Received this email recently:
I am unable to breast feed due to having had surgery. I have
been able to express small amounts which I have given my baby as
well as using the bottle. I am now as of this week not expressing.
But basically the reason I am emailing you is to get advice on
bottle feeding. Baby (4 weeks old) will not take a full bottle
without breaks and play time in between which can take up to an
hour to get between 120ml and 140mls into her. Do you have any tips
or advice on this one?? Is this normal?? And also she at times does
not want the teat in her mouth and cries when Im putting it in her
mouth then all of a sudden she starts drinking. Are you able to
help me with any of this???
In the first instance, we would suggest that the mother tries
everything possible to continue breastfeeding, or expressing breast
milk for her baby. But she has already stated that she has
done that, and now given up expressing. It must have been a
very tough time, but from her email she has already made this
decision. So here is our reply based on our experiences as
mothers.
About that age we'd expect baby to be feeding about 3-4 hourly
during the day, cluster feeding in the evening, and about 4 hourly
at night.
A feed of 120 to 140mLs sounds like quite a big volume for a young
4 week old. And if she is not focused on drinking it all at once,
we suggest that maybe don't offer her as much she's probably
struggling to get through it all. Maybe offer her the same amount
but really only expect her to drink about 100mls at a feed.
Whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding, around about 25-30
minutes for a feed is about the time I'd expect. Maybe you could
feed her half the bottle (50mLs), then give her a break, wind,
change nappy, and then feed her the other half after that.
The other things to watch for are plenty of wet nappies (at every
change), content baby, weight gain of course.
Not too sure about the crying before the teat goes in. Maybe
that's when your baby is just getting really hungry and
frustrated.