Tommee Tippee teat 2 issues

[TeamOwen2020]

Hello all, I have a question about bottles. Our little one (8 months) was falling asleep on his bedtime bottle after a couple of oz so we decided to try the number 2 teat. He has been breastfed from birth but has a bottle feed from daddy at bed time. Since changing he wakes up screaming a few times after going down to bed with lots of wind. Anyone have experience or advice on this?

TIA

[Shopper85]

Have you tried teat 3 for 6 months plus? He will drink quicker & take in less air perhaps

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Shopper85]

Oh ok. No we haven’t. We thought that would be worse?

[Hidden]

I'm surprised that the faster teat has caused trouble as it sounds like your little one was definitely ready for it and, as Shopper85 has said, many are on teat 3 by now for 6 months plus. It should be said though that all babies are different and don't feel like you need to follow the prescribed teat for each age range. My firstborn was on lvl 0 for premature and newborns up to 3 months, lvl 1 till 7 months and never made it past lvl 2 before weaning off the bottle. She had lots of colic and gas issues and we found for her the slower flow helped her to take in less air. My second born was a greedy baby (and now she's a greedy toddler) so she went through the teat levels quicker (roughly in line with the manufacturer's stated ages) as she took on more air if the teat was too slow as her feed became impatient, frantic and messy. She didnt particularly struggle with gas but had silent reflux instead, treated with infant gaviscon from the dr. The third is 5 weeks old and has been happy on lvl 1 since birth so far... we shall see.

I haven't used tommee tippee bottles myself as we have used Mam and then Dr Brown for our three so I can't comment on those specific teats. But I can make some suggestions re helping your little one process any gas taken in:

1: add a dose of gripe water to the bottle- amazing stuff, natural remedy, you can even make your own if you prefer, helps baby gather smaller air bubbles into bigger ones to be expelled. You may need to give him a couple of doses throughout the day as well to build up a base level.of it in his system for it to work, or it may work perfectly just in the specific feed that is causing the problem. Our first needed it on every feed for several months but our second had it just at night time for a much shorter period.

2. Try more burping, and holding uright a bit longer after the bedtime feed

3. Baby massage as part of the bedtime routine- there are specific moves for aiding digestion and gas issues and it's a lovely relaxing and bonding end to the day.

4. Prop a book under each leg at the head end of the cot just to tilt it slightly, making it easier (gravity assisted) for baby to burp out any gas whilst snoozing.

5. If it's something your routine allows, and if baby will settle to sleep with a smaller bottle you could try splitting the feed in two so that either theres not so much gas to process at once or theres less gas taken in on the second half-bottle as it is given as a calmer dream feed eg. an hour later.

I know it is upsetting to see your little one so uncomfortable and those gassy pain cries can be horrible to hear but try not to let it distress you too much - I've never heard of a baby that didn't experience some kind of digestive issue at some point during the first year. Just work your way through the options to help him out and remember that the gut is constantly maturing and this phase, like so many others, will pass.

Good luck xx

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much for your reply. I will difijitely entry those suggestions a we do already split the feed as he as ‘false starts’ as I found out they are called where he wakes up 30 mins after going down without fail. It is usually with this feed he gets the cries so controlling the feed here in terms of angle will possibly help.