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To use hungry baby milk or not? Breastfed baby...

Basically bubba is BF but with a bedtime bottle and then one more when she wakes in the night. This seemed to be working fine but for the past 2/3 weeks she has been bf'ing every 2-3 hours in the day, then she has her bedtime bottle at 7.30 and literally makes "aah aah" sounds and opens and shuts her mouth and grabs for the bottle like she's starving! Then, instead of waking 12.30/1am for her next bottle she now wakes about 11pm and then every 2-3 hours through the night for boob!

It's really nackering lol!! So, I'm pretty sure its not a growth spurt as it's been going on too long, I always make up an oz or so extra in every bottle, I always have incase one day she's very hungry, so I make a 7oz bottle and at most she will have 5-6ozs. So, I wondered if maybe she could only fit 5/6ozs of liquid in her belly and maybe it just needs to be a bit "meatier" if that makes sense so thats why I thought maybe hungry baby milk?

Lo is coming up to 15 weeks and is always putting things in her mouth, what do you think, hungry baby milk? Maybe early weaning (maybe in a few weeks?), help lol! :lol:

Replies

  • She's 11 weeks too young to be weaned.

    I wouldn't advise hungry baby milk for an otherwise breastfed baby, either. It's 'hungry baby' because it's harder to digest, and may well give her painful constipation as she will be used to super-easy-to-digest breast milk. I'm quite sure that the Aptamil version specifies 'for bottle fed babies' on the box.

    It's likely that she's hungrier than before but like you say, can't fit a huge amount more milk in her still-tiny tummy. She's feeding the way she needs to for now, as she grows she will go longer between feeds again.

    [Modified by: MrsSetters on May 30, 2010 12:43 PM]

  • as she is combination fed and does have formula milk I was only considering the hungry baby milk for her night time bottles? I do realise that it is advised that you don't wean until 6 months but there are also those, controversial as it is, who wean early which was more what I was considering image
  • It's controversial for a reason. Her digestive system isn't ready for solid food. It's also unlikely to improve her sleeping, and filling her up with low calorie density purees and rice instead of the high calorie density milk she needs may be counterproductive in terms of her growth. Small babies don't overeat, so if she's drinking all this milk it's because she needs it.

    At the end of the day, it's entirely your choice, but as you asked for perspectives, mine is that giving her hungry baby milk is a bad idea and may possibly cause her pain and distress; and that it would be inappropriate to wean her because she's not physiologically ready.
  • Hiya,
    I wouldn't use hungry baby milk with a breast fed baby, the consistancies are too different and will be a shock to her little belly. Stick to the formula you currently use but maybe offer her another bottle in the night instead of booby so she feels fuller? Also are you sure she is actually "feeding" properly off booby through the night and not just using booby for comfort - my lo did this, and ended up having real problems with her "feeding" and not actually taking anything then losing weight etc - long story! Thats why I went on to combination feeding.
    I wouldn't say you need to wean her yet at all, I think she is just going through changes in stomach development and growth and she feels she wants milk more often.
    I hope this helps. x
  • isnt it that formula doesnt fill them up- more, as the stomach size is the stomach size! but thst it takes longer to digest. like eating musli or a fry up for breakfast. the fry up might make you feel full / stuffed but its not better for you.

    if your baby is hungry more often, feed them more often. also, id be giving breastmilk at night feeds, not formula. the night feed is especially important for supply. if you want to combination feed, i wouldnt do it with the night feed. and combination feeding will affect your supply too. maybe this is the problem.
  • Thanks for all your replies, I think i'll just carry on as I am and see what happens, I'll probably do as you suggested Lisalilly and give her an extra bottle? Thanks for your post Calleigh, lo has been combination fed since 4 weeks so I don't think its a supply issue, i'll just carry on feeding her every 2 hours as she is demanding and see if it eases off image

    [Modified by: morello on May 30, 2010 02:12 PM]

  • hello

    i dont 'think' hungry baby would help, we have been on this exclusively from 8 weeks as no matter how much milk we gave he was never satisfied, changing to hungry baby did not extend his feed times but made him more content inbetween, it may be that she is going through a spurt, we did wean early at 17 weeks but for us it was right ( i know i will probably get beaten with a big stick for saying that!) i think having a chat with your HV might be an ideas to see if shes got any suggestions?
  • Hi there, I appreciate that it's always really hard to know what to do with regards to feeding what/how much/when etc, but as others have said, not too sure if just 1 bottle of hungry milk would help. I was reluctant to move LO over to it at 13 wks as was a real milk guzzler. So I just started to try one bottle a night at 11pm, then tried one at bedtime too, but I only really noticed a slight difference when he went completely over to it. As piggypops we started to wean very slowly at 19 wks (which at the moment seems to be like red rag to a bull on this page!!)

    Hope things get better, but didn't want to just r and r as I had the same worries and stresses over what milk to give when!
  • Hey Morello,

    Just wanted to let you know that i am going through exactly the same thing with Emily. She is 15 weeks on Tuesday and is feeding every 4 hours at night instead of going the 8/9 hours she used to. She is exclusively bf so i am just riding it out just now as i really dont want to wean early - no matter what my mum and mil 'recommend'!

    Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone, these babies sure know how to keep us on our toes! I'm knackered! lol.

    Take care and i hope our lo's decide to give their mummies a break soon!

    Lx
  • I completely agree with Mrs Setters. Only in VERY RARE circumstances (on a Drs advice) should a baby be weaned early. It won't help with feeding less often or sleeping better as purees have far less calories in than BM.

    I am wondering though if giving these bottles of formula are affecting your milk supply as it's supply and demand so if you're BF'ing less, you'll be making less milk and this may be why your baby is feeding more often - trying to boost your supply.

    However, it is common for them to have a growth spurt around 4 months old and yes, it can last for a number of weeks rather than days!

    Love NN and Olyvia xxx

  • However, it is common for them to have a growth spurt around 4 months old and yes, it can last for a number of weeks rather than days!


    Thanks for this hun, I knew the 4 month growth spurt was a biggy but i didnt realise it was normal for it to last longer than usual. Means there is light at the end of the tunnel! image

    Lx
  • Hey Morello,

    Just wanted to let you know that i am going through exactly the same thing with Emily. She is 15 weeks on Tuesday and is feeding every 4 hours at night instead of going the 8/9 hours she used to. She is exclusively bf so i am just riding it out just now as i really dont want to wean early - no matter what my mum and mil 'recommend'!

    Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone, these babies sure know how to keep us on our toes! I'm knackered! lol.

    Take care and i hope our lo's decide to give their mummies a break soon!

    Lx

    Thanks LB, can always rely on you to be going through something similar x I didn't realise either that this growth spurt was a long one, maybe thats what it is then, I expected it to last about a week like the last ones doh! :roll:
  • Hi Feb girlies

    DD has been doing the same and I think is only just starting to come out the other side. I hate to say it but I did try her with hungry baby milk for her 11pm feed once last week and I will never do it again. She was quite happy drinking it but only slept as well as she normally does....however the real killer was the state of her morning poo the next day. Jesus christ I've never seen anything like it!

    She is entirely FF on aptamil and her poos are always the same but that morning was grim. Loads of big lumps in it and a very funny colour. She didn't seem at all bothered but I felt really guilty for giving her something that could potentially have made her very uncomfortable just for the chance of a bit more sleep. I WON'T be doing it again.

    a suitably shamedfaced MN and DD 15+5
    xxxx
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