My 7 weeks old daughter is constantly fighting the bottle (was never breastfed). She started off great, but at about 3 weeks she just became frustrated with it. I tried changing nipples, bottles (went from Dr. Brown to Avent), went to the pediatrician who prescribed Zantac for acid reflux, but the problem continued. We took her to a pediatric gastro-enterologist, who prescribed Alimentum which seems to make no difference either. Otherwise she is a wonderful baby - very calm and very pleasant, but the feeding is a real challenge. She is not vomiting - just spitting up a little. She is now eating as little as 1.5 oz per feeding, then falls asleep or starts fighting the bottle violently - shaking her hands, head, squeezing the bottle into her mouth or squeezing my finger very very tight. I've been doing research and came up with nothing - it's not colic, does not seem to be acid reflux and def. not thrush. Please help, has anyone else experienced the same or similar? What did you do? Thanks million!
Thank you ladies for all your valuable advice. I followed up with the gastro-ent. today and he suggested switching to isomil formula instead of alimentum - he thinks that she is still pushing away the bottle because she does not like alimentum. I asked about the Zantac that she is still taking as prescribed by him 3 times 0.5 ml (I don;t think it does anything) and he said to reduce it to twice a day, but I am going to ask for prevacid from the general doc as suggested. (I don't get a good vibe from this gastro doc.) I also bought cross nipples - MAM and tried the n. 2, which she took and drank 5 oz. of formula without problems just to throw it all up 5 minutes after my happiness that something is finally working! I will be trying now a smaller hole with the cross nipple and see what happens. I feel so bad for the poor baby - her twin brother is growing visibly day by day and could not care less what formula or nipple he gets while she has all this trouble ... Any additional input is greatly appreciated. Thank you to you all again! LV
E.-
my son did this same thing. i finally switched him to Enfamil Lactose free and he immediately doubled what he was drinking. i tried the alimentum stuff with no good results and it was a lot of money! Enfamil is the only one that makes a lactose free formula. i usually found it at the bigger grocery stores. try that and good luck. A.
Try taking her to a chiropractor. There are chiropractors who take care of babies. It's gentle and effective, try it. It may help
Hi E.
Congrats on new baby!!!
Since you are seeing a problem and you don't know what it is you have done much to help. Good job, mom. Your words say he is frustrated not exhausted as a baby would be if they were using up energy, which would signify heart, but worth asking about.
Now since I am probably old enough to be your mom, and of course in the olden days we did things different, but my guess is that perhaps the nipple gets clogged too easily.
You say you changed nipples but some nipples have different size holes and some are cross cut. Have you tried that?
Most of mine liked cross cut, and one of mine we actually had to put larger holes in the nipples. Easier to find them already done. Most frustration comes when you can't do what you want to do, so my guess it is not coming out fast enough. My oldest could down a 4 oz bottle at the hospital, while the nurse went to get burp cloth. My younger son was happiest before we gave him a bottle. The twins hated the bottle, wouldn't even reach up to hold it.
Sometimes when you sterilize nipples the holes get smaller and smaller. That's when we started using cross cut.
Keep telling the MD though, and tell him if you find a solution, maybe he'll think of it for another new mom.
Are you still giving meds even though they don't seem to be working? Check with MD about that also.
God bless you and give you His wisdom
K. -- SAHM married 38 years -- adult children -- 37,33, and twins 19. All were bottle fed after C-sections
Could this possibly be gas? Try burping her properly, then giving the bottle again.
If she spits up a little, thats not too bad, but keep trying to burp her, and in different positions to make sure all the bubbles are out. My last baby usually had to burp about 3 times before she would continue nursing.
I know she's little at only 7 weeks, with her facing outwards, away from you, put one of your arms around her belly, let her head hang, or if she can hold it up, walk around with her like that for about 5 - 10 minutes, patting and rubbing her back. This usually helps with annoying bubbles.
Another position, is put her face down across your lap while your sitting, rub and pat her back.
good luck
My daughter did exactly the same thing and at first was given zantac, which did nothing. She didn't spit up too much, jsut normal but had bad acid reflux. We started thickening her formula with 1 tbsp. beechnut OATMEAL (not rice cereal, which can be constipating and has soy which can be an allergy) per 2 ounces of formula and that helped as did prevacid, which she was prescribed at 9 weeks and i continued giving her till she was 9 months old. Good luck and definitely try those options, they should help, i know if made a HUGE difference in my daughter.
Try Nutramigen, it's Enfamil's version of Alimentum. My son does soooooooo much better on the Nutramigen. He spits up and burps so much less and doesn't fuss as much.
Make the hole bigger in the nipple.
Nanc
not sure why docs are prescribing meds and switching to special formulas - this sounds like a latching issue. I breastfeed my daughter but she does a lot of that headwagging, "wild eyes", finger grabbing, stuffing my boob into her face, thrusting her tongue out and ejecting my nipple before she settles down a bit and gets a good latch. I think they just get really excited and kinda "crazed with hunger" once they smell the milk. If she's being too frantic I'll sometimes just pull the breast away, steady her face with my hand, pull her hands away and down in front of her chest and try again. Changing positions can help too.
