Hungry Baby?

randombar

We have a beautiful 3 week old (8lb12 when born) baby who eats a lot.

At the moment she's on 7 4oz Aptamil 1 bottles a day, every 3 hours roughly. Barely get her to 3 to be honest. She's a terror for going mad when we wind her every ounce or so, you'd swear she was never going to get fed again.

After the night feeds she is very restless and takes about an hour to feed, hour to settle and then an hour later she's looking for another bottle.

Tried her on a couple of 5oz today and she just spits the extra up as she is too full.

Thinking of moving to Aptamil 2, GP is very against changing feeds but I think he's just playing it ultrasafe. Can't get through to the PHN nurse for the last 3 days. Any advice here?

Mink

She sounds exactly like a standard three week old. In any case, sounds exactly how my son was for first several weeks.

You should notice a change somewhere between 8 weeks and maybe 12 weeks, ie; can go a little longer without a feed, will drink more at feeds, sleep a little longer at night.

Just feed her as often as she wants, her tummy is probably only the size of an apricot at the moment.

I wouldn't change feeds at all, their tummies are so sensitive for the first several months, you may just create worse problems. Go with what your doc is saying on this one.

Congratulations and I know this time period seems like it has and will go on forever, it won't, it'll get a little easier in a few weeks, hang in there!

randombar

I guess that's what we'd worry about that we'd upset her changing.

I know they're only guidelines but on the aptamil box it's saying 5 bottles per day, not 7?

peteb2

If she takes seven then go with seven. We moved our fella on to the hungry baby Aptimal. Bad mistake. He ended up constipated. And I spoke to other parents who had similar issues.

Sligo1

Yes I've also heard the hungry milk can make a baby very constipated. When our fella was a few months old we started giving him an 8oz bottle of the hungry milk at night and kept to the normal aptimal 1 during the day. It really worked for us. The hungry milk really satisfied him at night and he was never constipated coz was only ever getting one bottle of it. I was scared to give him more than one bottle coz of the constipation. I'd say 3 weeks is too young to give hungry milk tho. I think the guidelines say wait for a couple months if my memory serves me right.

Moonbeam

At that age we were on 8 + feeds a day,don't worry in a few weeks you will know if you need to change to hungry baby formula.
I had 2 starving babies and they both needed it from about 6 weeks,I could not feed them enough myself and top ups helped but they were still hungry so eventually we had to switch.
It was a complete saviour for us and there were no side effects.

Rose35

my little boy was 8lb 11oz when born.
I chose the aptamil formula too in the hospital, he was exactly like you describe your little man hungry!!!! My phn said that aptamil wasnt a strong enough formula for a baby of his size and recommened I move him to Cow & Gate formula, he was about 3 weeks at the time too, we had no problems with constipation even after moving him onto the hungrier baby formula by C & G at 3 months!!!! All recommendations by phn.

vitani

My understanding is that hungry baby formula is for babies who aren't being filled by regular 8oz bottles. For a 3 week old, I really wouldn't consider it.

Does she drain the bottles at every feed? The rule of thumb I went by was to try and have half an oz to an oz left in the bottle every time. That way, I'd know when I needed to up the feeds because she'd start taking the extra.

randombar

Ya I might see how we get on with the 5oz for a week, she doesn't drain every one of them (it's only been 2 days) and she doesn't throw up due to the volume thank god.

Interesting to hear aptamil wasn't strong enough, didn't hear that before.

PHN is a disaster to get a hold of where we are unfortunately.

She is still unsettled after some feeds (more so at night) but I think that might be gas? lifts her legs up, grunting noises etc.

Sligo1

GaryCocs wrote: »

Ya I might see how we get on with the 5oz for a week, she doesn't drain every one of them (it's only been 2 days) and she doesn't throw up due to the volume thank god.

Interesting to hear aptamil wasn't strong enough, didn't hear that before.

yea a lot of people say aptamil is the formula that is most similar to breastmilk. Apparently it is the lightest. I initially tried my fella (who was an extremely hungry breast feed baby) on SMA and he didn't tolerate it (got sick) when we had to give him top ups. But he took the aptamil no bother.

