Hungry baby: Hi All, My LO is nearly... - Pregnancy and Par...

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Hungry baby

Andia1 profile image
16 Replies

Hi All,

My LO is nearly 3 weeks now and I've noticed it wants to eat more. She will drink up 100mil forumla milk and 30min later will ask for more. Also she doesn't want to go sleep after the feed, she will fall asleep for 15min and wake up being hungry and moody. But giving her more milk makes her cry and strain although she cries more when you remove the bottle. I have honestly no idea what is wrong with her. It's hard to get any sleep within her schedule, I'm exhausted 😴

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Andia1 profile image
Andia1
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16 Replies
MissEd profile image
MissEd

Hi,

I never slept when my baby slept tbh. I just ran with it lol but it was tiring.

I'm not really sure what to suggest maybe try giving her only slightly more than 100ml?

sweetchild1989 profile image
sweetchild1989

Can you not try her on the extra hungry formula milk.... I know some brands do it. If not speak to you hv and see what she suggests xx

Tiddly1984 profile image
Tiddly1984

Are you burping her and ensuring that she burps after each feed and before falling asleep? She might be hungry but can’t eat because of trapped wind. This would maker her uncomfortable.

Chloe0789 profile image
Chloe0789

Google pace feeding

Andia1 profile image
Andia1

I try to burp her each time, but sometimes she falls asleep and despite efforts it doesn't work. Also I was thinking of changing the formula to hungry version but I'm waiting to speak to my hv as she's in holidays this week...

Rox9797 profile image
Rox9797 in reply to Andia1

Just some advice I got from my health visitor regarding formula feeding - she told me that they’re not allowed to give advice on specific formulas or brands for baby they’re only allowed to give advice on best way to feed them which I was told was baby led until they’re in a routine, I’m assuming it may be similar for all health visitors🥺 I did ring my GP as I had to switch my little boy onto comfort milk for colic and she said it’s the parents decision to change milk, if you think she’s not getting enough it’s worth trying the hungry baby milk, just be aware that it can take about a week or two for baby to get use to it so baby might be a bit groggy and irritated whilst they get used to it☺️

Bailey135 profile image
Bailey135

So 100ml is less than 4 ounces So she’s probably still hungry. I would try giving her 5 ounces. If that doesn’t help then I would recommend using a hungry baby formula. We had a similar situation to this with our daughter the sheer volume of milk she wanted was making her throw it back up we switched to cow and gate hungry baby when she was 5 or 6 weeks and now she’s fine and she sleeps from 9-6 at 9 weeks old x

Seb9 profile image
Seb9

It sounds like maybe she's not hungry and just needs comforting as your giving her enough milk for her age to go several hours so more milk might be making her uncomfortable.

Breastfeeding babies will stay on the boob for comfort as well as food so she might just be looking for that comfort.

Like someone else said, have you looked up pace feeding her bottles so they're more like breastfeeding, making her take longer over drinking so she can feel when she's full. Have you tried offering a dummy to see if she just wants the comfort without food? At 3 weeks old my baby was fly like she was always on me or crying especially in the evenings. Maybe also do some reading on the fourth trimester and purple crying, it definitely helped me understand my baby more. I also downloaded the wonder weeks app which showed which weeks she's likely to be more fussy due to development leaps. Good luck these early days are tough but it does get better x

AGKG profile image
AGKG

Hi. I spoke to my health visitor about the same thing yesterday my LO is 2 weeks old and has 4 to 5oz but seems to want more even though been burped. Seems agitated sometimes. She told me to get some infacol as she may have tummy ache

So I'm going to try this as when I have fed her again after a feed. She vomits

Hope this helps x

Katja123 profile image
Katja123

I second Seb9 opinion. How do you understand that she is hungry 30 min after feeding? Is she crying or doing anything else?

Normally hungry cues are: tongue stuck out, licking motions, opening mouth in search of the boob, head diving searching for food. If baby doesn't get fed then, yes, they start crying.

But crying can have many reasons, like belly discomfort, colic, tiredness, searching for comfort of the parent's arms, being too hot or cold, wanting to pee or poo. Try eliminating other reasons before feeding. As new parents we are confused and often overfeed the baby especially if it is bottle fed, since we give a bottle at first signs of unhappiness.

Also, try carrying the baby on the belly on your arm, that massages the belly and eases discomfort substantially.

Don't jump to hungry formula immediately, all babies need normally, in case of formula, is PRE milk, which is the closest to breast milk, everything else is marketing and money making from parents, who are new and anxious.

Also, wearing the baby in a sling is really helpful, especially in the beginning, they are so much calmer then.

SRA8 profile image
SRA8

Formula/bottle fed babies cluster feed too. Sounds like it may be that or comfort feeding.

Andia1 profile image
Andia1

She does show that she's still hungry after them short naps but giving her more milk makes her strain a lot and cry and when I take the bottle away she cries more like with anger. I feed her with cow gate 1st infant milk ready formula and I spoke to feeding team today and got advice on this milk, apparently ready ones got too much sugar in them which makes them harder to digest and makes babies poo a lot which actually is the case here. I've been told to change for powder version of this milk and try colief for her belly aches. Also according to her latest weight hv told me she should drink up to 700ml every 24hrs which maybe not enough I give her but this is down to her crying and having them belly cramps. I'll start on powder formula later on today and give her colief as well and see how she gets on. I tried infacol before but it got her constipated and also using milk for constipation and colic wasn't any good for her either...😩

Artemus profile image
Artemus

Just a thought, could she have silent reflux? sometimes a baby with reflux will want to feed constantly because this soothes the pain. Maybe check with your HV. Try keeping baby upright after feeds maybe in a sling?

Andia1 profile image
Andia1

Not sure, I'll speak to my hv

Sieh profile image
Sieh

Try a dummy. She will spit it out if she's truly hungry

Andia1 profile image
Andia1 in reply to Sieh

Tried already, she doesn't like it even when not hungry ... 😩

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