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Hungry baby advice!
Hi everyone. Sorry I've not been around much since S was born. Managing his reflux has been taking up what feels like every waking moment of my days and it's been really hard. I know I've probably missed loads but I hope everyone is ok.
We've tried pretty much everything to help him, and for the last two weeks he's been on aptamil anti- reflux milk. It's helped him stop being sick and start gaining weight (phew!) but it also seems to have made him really hungry! He wakes up at 5am screaming for a feed with a rumbling belly and then repeats this every 2 hrs until 7pm. Sometimes he'll start grizzling after 1.5 hrs. He'll easily do 7 bottles (should be 5) a day, if not more, and is inconsolable while waiting for his bottle . Does anyone else have a similarly hungry baby?? I don't know if he's just making up for the 8 weeks where he didn't have much milk at all. Or whether some babies do consistently drink quite a bit more than the recommended amount? obviously I'm really happy that he's now feeding really well but i just want to check that it seems like a normal amount for him to be drinking! I'm wondering whether he's comfort feeding to help with the reflux pain and whether I should start weaning him down to 5 feeds but if he's genuinely hungry I don't want to stop giving him his milk when he wants it.
Why don't babies come with an instruction manual?! ;-)
We've tried pretty much everything to help him, and for the last two weeks he's been on aptamil anti- reflux milk. It's helped him stop being sick and start gaining weight (phew!) but it also seems to have made him really hungry! He wakes up at 5am screaming for a feed with a rumbling belly and then repeats this every 2 hrs until 7pm. Sometimes he'll start grizzling after 1.5 hrs. He'll easily do 7 bottles (should be 5) a day, if not more, and is inconsolable while waiting for his bottle . Does anyone else have a similarly hungry baby?? I don't know if he's just making up for the 8 weeks where he didn't have much milk at all. Or whether some babies do consistently drink quite a bit more than the recommended amount? obviously I'm really happy that he's now feeding really well but i just want to check that it seems like a normal amount for him to be drinking! I'm wondering whether he's comfort feeding to help with the reflux pain and whether I should start weaning him down to 5 feeds but if he's genuinely hungry I don't want to stop giving him his milk when he wants it.
Why don't babies come with an instruction manual?! ;-)
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Replies
Sorry to hear its been tough for you both. What does he weigh now? When O was little he was hungry and always took more bottles than the packet said, then I read the NHS guidance which is 150-200mls per kilo and he was drinking in that range rather than the packet range
Thanks Noodle08, that's useful :-) He's 5.3 kg which i think means he's still having more than he 'should', although my maths is dodgy so I might be wrong .
What's his weight gain like now penny? Tbh I'd go with it. As much as you haven't read a manual, neither has he. What's your HV like, would it be worth a quick phone call to them?
I'd go with it too although maybe check with your hv if you're still a bit concerned. S sometimes goes through hungry phases and I've always put it down to growth spurts. He tends to want more from each bottle but still goes 3-4hrs (he's older though). I just give him an extra ounce then after a few days, I find he's not finishing his bottle so I go back to offering less. You might find your S does settle eventually but is just making up for the time when his feeding wasn't much fun.
Glad to hear the milk is helping him though
How many oz is he having in each bottle? Personally I would just go with it, if he wants it and isnt being sick he obviously needs it
His weight gain is amazing now - 23oz in the last two weeks! But he had previously only been gaining 1oz per week.
My HV said to just keep feeding him. But I don't want to keep doing it if he's only really looking for comfort not food. Popcorn I had wondered about it being a growth spurt, and according to the wonder weeks he's in a leap now, but this has been going on for 2 weeks now. I might try adding an extra ounce though, that's a good idea. He's currently having 6oz per bottle but I might try him on 7oz for a while.
I feel silly for being concerned that he wants so much milk, but it's just so strange to me, given that he screamed and refused anything more than 2oz per feed from birth . I'm just not used to it. But it's lovely to see him growing at last :-)
It must be weird, I calculate on the NHS website he is only 150mls over so 5oz, that's not massive! I would be tempted like popcorn says to up his bottles to 7oz and see if that makes a difference to him, he may go longer between feeds so you will cut a bottle out that way.
I would say that your baby hasn't been reading any manuals or the backs of packets so go with what he wants. If you were BF you wouldn't see how much it was and you would just keep feeding whenever the baby demanded. And if he wasn't gaining much before because he was being so sick he's got to make up for lost time.