Other people will say all formulas are the same.

aniascor

Aptamil is not the "closest to breast milk". That's a myth based on an old, now illegal, marketing campaign. Aptamil and C&G are pretty much identical. Just check the ingredients and nutritional information.

At three weeks old, babies are going through a growth spurt. They feed often because if they were breastfeeding this is the stage when they need to ramp up their mothers' milk production. They'll settle in a few days once the growth spurt is done. Just go with it in the meantime.

moochers

Hey there OP,
I remember when my baby had issues feeding I just rang the maternity ward of the hospital he was born in and spoke to one of the nurses there. Why don't you try this if you are worried. Good luck and congrats on new baby and as above posts said the first few weeks are definitely trying.

Sligo1

Pardon me, I didn't articulate myself very well there. What I meant by closest... I actually meant closest consistency. I.e. that it is quite a light formula.

aniascor wrote: »

Aptamil is not the "closest to breast milk". That's a myth based on an old, now illegal, marketing campaign. Aptamil and C&G are pretty much identical.

That's fair enough. It's just something that was relayed to me by 2 different PHNs about 7 months ago.

randombar

Thanks moochers, I might do that, great to get the advice here though, herself is worried she's eating too much but I guess a weigh in is the only thing that will tell that.

Mink

GaryCocs wrote: »

Thanks moochers, I might do that, great to get the advice here though, herself is worried she's eating too much but I guess a weigh in is the only thing that will tell that.

As aniascor above said, most likely growth spurt, there will be many more. My son used to suddenly want to be fed every 2hrs for a couple days, even up to 5mths.

liliq

I haven't read all the replies but babies go through a growth spurt at 3 weeks, which could be contributing.
Feeding her when she's hungry rather than making her wait would also help her settle more

sillysocks

My little one was 9lb 6 when she was born. Had the same problem of her not being filled by 4ozbottles. Rang the hospital and they said to use the hungry baby feed and not to give her more than the 4oz cause her tummy was too small. A few hours later the PHN arrived, saw the hungry formula and gave me a lecture on not using it and told me to just give the baby more than 4oz. Go figure!
This was when the baby was a week old.

Anyway I decided to stick with the hospitals advice and she was like a different child on the hungry baby food, never really had an issue with constipation either.

Maybe try ring the hospital to see what they say, and trust your own instincts too.

randombar

Ya not sure about my instincts, first baby and all, moved up to 5 for the last couple of days and still seems unsettled after the feeds, gave her 5oz yesterday about 5pm and she was looking for more at about half 6, gave her water then which tied her over until 8.

Someone else was saying to me that she might have a bit of wind that won't come up after her feed which would keep her unsettled?

sillysocks

It could well be wind so. Do you wind her often during the bottle? If she's hard to wind you could try Infacol, I used that on both mine (for trapped wind) and it definitely helped with the burping. Lying them down for a minute or two on the couch or wherever and then pick them up and try winding works great too.

All trial and error!
We eventually had to move my first little one to SMA formula and that seemed to agree with her more. I can't even remember how we decided to change formula brands but it did definitely help.

randombar

Ya wind her nearly every oz, change her nappy too to get her horizontal for a while and then back up to finish the bottle. She does get frustrated when we break for winding and sometimes goes nuts which might mean she's taking in more air.

Might try the infacol to see if it makes any difference.

New to this we're both a bit impatient trying to fix problems etc. she's definitely teaching us patience even if she has none!

Rose35

GaryCocs wrote: »

Ya not sure about my instincts, first baby and all, moved up to 5 for the last couple of days and still seems unsettled after the feeds, gave her 5oz yesterday about 5pm and she was looking for more at about half 6, gave her water then which tied her over until 8.

Someone else was saying to me that she might have a bit of wind that won't come up after her feed which would keep her unsettled?

