Feeding has become a battle...

Hello everyone,

My DS is 12 weeks old and is Full Time FF. Just in the last week he seems to be kicking up a real fuss during feeds.

Normally he is a dream to feed, burps easily (tho sometimes doesn't like getting burped) - never really had a problem with wind at all. NOW he cries during a feed, usually I can get half a bottle down him, then burp him (I usually try and burp him 1 to 2 times during a feed and once after) and thats when the trouble starts. He'll stiffen out and cry and cry and won't take anymore of the bottle. I try to keep burping him sometimes it works, sometimes not. Eventually he does take most of the rest of the formula...but I just don't know why its so difficult now. Could it be wind? Or just a phase he is going through? He's just so different now. I haven't changed anything at all to do with his feeds...I did try the next teat size up this morning to see if that was the problem, but it was too much for him -most of it ended up on the bib!

I'm beginning to dread feeding him, its exhausting...

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

TIA

Maybe a different style of teat? I know we tried about 6 or 7 different teat styles until we found one that worked for us ...

DD went through a stage like that, I think at about 4 or 5 months. She would drink a little bit, then arch her back and start crying and wouldn't take the bottle. It would take up to an hour to feed her!
she did eventually get over it, so it may just be a phase he is going through.

How much is he getting per feed and how often are you feeding him? He simply might not be hungry...I soon figured out that when she absolutely refused to take the bottle she just wasn't hungry, and it was me that was concerned about how much she had or hadn't eaten, rather than just letting her gauge how much she wanted. One of the downfalls of bottle feeding I guess, we always have the lines on the bottle to know how much they have had!

Thanks girls. :)

kazbah - I guess it could be the teat, tho he's been on the same style of teat since day dot and hasn't had a problem until now. If it persists I might have to look at changing (I hope not tho...just bought a whole heap of new bottles & teats!! :doh:)

Storm - great to hear you went through something similar (well, not that I'm happy you did, but nice to know I"m not alone!). He generally has 240ml per feed, 4 times a day. Tho I am beginning to wonder if perhaps now he doesn't need so much, he has left 30-odd mls a couple of times. Fingers crossed its just a phase!

No worries :) Having been there before, it was stressing me out for a while and I was dreading every feed time!

It could be that 240ml a bottle is too much for him? I think at that age DD was only having at the most 180ml, but was probably closer to 120ml and having 6 bottles a day. Maybe you could try more bottles per day with a bit less milk? I agree, if he has had the same teats since day dot then i wouldn't worry about messing around changing teats and bottles.