Am I a totally bad mommy for

making DD wait a half hour before giving her her bottle?

I feel bad making her wait but she has not been finishing her bottle at all and the late afternoon/early evening hours have been a total nightmare. She can easily drink 3 ounces, which is even on the lesser side for a month old, but lately she has been stopping at only 2 ounces and then screaming after an hour/hour and a half for more formula, and I would have to make her a new bottle. I know if she would just drink that extra ounce she would be good for the three hours. I know I should be feeding her on demand, but if I make her wait a little I know she'll finish her bottle. Am I totally wrong and should stop doing that?

She's not hysterical and takes her binky to hold her off a bit. If she was hysterical I would give her a bottle but I was just curious if anyone else did this at all. I'm at a loss with her feeding, she's all over the place, and I just can't handle the feeding every hour and a half anymore, I'm exhausted.

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

If she'll take the binky to hold her off for a bit I'd totally do it too. I know how exhausting/frustrating that can be. Erin is doing the same thing to me lots of times.

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

at a month old, I would not make her wait for a scheduled feeding. Some kids are grazers - mine always were. I fed them when they were hungry, not based on the clock.

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

No you are not a bad mommy... you are trying figure out your DD and keep your sanity. Question- do you burp her a few times during the feeding? I know with my DD, many times when she stops eating with an ounce or two left, it's b/c she needs to burp and free up room. I would try burping her a bit more. Not sure how long you are holding her off from the next bottle... if you are saying that after 1-1 and 1/2 hours she is crying for a bottle but will take a paci, then you know what? She probably wants to suck on something to soothe her! If she is not hysterical, then she isn't really at that hungry-mungry point, KWIM? So, see... you're not a bad mommy at all! In fact- you are teaching her to suck on the paci to calm her down. Hang in there!! I would make sure she doesn't go more than 3 hrs w/o a feeding though at this age. Good luck!

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

This was the first night I did it, and it was a half hour. If she truly was screaming her head off I wouldn't have done it but having the paci she seemed fine at sucking on it, so I waited it out a bit.

I do burp her in the middle of the bottle, and that's where I tend to loose her, she falls asleep. I try tickling her toes/feet, taking off her receiving blanket, changing her diaper. Sometimes I can get her to wake up, and sometimes I can't. There are times where she just doesn't want it anymore and she will clamp down her mouth and that's it, so whatever she takes, she takes. I try not to force anything just for her to spit it up.

I definitely don't want to force a schedule on her, she's still so young, but I didn't know if it was okay to have her wait out a bottle if the pacifier was keeping her busy.

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

I understand doing it because with the formula safety rules we waste SO much formula. Sometimes they'll take 7 oz-sometimes 4 and I was throwing out so much formuula. What I would do is offer her 2-if she sucks it dry add another 1-2 oz and offer that

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

I did the same thing when DS was that age. If he was crying I wouldn't hold the formula from him, but if he was just squirming and was easily held off by the pacifier I would.

Honestly, my DS was in the NICU and they fed him on a schedule, not on demand and the nurses strongly recommended I stick to it to keep a good schedule and for the most part I did. And at 6 weeks DS ate every 4 hours and slept 8 hours at night -- I know it all wasn't because of the schedule but he was the type of baby who totally thrived on a schedule.

You are not a bad mommy!!! If the baby is soothed by the pacifier there is nothing wrong with waiting a bit for the bottle. If she was that hungry the pacifier wouldn't work.

Re: Am I a totally bad mommy for

I think it's fine.

Not sure if this will work, but it might. My SIL ped. told her to increase the bottles a half ounce a week until my nephew was able to drink 8oz. Maybe you can try that, but instead of every week you could try every other week.