Sicky baby

[HelenA]

My daughter is now just over a week old and I am bottle feeding as I went through so much with the HG and then a terrible L&D experience. At first she wasn't feeding very well, only taking an ounce or so every 4 hours and she would fall asleep in the middle of a feed. I tried waking her up but she didn't want to know, if I tried putting the bottle in she would clamp her gums so I could not get the bottle in. Anyway the midwife suggested that as she was a big baby (9lb 8oz) maybe the newborn teats were to small for her, so we ended up moving to 3m+ teats which made feeding a lot better, she now has 4-5oz every 4 hours or so. The problem is she gets very sicky, I tried going back to the old teats but the old problem of her not feeding well started again. What I'm wondering is... Is this normal? My mum says that it's because she wasn't feeding so well and now that she is it's taking her body a while to get used to having full feeds, but I'm worried that it may be the formula itself. I have her on SMA gold, and have heard it's quite rich. I am not sure whether to change the formula or not. And if I did I wouldn't know which one to change to. I don't want to change it if things will settle down soon, as she does seem to like it, and she's not sick at every feed, and when she is sick it's not the whole bottle that comes up. I do wind her half way through and afterwards so I don't think wind is the problem. Just wondered if anyone else has had this and what you did? I know some babies are generally sicky, but this is my first and I want the best for her.

[emily]

That is a lot of forumla for one feeeding in my opinion. How often are you feeding? I breastfed, but I did pump quite a few bottles those first couple of months to give my nipples a rest and used forumla occasionally, and I usually fed around 2-4 oz a feeding. Of course, some of it is going to depend on how often you are feeding. I think (I am so sorry, I am trying to remember, it has been almost 4 years!) I breastfed about every 2 hours, though, forumla should hold them over a bit longer. I would try giving her less more often (if she will go for it). My daughter was bigger than yours at birth. Some babies are just really refluxy too and spit up a lot.

Just when you think you get things figured out, they will change too, just to warn you! LOL Babies like to keep us on our toes wondering, guessing and worrying!

[HelenA]

She has a feed about every 4-5 hours, and 4-5oz. The midwife said that was fine for her weight. She would never go for less more often, if she's still hungry and you take the bottle away she screams and tries to eat anything that comes near her mouth.

[emily]

Okay, sorry then, I don't have any ideas for you. I would ask a pediatrician though, they will probably have better advice for you since at least here, midwives deal more with the pg and pediatricians with babies. In fact, my perinatologist refused to give me any advice regarding my baby once she was actually born which kind of surprised me.

Good luck! She sure is a cutie!

[HGx3]

I breastfed my children, but I have some family that ff. Is the formula you are using with iron? That could be upsetting her tummy. You could also try isomil or allementium sp?, as it is easier on tummies from what I have heard, but I would talk to my ped as Emily suggested. They know babies best!!! Good luck to you!!

[dwtegli]

My doctor switched my daughter to Isomil when she was having problems. i don't know if you have that there. My son is on Good Start formula and has not had any problems. The nice thing about Good Start is that it doesn't smell or stain like other formulas. Like I said though, I don't know if you have those types there.

[meg]

Hellon,

I agree with the others that it's best to check with the babies doctor, but I suspect that KimberlyAnn just tends to spit up. I think your mom is probably somewhat correct. MoiraGrace had a difficult time getting a hang of bfing, but now that she's got it and she's taking in plenty of milk and she's gaining weight she spits up all the time like my other two did. Try not to worry. It always looks like they are spitting up more than it probably is. Spill a few tablespoons of water on your kitchen table and you'll see how little liquid can look like a lot. This helped reassure me that they weren't losing all that good food. Also, if it's any consolation. KimberlyAnn will probably be less fussy spitting up a little extra than she would be trying to digest it.

Good luck.

[HelenA]

I don't think we have those here, I've never heard of them but I have changed her formula to Cow & gate premium and she seems to be doing much better on that, yesterday she only sicked up a tiny bit and on some feeds not at all. This one has less iron than the other so maybe thats why.

[rjdecker]

Hellon,
Sorry I haven't seen your post for a few days as I had a terrible few days. I work in a pediatric clinic. The first thing we would suggest is changing formulas. It sounds like you have done that and it may be working. Another thing is to feed the baby on demand. If she is refusing a bottle, maybe she just isn't hungry yet, but don't let it go too long. Make sure she is giving you a good number of diapers, like around 8 a day at least. Then you know she is getting what she needs. It is easy with the bottle to keep track of how much she is actually getting. And that is okay, but mostly go by what she will eat and diapers. Then she should be okay. Also, with some formulas with the iron, it can be constipating. That could cause her tummy to hurt and not want to eat. So watch that too. If she continues to have problems with spitting up a lot or acting like her tummy hurts, you might want to switch to a soy based formula. It could be that milk based is too hard for her. Hope this helps!

Jenny