Advice for feeding a squirming baby
So my little boy is almost 4.5 months old. Exclusively formula fed. He’s reached the stage where he has control of most of his body parts and it is becoming an ordeal to get him to eat. No matter what position he’s in or who is feeding him, no matter what the environment.
Grabbing the bottle (but can’t hold it correctly yet so he just pulls it part way out and is sucking air)
Pushing and smacking the bottle with his hands
Shoving hands under the bottle so it’s hard to control the angle
Pushing bottle down so he’s only sucking air
And the worst one: constantly turning his head from side to side like an occilating fan. Sometimes he’ll jerk his head so hard while still latched on that the bottle goes flying out of my hand and across the room. This happens several times during a feeding.
I know he’s not finished because when I offer the bottle again he opens his mouth and starts sucking like his life depends on it but quickly goes back to wriggling around like a damn octopus. If I take the bottle away for a while he usually gets upset because he’s still hungry.
Feeding him is starting to really frustrate me. I try to keep distractions down and not make eye contact otherwise he just smiles and won’t drink. Yesterday after the second or third time he ripped the bottle out of my hand I had to stop and give him to my husband because I was really starting to lose my patience. I know he’s not doing it vindictively or anything but I’m exhausted from constantly fighting him, holding his arms down, and trying to keep him from sucking in a bunch of air.
I don’t know if this is just an issue with his stage of development or if there’s an actual feeding issue. I don’t want to be too forceful with the bottle because I don’t want him to make a negative association. Does anyone have any advice to get me through this or tell me it gets better? I’m normally very patient with him but for some reason this has been difficult for me to deal with.