She is obviously hungry, i wouldn't substitute a feed with water, any luck with PHN ? Does baby take a soother, could like the sucking motion that feeding is providing. Formula change is required I would say.

randombar

Going to the doc tonight to check her weight and see what he says but I'm guessing he'll just say keep going the way we're going, it'll get easier etc. etc.

She takes a soother all right but she knows now it's not food so has no interest when she's hungry.

So I'll try the infacol see if that makes a difference and if nothing I'll think about changing her food. Should we go aptamil 2 or change brands?

If we go 2 will I need to change the teat from a 1 to the next size up?

sillysocks

I think its trial and error really. Hard to know whether to change brands or go for hungry baby food. I think if you try Infacol and figure out that it's definitely not wind and is definitely hunger I'd try the same brand you're on with the hungry baby version. "They" say once you change you should stick with it for at least a week so unless it makes things worse you could try that for a week and see if it helps before thinking about changing to another brand.

randombar

Yup that sounds like a plan so.

Try the infacol over the next couple of days

No improvement in settling / hunger try the hungry for a week

No improvement try SMA the week after.

Might just explain that to the doctor and see what he says.

Rose35

GaryCocs wrote: »

Going to the doc tonight to check her weight and see what he says but I'm guessing he'll just say keep going the way we're going, it'll get easier etc. etc.

She takes a soother all right but she knows now it's not food so has no interest when she's hungry.

So I'll try the infacol see if that makes a difference and if nothing I'll think about changing her food. Should we go aptamil 2 or change brands?

If we go 2 will I need to change the teat from a 1 to the next size up?

No need to change teat size, i changed to size 2 when baby was much older and swallow was more developed, cant remember what age despite my son only being one now, so much happens in the first year, good luck with it, i hope she settles soon.

aniascor

Sligo1 wrote: »

Pardon me, I didn't articulate myself very well there. What I meant by closest... I actually meant closest consistency. I.e. that it is quite a light formula.



That's fair enough. It's just something that was relayed to me by 2 different PHNs about 7 months ago.

Sorry I didn't mean to sound like I was jumping down your throat. I'm annoyed by the pervasiveness of the slogan not by the fact that you were saying it. (And I used Aptamil with my son - I just hate false or misleading advertising).

sillysocks

GaryCocs wrote: »

If we go 2 will I need to change the teat from a 1 to the next size up?

I think its only the 'comfort' formulas that need to use the faster teats - they're thicker so harder for the baby to suck out, but I don't think you need to move teats with the hungry baby one.

randombar

Hi Guys,

So have herself on infacol for the past two days and she did seem a bit better last night to settle, maybe a coincidence.

We have found however that she is harder to wind now that she is on it for some reason, even her Granny noticed.

She also seems to have spit up a lot over the past couple of days, again maybe a coincidence but could it be the infacol?

Anyone with similar experiences?

// Gary

LoopyLolly88

My little fella is 3 weeks monday & i changed him onto hungry baby milk last week,he's had no problems changing over & is alot more settled & happy since we changed him. My other 2 children never had any problems changing over milks either.

sillysocks

Can be so hard to know with these things whether its a coincidence or not.

How much Infacol are you giving her? I know the packet says one or two full syringes but if I give my baby 2 then he's way harder to wind (I was always thinking that more Infacol would make it easier!).

Might be worth sticking with it for a few days just to see. She might just need to get used to it. After that if there's no improvement it's probably not worth giving it to her if you're just swapping one problem for another!

Funny how these things work, I was changing my little man to comfort formula. Had it bought and everything but out if habit gave him the old formula instead of trying the new one. Then he vommited up that full bottle. I would definitely had taken him off the formula if it was the new one but was just totally a coincidence.

randombar

So moved her onto the hungry formula the last two days.

Haven't really noticed a massive reduction yet, she only takes 3 oz of one or two of her bottles a day though which might be something?

Back giving her the infacol too as I think it was a coincidence with the spitting up, one squirt per feed.

First day was a bit tough on the new feed but I think that was more coincidental because she was ok yest.

