How long does bottle-feeding your babies take?

My boys are almost 6 weeks old. Sometimes they'll eat in 25-35 minutes but often it takes a good 45-60 minutes. Just wondering if that's normal for bottle-feeding. They are taking as long or longer now than they did in the first two weeks when they had their "newborn sleepiness." That just surprised me a bit. (They eat an average of 4.5-5 oz at a time. They are hungry, vigorous little guys and often start off fast (both at the beginning and then any time you start to pull the bottle out of their mouth) but then slow down and the feedings end up taking forever. Sometiems I wonder if they're full and still just wanting to suck and that's why they slow down, but I can always tell if that's the case by trying to give them a paci instead. Most of the time they'll just spit it out; they want the bottle, (and they do like their pacis at other times) so I know that they really are still hungry. How long do/did your LO's take to drink a bottle at 1-2 months?

 

It's possible they are ready for the next size nipple. Erick was a voracious eater and by 8 weeks was on a stage 3 Nuk nipple and downed 8oz in 10 minutes. Kayci never went past a stage 2 nipple but when I finally switched her from 1 to 2 (I want to say it was at just a few weeks because she was doing the same thing you described) she went from 45min to 20 - 30 minute feedings. It may take a few feedings for them to get used to the faster flow, so don't worry if it seems like they are dribbling alot more than normal. But if they are gagging and choking alot, they might not be ready. GL!

 

I agree, try the next size nipple.

 

Ditto to try the next sized nipple and see if they can adjust to that.

 

It usually takes about 10 mins to finish a bottle [5 if they're chowin' down]. Like PP mentioned, I'd look into faster flowing nipples. Maybe they're having a difficult time with the ones you have.

 

Mine would eat in about 15-20 mins, at that age, less if they were really hungry. Feeds shouldn´t really be taking an hour so I´d definitely look into changing the bottles or nipple sizes. GL!

 

QUOTE(SC_Amy @ Feb 15 2009, 05:23 AM) [snapback]1190484[/snapback]
My boys are almost 6 weeks old. Sometimes they'll eat in 25-35 minutes but often it takes a good 45-60 minutes. Just wondering if that's normal for bottle-feeding. They are taking as long or longer now than they did in the first two weeks when they had their "newborn sleepiness."


My DS always took this long the first 3 months. My DD, on the other hand, drank much quicker right from the start.

 

about 15 mins to eat 3oz every 3 hrs

 

I agree with all the PP, check a bigger nipple, especially if you are using formula. We use the rice enriched formula and the 1st stage nipples were getting really clogged, even now if we accidentally put one on it takes them forever to eat, but if its BM it goes really fast. Also if they are drinking really fast at first, maybe try burping them when they slow down, might have a bubble that's making them think they are getting full.

 

At this age my babies took about 30 mins each! Try a faster nipple but mine are 9 months old and we use Mam bottles, and we just switched to a size 2 nipple in december. They eat in 15 mins now each baby.

 

We had the same problem with our boys. We were using the stage 1 nipples with the airevent bottles and it was taking 45 min to an hour for them to finish their 4-5 oz bottle. Not so fun in the middle of the night! We asked the pedi at their 8 wk check up if we could switch to a faster flow and he said absolutely... I think he was a little shocked that we had lasted that long with the hour feedings ... whew! I'd definitly try the faster flow and see how it goes! Good luck!

 

QUOTE(silver_stardust @ Feb 15 2009, 09:26 PM) [snapback]1191170[/snapback]
We had the same problem with our boys. We were using the stage 1 nipples with the airevent bottles and it was taking 45 min to an hour for them to finish their 4-5 oz bottle. Not so fun in the middle of the night! We asked the pedi at their 8 wk check up if we could switch to a faster flow and he said absolutely... I think he was a little shocked that we had lasted that long with the hour feedings ... whew! I'd definitly try the faster flow and see how it goes! Good luck!


Those are the same bottles we're using! Good to know, thanks. I'll have DH pick up some stage 2 VentAire nipples tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it works!