Formula query

[Franktank19]

Hi I’ve just started feeding my 6week old the SMA hungrier baby formula and he is getting on well and going every 3 / 3.5hrs as opposed to 2hrs. I still have over half a tin of normal SMA left - should I alternate with his feeds or just get rid and stick to hungry baby?

[Harrysmummy246]

It's very normal to feed every 2 hours. The hungry stuff is just harder to digest.

[Franktank19]

Oh...well he seems to like it??

[meow1989]

Hungry baby milk is the same amount of milk it just sits in the tummy longer so they actually take less if that makes sense. Have you spoken to your hv? Sometimes it is recommended but I'd speak to someone really

[NannyR]

I would second the advice of speaking to your health visitor, he's very young to be on hungry baby formula and small, frequent feeds are completely normal at that age.

[Franktank19]

It said from birth so I just assumed I could give him it 😥

[meow1989]

It's ok, you wont have done any harm and you haven't done anything wrong. but I would speak to hv as I mentioned. Is there a clinic you could pop to?

[Franktank19]

I’m seeing her this week - thank you x

[girlmummy25]

Could you maybe just increase the amount of oz per feed of normal milk? Hopefully he may go longer than 2hours with this.
If not then id personally stick with normal milk atleast for another few weeks.
Hungry baby milk is harder to digest.
Just my opinion x no judgement here

[BadBadBeans]

Here is the NHS guidance on types of formula:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/types-of-infant-formula/

Basically you can stick to stage 1 until they are 12 months old, at which point switch to cow's milk. I would definitely speak to your health visitor for advice - mine was very helpful indeed xx

[Franktank19]

Thank you

[Franktank19]

He is currently on 5oz and the health visitor (at weigh in) told me not to increase this as it’s bad for his stomach

[Harrysmummy246]

She's talking bobbins there. There's no basis for that assertion and it's not even a medical explanation

[melissasummerfield]

The tin will tell you how many oz he needs to take for his age, as long as he is taking the right amount it will be fine.

All of my 3 dc were on a four hour feeding cycle pretty quickly and were perfectly fine, you really don’t need to be feeding every two hours if he is thriving and content.

[Franktank19]

Well I did need to feed every 2hrs Melissa hence the original message. I believe, regardless, he is thriving and content now his belly is fuller and therefore going longer between feeds

[Heartofglass12345]

I think if he is happy and not hungry then he's doing fine. We used the guidelines on the side of the tin for how many feeds over 24 hours, both of mine generally followed a pattern anyway so we fed on demand, then as they got older we fed them closer together in the day so they started to sleep longer on the night (that wasn't until around 4/5 months though)

[Franktank19]

Thank you, that’s really good advice xx

[Harrysmummy246]

@melissasummerfield The tin is an average guidance amount, it's not an exact instruction. Of course some babies will need more and some less at a time. And it is totally normal for even FF babies to need a feed every 2 hours

And it's not true either that more milk in day means they sleep longer

[ScrubDubdub]

My 8 month old still sometimes feeds every 2 hours, he rarely takes more than 5oz at a time

It’s exhausting!