Hungry baby formula?

pinkpig08

Tiny babies feed little and often, as their small tummies empty quickly. I have bottlefed and breastfed and 2 hours between feeds was the norm for mine at that age.

Bitsy_Beans

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Your baby may also be thirsty. You could try a little coiled boiled water.

I agree with Patchwork, FF babies need cooled boiled water as formula is just food whereas breast milk is both.

Feed on demand, offer a drink of water if it's been less than a couple of hours. If your LO is still crying or won't settle then give a feed.

Yep you'll waste shed loads of formula - nature of the beast I am afraid.

fsdss

the babies tummy is the size of a small marble when born and grows to a small walnut at a week old - (hence why people think that they dont produce much breastmilk when it first comes through).

each baby differs with feeding needs too, some go 1hr, some go 4hrs.

my advice is to keep with the first milk and feed little and often (probably 3-4 oz) per feed. make sure that baby is fully winded (as this can cause upset). and try and ensure that the teat is the right flow (if the nipple is sucked in too much - the teat is wrong)

tiamai_d

Like everyone else said, 3 hours is normal. Not knowing how much they will take is also normal. Think of it this way, your baby didn't read any of those books. I've never liked feeding routines, a babies body will use the food available to it as needed, sometimes this means that after only a short time they need more food. If you make them go longer you can mess up blood sugars and stuff causing more problems. It does eventually settle down though. You just have to get through it for the moment.

But I fully understand not knowing that! The books all say one thing but reality is very different.

Also the hungry baby milks usually cause more problems than they solve. They have their place but generally,not till a good bit later on.

pinkclouds

dreambirdie wrote: »

hiya thanks for the replys! i didnt realise they could feed as often as every two hours!! i know that sounds stupid but everyone was telling me it "should" be every 3-4 hours and had me thinking he must be really hungry :rotfl: its just hard because he takes a completely different amount every time and i end up wasting lots of formula!

It this your first baby? If so, I totally sympathise with the constant stream of "advice" and feeling a bit out of it all the time. Honestly, try to ignore as much as possible and remember, as my dad always says, "mom always knows best". That's *you*. Not your mother, not your neighbour and not some random person who has to look your name up on a computer.

And ditto everyone else. The 3 hour thing is just a general average bandied about and I think you're doing really well with the feeds. I'm sure 120 ml is about 4 oz and that is certainly a full feed. And yes, sometimes stirring for a tiny feed to stay asleep is also normal in my experience. Now I don't know how you'd feel about this (or anyone else really) but I have expressed breastmilk before and if they only took a little bit then I'd save the rest (in the fridge) for up to a couple of hours and just re-heat and serve again. (And then if it wasn't consumed at the second sitting, it would be chucked.) Possibly you could do the same with your formula? I believe the risk is from transfer of bacteria from baby's mouth to the milk via the teat. (Which is why I only offered it a second time and then poured the rest away.) However, there is no reason to take my experience as gospel - you know best for your baby.

Best wishes and good luck.

esio_trot

sounds about right to me, my 12 week old is still feeding 3 hourly through the day, only he takes 6oz now - he's not an especially greedy baby either, he's still pretty skinny!

As for wasting formula - have you tried making up 3oz bottles and using ready made for any top ups he might want? The cartons are expensive (57p for 7oz) but I sometimes use them when LO is being a pain. I make up standard bottles (whatever he is guaranteed to take) then keep a carton of ready made to give him an additional oz at a time if he still seems hungry after a bottle. The cartons are sterile until opened so I'm generally happy adding them to a *just* used bottle (alternatively, keep a sterile bottle available all day). The cartons keep fresh in the fridge for 24 hours after they're opened so usually enough for however many top ups he needs to full feeds through the day. Just a thought if you're fed up wasting loads as you could use the left over from the ready made for his last feed if you needed to.

peachyprice

One good tip is to have some extra bottles with just an ounce or two made up, then if he drains his bottle you'll have a little extra just to finish him off but won't need to waste a whole feed.

Boots used to do dinky little bottles, don't know if they still do, that I used to used for this, they're also handy for water.

HTH

mich13x

I thought i was doing quite well until i read this thread lol...

My DD is 2 weeks old today and i have her on C&G hungrier baby formula, she takes 4 ounces every 4 hours, sometimes shes half an hour early. I thought this was normal but now im panicking that im overfeeding her?! Or am i leaving her too long between feeds?

She mostly sleeps between feeds and always wakes for them by herself. The midwife who came to see us intially did not really offer much advice on feeding and i didnt ask as i thought this feeding routine and amount was ok. She was 7lbs 2oz when born and initially lost weight but then started gaining, 100grams at the beginning of last week but wont have her weighed again til wed when the HV makes first visit.

Sorry for hijacking post but just got me a bit bothered that maybe im doing the wrong thing with DD?

fsdss

mich, - just keep on as you are doing - it sounds as if your doing fine.

babies are not robots, as i said each are different. it might be worth trying her with 5oz?? they eat for survival which is in our genetic make up - at that age you cannot over feed

just out of curiosity why are you on hungrier baby milk?

pinkclouds

mich13x wrote: »

I thought i was doing quite well until i read this thread lol...

My DD is 2 weeks old today and i have her on C&G hungrier baby formula, she takes 4 ounces every 4 hours, sometimes shes half an hour early. I thought this was normal but now im panicking that im overfeeding her?! Or am i leaving her too long between feeds?

She mostly sleeps between feeds and always wakes for them by herself. The midwife who came to see us intially did not really offer much advice on feeding and i didnt ask as i thought this feeding routine and amount was ok. She was 7lbs 2oz when born and initially lost weight but then started gaining, 100grams at the beginning of last week but wont have her weighed again til wed when the HV makes first visit.

Sorry for hijacking post but just got me a bit bothered that maybe im doing the wrong thing with DD?

If she sleeps between feeds and wakes when she's hungry and you feed her as soon as she wants to be fed then I would say you are "feeding on demand". Don't worry about the length of time between feeds so long as she is thriving and behaving normally (and I'm sure you'd be able to tell if she wasn't).

I have no experience of formula milk, so I can't really comment on the type of milk. I think you'd get your best indication of whether you are overfeeding by plotting baby's weight on the chart at the back of your red book. So long as you don't insist on the bottle being drained at each feed (unless baby wants to) then surely she is only taking in what she needs? When I used to express the odd bottle, I generally found 4 oz to be a full feed so it sounds about right to me.

Don't know if that's of any reassurance/help to you? However, I hope and expect the HV to put your mind at rest when she visits. The majority of motherhood is really just guilt! lol