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grunting while feeding... Hard to get through a bottle lately

mnkemp87mnkemp87 member
in Preemies
My baby was born 6 weeks early. She was only in hospital for a week. She has reflux and takes medicine for it but lately (a couple of weeks now) she grunts and strains so hard while she's eating. It's very hard to get through a feeding sometimes. She's 9 weeks today and drinks about 4 oz every bottle. I've tried gas drops... They don't work. I've tried switching bottles.... Doesn't seem to do much. We are using Avent bottles but they seem too big for her mouth. I bought a Dr. Browns bottle but wondering if she needs the preemie nipple. Milk just flows out of her mouth like lava sometimes while eating. I've heard it's a preemie grunt but to me it seems like another issue. Anyone else have these issues while feeding? Note: she is bottle fed but it's breast milk and she's currently 8.6 lbs.
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Re: grunting while feeding... Hard to get through a bottle lately

  • blovemamablovemama member
    Our stories our pretty similar! We like the joovy bottles with the 0+ nipples. I would try a slower flow nipple if the milk seems to be gushing out of her mouth. It sounds like she's gaining weight well. Is she having wet/dirty diapers? She might just be kind of a messy eater for now. My baby is a slob at the breast and I think it's because my letdown is too fast for him to keep up. Maybe something similar is happening with the bottles? We've also tried the como tomo bottles with some success. I like them because when he slows down/falls asleep, I can squeeze the bottle and the flow increases and wakes him up. We don't use them exclusively because they are $$$ and I'm really trying to breast feed.
    Together since '07
    Married since '12
    Off the pill since 5/14
    BFP: 8/10/14 -- CP 8/22/14
    BFP: 12/10/15 -- Prayers requested

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  • daniellerbaileydaniellerbailey member
    I have a 29 weeker (he's 24 weeks now) and we used Dr. Brown's preemie nipples until he was about 18 weeks. I tried switching to the Level 1 nipples too soon and milk was getting everywhere but his mouth so we switched back. Lol, definitely made a world of difference! He has reflux as well and the grunting (and spitting up) during feelings and grunting at night was definitely unnerving. I remember it sounded like he couldn't breathe or was struggling to breathe. It was awful. So scary! But I was assured over and over again by the NICU staff and our pediatrician it was the "preemie grunt" and he eventually grew out of it around 4 months.
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