems like day time colic xx

Sometimes I do think he's in pain- he definitely goes stiff and cries quite often. I've also noticed since starting on the thinner milk he is being sick a lot more, although this doesn't seem to distress him at all. Do you think this could be reflux? How much is your lo drinking? This morning I was struggled to get 2 1/2oz into him but then at 2.30pm he took 4oz before refusing any more. Are you doing anything about the reflux?

hey mrsbinks, thinner milk would come up more easier than normal milk, if hes sick alot id say it could be - sam (my 3 year old) had "normal" reflux and he was sick after every feed and it never seemed to bother him but we were still given gaviscon (it thickens the milk) and that helped with the sickness. jack has silent reflux, which is when it comes up, burns, and then goes back down. we've got gaviscon for him and hes also on ranitidine which neutralises the stomach acid so it doesnt burn as much. seems to help but a bit but hes still uncomfortable. reflux can sometimes be a symptoms of cows milk protein intolerance (along with green nappies, colic) which is what jack probably has. jack only drinks 2-3 oz at a time but will look for more an hour or so later.

the stiffness could just be wind but if its after or during every feed id definately say try infant gaviscon in his bottle.

its not nice but if you go on youtube and google reflux, some mums have put up videos of their babies refluxing and its horrible to watch but might help you if you see how they act when they are refluxing xxx

heres the link to the one that helped me realise what jack does after a feed isnt right, its not nice to watch but helps a great deal if you dont know whats going on. the stiffness and back arching is classic signs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v16LWhpv_dg&feature=&p=2BFBA01444591D8B&index=0&playnext=1


xx

oh my goodness! this describes our wee one exactly! I have worried so much over this as it seems most people on here are worrying their LOs are drinking too much! M is 15 weeks and around 13lbs. SHe should therefore be having 33oz per day but she only takes 24-30, some days she only takes around 22! I have tried everything to get her to take more but she just won't and just like you describe, some feeds she takes next to nothing (sometimes as little as 1-2oz) and then other times she takes 6oz! we waste so much milk, not that this bothers me, but it is just so difficult to know when she has had enough, when she's hungry or when I should continue trying to make her take a bit more as some days after initially only taking 1oz and flat refusing anymore, she will take another 3oz or so after 10mins or so, whereas other days she will jsut stick with an oz! I keep being told not to worry and that she will take what she needs, but it is hard not to. She sleeps a lot and i wonder whether its cos she doesn't have enough energy and she also is only putting on weight very slowly and has gone from above 75th centile to below the 50th. Anyway, just to say, I have no idea how to get them to take more, sometimes playing swapsy with her dummy works (letting her suck her dummy for a bit and then pull it out and stuff the bottle in - it seems to put her in the sucking mood) - its nice to know we're not alone tho xx

im sorry i dont have any advice for you ladies on taking more feed, however, we only make poppy up feeds of 5oz, and if she drinks all of that in one go, we then make an extra 2oz as and when we need them to have after the 5oz, perhaps you should be making 4oz bottles up and then if needed, make an extra 2oz???? milk is soooooo expensive, save where you can x x x

impatient- the more I google this the more it seems like quite a common issue. We were at the doctors yesterday again and same response, he seems to be thriving so don't worry. I'm going to try really hard to just let this go (at least for a few days!!). Like you we have to deal with the whole issue of sometimes if we wait he will take a bit more, sometimes he won't. Don't you sometimes feel like all your instincts about whether the baby is hungry or not have left you? I find that really upsetting.

Anyway we'll see how the next few days go but i'm always around here if you do want to get in touch as I know how frustrating and upsetting this is

xx