need help desperately!
  Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 2:29 pm
Post subject: need help desperately! My baby is now 3 weeks old, he is bottle fed and will ony take between 60 and 90 ml on a feed, however he only wants the first 30 ml i have to really encourage the rest down him, he then is hungry 2 hours later , but he takes an hour to feed so i get very little time to do anything else, not good as i have a 1yr old and a 2 yr old , i have not had more than 2 hours sleep in a night since he was born, often less, I am so tired i have blurred vision constant headaches and poor balence, my eldest children are really suffering too as i am barely meeting there needs
 , i just dont know what to do! he is so tired after a small amount of milk it is impossible to get him to drink anymore , i need a routine and i need sleep, i have tried hungry baby milk, fast flow teats , neither made any difference , desperate for any ideas anybody may have? spent the whole night sobbing my heart out because i just cannot cope and get zero support from anybody , any ideas ? xx_________________  Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 5:20 pm
Post subject: Awww hunny, big hugs!! The only things I can suggest are what worked for me in the end, biger teats, I went onto size two pretty quick then vari-flow pretty quick as both mine tired our really quick with the 1st teats and would literally pass out and want feeding all time, also I used a dummy to try and space feeds out a bit more, then when Charlotte was 9/10 weeks I put her on hungry milk.
Also I was a lot stricter with Charlotte she spent a lot of time either on the play mat or in the basket and I wouldn't run to her like I did with Archie for every little thing even at night and she is more content, forward, chatty and sleeps far better than Archie ever has. xx _________________  
 Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 5:25 pm
Post subject: thanks hun, i have already moved onto med flow but will def get some fast flow ones this weekend and will carry on with the hungry baby for a while, or maybe change brand
 we use a dummy but it only works for 5 mins, will look into buying a play mat as he isnt keen on his bouncer , loves his swing but only while hes sleeping he doesnt want to be in there when awake xx_________________ Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:00 pm
Post subject: We have tommee tippee bottles n u can get xflow (x shape holes) vari flow teets. They say they allow milk to flow as much as baby wants as if they suck hard it opens up x on teat lots n so milk flows quick n vice versa
We moved onto size 2 teats quick but thought x flow sounded good as saved keep getting next size up. Isabella drinks alot n can empty a 7 oz bottle with xflow teat in 3 min tops! But when ur little one is so young it may just help get that 3 ounce in them b4 they get tired of sucking etc- worth a go Issy cried non stop the first few weeks when i was trying to breastfeed n would fall asleep sucking - id try n put her down n she would wake up. I felt like i was dieing! No sleep, didnt drink or eat enough. Felt spaced out everyday, like on drugs, covered in coldsores etc. i knew something wasnt right n she was hungry but mw wouldnt listen! Then found out not getting much milk from me n her weight dropped by 13% by day 11. I had been right! Got her on aptimil n she was so content! But since shes always wanted more milk n empties every bottle. We found in those early days to help her sleep the sound machine that comes with a prince lionheart slumberbear worked a treat, if she started to stir it settled her, we also tried ssshhing n rocking n dummies lol but all woke her up! All i can say is it does get better, n that day could be tommorrow! They can just change overnight n once you get a good few hours sleep ull feel so much better ! X _________________  Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 1:03 pm
Post subject: thanks hun, will defo pick up some variflow teats then
 , my oh done the night feeds last night so feel half human but now have a grumpy oh instead  , i know it will get better soon, but i'm so pathetically optamistic , every night i'm convinced he will sleep for 4 hours but it makes it harder when he gets up after an hour !! dont get paid til wednesday so cant buy teats til then  cant wait lol xx_________________ Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:01 am
Post subject: Glad u got some rest chick. I read that its best to swap who does night feeds every two days i think it was so u get most benefit out of sleeping through so try n get him to do one more night n then swap.
For us in the early days we both were awake for night feeds n i felt supported as trying to breastfeed but as soon as bottles began we changed - theres no point u both being knackered when one can take the duty that night so other can b full of beans n take over in the morning n look after ur other little ones. But that was when just 1-2 wakes a night, i think id scream if it was so frequent as ur coping with. I remember sitting feeding one night n oh had fallen back to sleep n judt crying, when will it end i thought. But it was because she was hungry, it was simple for her. Whereas when we got her on formula, As she got a week older each time u could see the slerps getting. 5 mins longer each time n since 6 werks she slept from 10-11pm til 5/6am. But week b4 it was 2.30/3am waking. We dragged it put trying to get her to settle again so longer between feeds to try n help her learn, but when we wrre so tired id just feed her to get back to sleep quick. I do believe routines helped us, i got giba ford n baby whisperer but still havent finished reading them lol, but i did try n stick to 4 hourly feeds. N the most important bit i read is they have to have enough milk in the day to cover the night in order to sleep longer which is why many advise cluster feeding at night b4 u put them down. We tried doing multiple small bottles at night to try that but she got angry n slept worse too. It says if u ensure they get their entire days milk requirement in the day - when they r physically able to sleep through, or longer they will. Perhaps ur littleone isnt getting enough in day as of way feeding. But its hard if they fuss n wont take it. I hope the teats work hun , let me know Ohh they dont have reflux do they? Heard that can interfere with feeding - may b worthwhile asking docs x _________________ Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:07 pm
Post subject: thankyou for the advice <3 means alot to chat to people that understand how i feel!! pleased to say things have improved a bit, last night he had a bottle at ten, slept from half 10 til 2 fed then slept from half 2 til 5 so a huge improvement from what was happening before! still knackered as he only settles between a few feeds aday the rest he cries and is unsettled but the improvement has reminded me that things will get better
xxx_________________
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