Forum Feeding

From breastfeeding to bottle feeding, colic, and poor sleep.

3 replies

NadiaGuest ·
My daughter is 7 weeks old. I had to make a pretty decisive switch from breastfeeding to bottle feeding. I weaned off all breastfeeds over two weeks, going from all breast to three bottles (135 ml each) and the rest breast (three to four feeds). Then I switched completely to the bottle. We looked at the box and our daughter's weight (+/- 5 kg) and came up with 5 feeds of 165 ml. Since she had to go from 7/8 feeds to 5 feeds so quickly, we decided to first give 7 feeds of 135 ml (which she often didn't finish) and then slowly transition to 5 of 165 ml. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work in practice. Our daughter comes for a feed quite irregularly during the day (at least, that's what I think...). As a result, she sometimes has 5 feeds by 8 pm. Usually, the 165 ml bottles aren't empty then. If we give her another bottle in the evening (because: inconsolable crying and hands in mouth), she spits it back up in big gulps. Sometimes not until two hours later. An example from yesterday:

03:30 165ml
08:30 135ml
12:15 165ml
16:45 165ml
20:00 165ml
22:30 165ml (and this one came back up in big gulps)

Today:
04:45 115ml
08:15 140ml
11:00 135ml
14:10 150ml

During the day, she naps for a maximum of 1.5 hours in between. Between the evening feed at 22/23 and the morning feed at 10/11, she sleeps well. She's awake for a maximum of an hour for the feed/diaper change.

Today she's been crying a lot. She seems to have colic and spits up a lot of milk. In her sleep, she thrashes around a lot, and the only time she seems a bit cheerful is after she poops (which is difficult for her). I'm afraid we're giving her too much, but this is really what the packaging says.

She's always been a difficult sleeper during the day, and that's fine because she sleeps relatively well at night, but the crying today is going through my bones. And spitting up in the evening is not pleasant at all, of course! Any tips?

Replies

  1. Anonymous #2

    Your schedule is fairly regular, right? Every 3-4 hours. It sometimes varies by an hour more or less, but that doesn't really matter much. Some days you're hungrier or earlier than others. I also don't think you're giving too much. Your baby won't drink more than she can handle, and if she does, she'll come back for more. I used to feed my daughter every 4 hours around 7 weeks. But if she came earlier, she got fed too. Hunger is hunger, and I don't think babies grow on an empty stomach. And personally, I think babies shouldn't have to be hungry. The packaging is just a guideline; every baby is different, and so is their feeding pattern.

    For the colic, Dr. Brown's bottles and Cinnababy from VSM helped me (after I think I tried everything :silly. I still remember how desperate I felt during that period My daughter kept crying from the colic, and it was awful because you want to help so much, even take the pain away yourself. If you're experiencing this too, it will get better, really!! Just hang in there, and you'll get your cheerful baby back again It's just colic!! And make sure you take care of your own rest too.
  2. mamatje #3

    Have you ever tried fennel tea? I had the same problem when my son was that age. He always wanted to drink. And the excess milk would come right back out.
    Maybe give 50 ml of fennel tea in between? It helps with colic! And that way you don't always have to give milk, but they're still soothed for a little while! I use Difrax bottles and that helps too!
  3. Anonymous #4

    I did use fennel tea too I went for the organic kind specifically for kids

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