No constipation as of yet anyway thank god.

How are people making up their bottles too. I'm going by the book, leaving boiled water for half an hour and then adding the powder, into the fridge and then take out and heat up as we need.

Friends with 5/6 year olds are telling me they just added the powder to the room temp water as they needed the bottles.

sillysocks

GaryCocs wrote: »

Friends with 5/6 year olds are telling me they just added the powder to the room temp water as they needed the bottles.

This is what I do. I don't think its 'recommended' as the way to do it now, but I did it with my first and now 4 months in with my second and never had any problems with it. Find it very handy. I just fill the bottles with the water after it's boiled, and leave them on the counter until it's bottle time. Then add the formula and give the baby the bottle at room temperature. Very handy if you're out and about, or during the night because the baby is used to the bottle not being heated. The max I'd leave the water without using it is 24 hours, but normally I'd make them up and use within around 12 hours.

Sligo1

GaryCocs wrote: »

So moved her onto the hungry formula the last two days.

Haven't really noticed a massive reduction yet, she only takes 3 oz of one or two of her bottles a day though which might be something?

Back giving her the infacol too as I think it was a coincidence with the spitting up, one squirt per feed.

First day was a bit tough on the new feed but I think that was more coincidental because she was ok yest.

No constipation as of yet anyway thank god.

How are people making up their bottles too. I'm going by the book, leaving boiled water for half an hour and then adding the powder, into the fridge and then take out and heat up as we need.

Friends with 5/6 year olds are telling me they just added the powder to the room temp water as they needed the bottles.

Hi, we make all our bottles up the night before. We boil the kettle amd leave for 30min. I think leaving the water for 30min let's it cool to around 70degrees which is an adequate temp too kill the bacteria that may be present in the milk powder which is not sterile. After the 30 min we make up however many bottles we need and then pop them at the back of the fridge ready for the next day. The bottles last 24 hours after which they need to be thrown out. Our fella is 9 months now.

I'd say you will get soooo much conflicting information on making up bottles. Best way is obviously to boil the kettle every time you need one but this is soooo impractical which I learnt very quickly after I stopped breast feeding. I did try making the bottles up at room temp as the previous poster amd this worked for us for a week or 2. But when I researched the reason why the water needing to be hot is to kill any bacteria that may be present I've been doing it the other way since.

I think the information on the correct way to make up your bottles is changing all time. :-)

Rose35

Sligo1 wrote: »

Hi, we make all our bottles up the night before. We boil the kettle amd leave for 30min. I think leaving the water for 30min let's it cool to around 70degrees which is an adequate temp too kill the bacteria that may be present in the milk powder which is not sterile. After the 30 min we make up however many bottles we need and then pop them at the back of the fridge ready for the next day. The bottles last 24 hours after which they need to be thrown out. Our fella is 9 months now.

I'd say you will get soooo much conflicting information on making up bottles. Best way is obviously to boil the kettle every time you need one but this is soooo impractical which I learnt very quickly after I stopped breast feeding. I did try making the bottles up at room temp as the previous poster amd this worked for us for a week or 2. But when I researched the reason why the water needing to be hot is to kill any bacteria that may be present I've been doing it the other way since.

I think the information on the correct way to make up your bottles is changing all time. :-)

I use same method as above since day 1, he is now one year old and am still using same method.

randombar

Yup, same as myself dont know how the powder couldn't be feicin sterile. You'd think that would be priority. It's also recommended that you cool them in a pan of water / run under a cool top or something before they go into the fridge. Seems strange to me.

So the hungry formula doesn't seem to have satisfied her much more than standard, she's flooring a 6oz at this stage now.

She does wake an hour after her feed, and sounds like the food comes back into her mouth and she swallows it back, she also gets hiccup about the same time.

Tried her on the gripe water to see if she was windy and it didn't bring up much of anything so we're thinking she might have a touch of reflux?

Instead of moving back to the regular feed we're thinking maybe the comfort would help her with that.

