Time to drink...
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Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24183
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Topic: Time to drink...
Posted By: KiwiL
Subject: Time to drink...
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 12:50pm
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Ok... next question lol!!
Jackson takes aaaages to drink his bottle. We're talking about an hour to finish 180mls. Anyone else's bubbas take a long time? He seems to have a really weak, or maybe uncoordinated, suck. He kind of just moves his mouth up and down, and his tongue moves round a bit, but there is no real suction when you pull back on the bottle. We've tried heaps of teats, and when you put your finger in his mouth he doesn't suck it well. He's never need a dummy, or done anything more than just rest his fingers in his mouth. Is this something I should have looked at? Who would even be able to help with this? I can't see how he will ever drink enough when it takes so long for him to do it. I don't want his entire awake period to be with a bottle in his mouth! |
Replies:
Posted By: fire_engine
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 1:01pm
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He might still be in the learning phase, given that he's never had a dummy or bottle before. Sucking on a boob is a bit different to sucking on the bottle. What flow teat have you got? I don't know if it might be easier with a fast flow teat.
You would want to see a speech language therapist about his sucking though a lactation consultant might be able to give some advice. One specialty of SLTs is feeding disorders. You would get a GP referral to your local Child Development service at Capital Coast DHB. ------------- Mum to two wee boys |
Posted By: busyissy
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 1:15pm
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I agree with Flissty about the lactation consultant.
Has Jackson had his tongue and palate checked? Just wondering if he could be slightly tongue tied? |
Posted By: lisa85
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 4:28pm
I know that with prem babies dummies can actually help strengthen the back palate and create stonger suckers  Unless your dead against them (which I was in the start now use them every night at bedtime) mayby give it a try it might take a little time but if he takes to the dummy it may help him in the long run 
Otherwise I do agree about the lactation consultant thwy would be the best port of call for advice. Good luck, hope things improve soon. FYI he's such a gorgeous wee man! -------------  
TTC #3 since Jan 2010 - PCOS MC April 2010 |
Posted By: denny25
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 7:14pm
| Have you checked him for being tongue tied? |
Posted By: FreeSpirit
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 8:14pm
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Have you tried massaging the palm of his hand at every feed? You may have noticed that when a baby is feeding well their little hand opens and closes - this is directly linked to the sucking reflex. ------------- http://www.babysfirstsite.com"> 
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Posted By: busyissy
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 10:11pm
| Thats interesting about the palm/sucking connection. If you try a dummy laurie the NUK latex ones are the easiest ones for babies to suck and hold in their wee mouths. |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 9:50am
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My thought is maybe he has a tongue tie, as you know caden has a small one and it stopped him from sucking well at the breast and thats where our breastfeeding issues came from.
Caden sucks well on a bottle though as its faster flowing and he doesnt have to work so hard. Have you tried a faster flowing teat? Or have you just tried different brands of teats? At 4 months Caden was on a fast flow teat and much happier and drank alot faster. He wouod get angry at the slower ones as he had diffuculty sucking. ------------- |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 10:16am
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Jackson doesn't have tongue tie, but does have something a little strange with his tongue, but noone seems worried about it.
He CAN suck - when he gets it together he sucks well, it's just like he is a big unco with it. Maybe he is just lazy? I would like a faster teat, but we are using the NUK ones and they only have small (for breast milk) and medium (for formula). The large one is for cereal and milk just pours out - he can't handle that one at all. I have tried a number of different bottles and teats, but the Nuk one is the only one he's taken to. Do you think you could add holes to it?!?!? |
Posted By: Redbedrock
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 12:32pm
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Laurie has anyone mentioned speech therapy to you. I was referred with Fay at 8 weeks due to sucking issues, Fay leaked every where when she bottle fed and also no great suction. We saw a speech therapy at Wellington Hospital and she assessed her technique and offered great advice re teats and feeding. Fay had picked up a bad habit of lifting her tongue and with lots of support from ST and Plunket (Ann at Rongotai Family Centre - not sure where you are in Wellington, but Ann was amazing for me) we managed to cut her 70min feed down to just over 30 in a bout a week
Your GP or Plunket nurse can refer you ------------- http://www.babysfirstsite.com"> 
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 1:19pm
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Hmm, cadens tongue has a little "split" like thing at the bottom of it, but thats connected to his tongue tie..
I wonder if he would take the TT closer to nature teats now that he is fulltime bottle?? Worth a go? Cos the number 2 teats on those is what Caden was on at 4 months and it was perfect for him(the flow that is). Other than that Im not really sure hun....its hard to know without seeing what he actually like while drinking. ------------- |
Posted By: busyissy
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 3:39pm
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They say not to add holes but we have had to do that. We were using the NUK crosscut teat for 0-6mths but it was drowning Isobelle and the others were too slow for the thickened formula so we got a slower one and used a hot needle to increase the hole size.
If you are interested in talking to a lactation consultant this site is a good place to start, http://www.nzlca.org.nz - www.nzlca.org.nz |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 6:25pm
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Hmm, it's interesting. We've seen a LC a few times when he was breast feeding, and she never thought the sucking was a problem. She looked at the tongue and tested his suck with his finger etc....
He's been a bit better today - about 30 mins to do 180ml. I think half the time he is just mucking around as he has proven he can do it when he wants to. I guess he could still be getting used to the bottle. I'll mention it to the paed when I see them on the 24th though. Hopefully it is not a problem! Might also think about possibly increasing the hole size as a test. |
Posted By: yummymummy
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 9:10pm
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Emma is a fast drinker but she refuses to drink more than 150ml in one go - even now. Quite often she'll only have 120ml.
How often do you feed him? Maybe 180ml is too much? As for increasing the hole size, to encourage more milk drinking, we tried moving Emma early on to a bigger size teat (we use Tommee Tippee so there are 3 sizes) but she just ended up chocking and spitting it out as she found the flow too fast. How much does he weigh now, do you know? ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 02 February 2009 at 12:00pm
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The more I watch Jackson, the more I think he is mucking around when it suits him.
I might have to face facts that he won't be the quickest or best feeder! But today he had 190ml in 25 minutes, so he seemingly can do it ok. That's alright - as long as he is happy! Yummymummy, I think he would be about 6kg now (he was 5.6 three weeks ago). He has 5 bottles a day, and one breast feed during the night. |
Posted By: busyissy
Date Posted: 02 February 2009 at 12:59pm
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Isn't that frustrating! Isobelle can down 150mls in no time flat, I have seen her do it, but sometimes she will take up to an hour to have a bottle.
Sounds like Jackson is starting to gain weight nicely, thats great! He's such a cutie! |
Posted By: KiwiL
Date Posted: 02 February 2009 at 1:15pm
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Saffron, glad to know Isobelle is a bit the same at times.
Thanks btw to everyone who has said he's a wee cutie! I think so!!
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