You might also want to check out this bottle - http://www.giggle.com/p/23059/c/563/cl/597/Adiri-Natural-...
Stay calm-- your baby won't starve herself!
I don't want to be an alarmist, but please have someone check out her heart. My twins were great eaters but at 3 1/2 months, one of the boys just stopped eating. He screamed when I put the bottle near him and was getting about 10 ozs of formula a day versus 32 that the other twin was getting. I kept thinking it was a digestive issue. This went on for 2 weeks... kept calling the doctor who told me not to worry. Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend, his heart was racing and he was breathing heavily.
Turns out he was in heart failure. He had an atrial flutter and apparently, when you have a heart issue like that, sucking a bottle is just too strenuous so they push it away. After a week in ICU and 7 months of meds, he was TOTALLY fine (it was just an arrhythmia but b/c it went on so long undiagnosed, his heart was enlarged to twice its normal size and his lungs had filled with fluid).
So, while my case was an extreme one, I always encourage Moms to have an EKG done to rule out a heart problem. (My twin wasn't born with it, so don't listen to your doctor if he/she says there was nothing wrong at birth.... also, the problem my son had could only be diagnosed early on with an EKG and wouldn't be picked up with just a stethoscope b/c it was an atrial problem, not a ventricle problem - - you hear the ventricles on stethoscope).
Good luck and I hope nothing is really wrong.
E., what you describe sound like she is in great discomfort vs being full. Does she eat smaller meals more frequently? Perhaps, her esophagus is irritated because of the acid reflux. I would not give her prescribed medications because that might exaserbate the problem. If you go to your health food store, they will point you in the direction of a good probiotic for infants. I have used Jarro-Dophilus on my baby (he had acid reflux). They have a baby formula. This will strengthen her gut flora and the acid reflux should end. Also, balancing the healthy bacteria in her stomach will strengthen her immune system. Their is another product, that I do not have any experience with that might help. I am not recommending it-just providing the information in case you are interested. The url is www. colicalm.com. Did the gastr-enerologist perform any tests on her to see if something else is developing? Maybe you should get a second opionion or find a good naturopathic doctor in your area. Good luck-she will get better, just be patient.
www.coliccalm.com
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T106004.asp
T. Parker, Holistic Health Counselor
My Food Therapy
www.myfoodtherapy.com
Momma Don't Eat It
www.mommadonteatit.com
Maybe she doesn't like the formula. you should look into breastmilk banks and try getting her some of the real stuff. or you can try changing formula brands to something more natural.
good luck!
Hi There,
Just another thought. Could she be having trouble latching? My neice was never a good bottle drinker or nurser... they started nursing, but she had a lot of trouble latching, so went to pumping and bottle feeding, which she still had trouble with. They managed, but had to try a lot of different nipples, and she would often only take a little at a time, and they would have to go back to the bottle 20 mins later to give her the rest. Also, check to see if she is "tongue tied", this could make it difficult for her to maintain a latch. Good Luck!
I googled "upset baby while bottle feeding?" and found this: http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=277042 the first post sounds like yours you made here, in a way.
I started out breastfeeding and supplementing with a bottle and it worked fine for the firt week or two. Then my son did the same thing whenever I tried the bottle. I know this is not what you want to hear but I took supplements and Bfed all the time and he has not had a bottle since 2 months. He was very happy after that.
Ask your doctor to consider trying prevacid. We did zantac and alimentum, and they did nothing. 3 days after starting the prevacid, which I asked for, she was a different baby. She's now 15 months old, and we're just weaning her off of it now. It made the last year completely happier. She went from a baby that would cry for like 6 hours straight, and worse with each meal, to a baby that was normal. Good luck.
yes, i have, and we did the same thing you did, we saw a gastroentologist who also told us to give her alimentum instead of similac. it took a few weeks for her to accept it, but she did eventually, so do not give up. 1.5 oz a feeding is very little for her. try feeding her in different position, in your arms, or bounce seat or swing etc. good luck
If she seems to be fighting becouse its not coming out fast enough you may want to try to open the end of the nipple up. I had to do this with my son it wasn't coming out fast enough for him.
I had the same experience with my daughter around 6 weeks. Around 6 weeks, babies truly do peak in fussiness. We persisted in giving at least one bottle (of pumped breastmilk) a day. She was more receptive to it when my husband gave the bottle (although she still fought it). We tried rocking, singing, walking around, everything. It went on for about two weeks. Eventually, despite everyone's recommendation not to go crazy trying every single bottle, someone from this site recommended Playtex Nursers with the Naturalatch nipples. It may have just been a coincidence, but she did better (but not perfectly) after the switch. It continued to improve with time. I really feel for you, because I recall how frantic I was since I would be returning to work full-time and would be unable to just given in and breastfeed. In our case, she eventually adjusted, and now it's all a distant memory. I hope you experience a similar resolution!