// Gary

sillysocks

I found Gripe Water useless - never did anything for either of my two. My little fella had a bit of silent reflux. It wasn't bad enough for medication though , doctor reckoned because he wasn't too upset with it we should just see how it went and it was manageable so we didn't want to medicate. Like you said we could see that something would come up into his mouth and he'd make a bit of a sour face, and also get hiccups a lot.
The doc reckoned most children do get some level of reflux but some just get it a lot worse than others.

We did switch to the comfort formula and it did seem to help somewhat. One thing is if you do switch to comfort formula that's thicker than the normal formula so you will need the faster teats for that. My fella is 3.5 months and we're on the 6 month teats. We stuck to the comfort formula because it did seem to help.

pwurple

GaryCocs wrote: »

Yup, same as myself dont know how the powder couldn't be feicin sterile.

It's not required to be sterile.

loubian

Garycocs, your baby sounds exactly like mine. My baby is on 6-8 bottles of 180mls of SMA a day. Sometimes she'll guzzle down the whole bottle and will still be hungry. Other times she'll only take half. She takes the hour to feed, an hour to settle n then might sleep or mooch about for 30-90 mins n is then hungry again. My baby also is very hard to wind, we tried infacol n it made it worse. We took her off n now she's getting it up no bother. Sometimes shr cries when she's taking her bottle n you think it's wind, so you try burp her but she cries more so you give her the soother but then she makes her hungry noise so you give her the bottle again n she starts crying. . It's a circle of trial and error! It's very confusing sometimes. One thing is I said it to the phn n shr said don't mind the regulations about how muvh a baby sjould have, if the baby is hungry, feed her. I know how tiring it is coz it definitely feels like all I'm doing is feeding her, so I hope it will settle down soon. My baby is seven weeks old on Monday :O

randombar

Hi Guys,

Any tips for feeding herself when she's sleepy? She wakes, goes nuts for a bottle, 2oz later she's sound and 30 mins later then she wakes looking for the rest.

So far we've tried baby wipes, nappy change, blowing on her face and the cruel cruel baby wipe.

Thanks,
Gary

MurdyWurdy

GaryCocs wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Any tips for feeding herself when she's sleepy? She wakes, goes nuts for a bottle, 2oz later she's sound and 30 mins later then she wakes looking for the rest.

So far we've tried baby wipes, nappy change, blowing on her face and the cruel cruel baby wipe.

Thanks,
Gary

Strip her down to her vest before feeding so she's not that warm and rub her ears or feet when she drops off (not super hard but not gently either). That worked for us. Our boy grew out of it pretty quick though, he was only sleepy enough to need us to do that for the first few weeks.

loubian

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

Strip her down to her vest before feeding so she's not that warm and rub her ears or feet when she drops off (not super hard but not gently either). That worked for us. Our boy grew out of it pretty quick though, he was only sleepy enough to need us to do that for the first few weeks.

+1 on this. Also, when you're changing her, leave her nappy off for a few minutes so she gets some air at her bum.

Edit: just to ask, how long does it take her to take the 2oz at the start? The bottles last for an hour so if she doesn't take that long drinking the 2oz, I'd say let her sleep for 20-30 mins n then give her the rest. My lo is like that. She'll yake about half her bottle, fall asleep, so I've started to just let her lie for a few mins to let the milk settle and help the wind to move (doc said to put her on her back for a few mins before winding her) n then burp her and change her nappy. It could be 15-20 mins before she's at the bottle again.

sillysocks

We had the same problems here, seems like years ago already and he's not even 4 months yet

We did the same tricks, can't think of any extras. If it's her evening feed you could try dream feeding her, anticipating when she needs the feed and then do the full feed while she's asleep. Worked great for us, had bottle gone in no time and no winding after!

paulc1000

My lil one was same with the spitting up and u could here the milk coming back up her throat kinda like when we get heartburn so we put her on infant gaviscon after trying the infacol and dentinox and the difference was amazing. She was much more settled. Docs don't really get the silent reflux thing and I know mine wouldn't prescribe anything.