Ridiculously hungry newborn

[pawivy]

This is tearing me apart now.

Baby four weeks old. Tried BF but couldn't feed her enough. Went to mix fed. No better.

Left multiple messages for HV to no avail. Spoke to friend hV off record Friday, like not as a patient.

She said just feed the baby.

But
At four weeks old she is taking 6 ounce feeds and screaming an hour later for more. It's not wind, it's hunger. She's taking over double what's recommended already. My head is splitting open.

What do I do. Just keep feeding her?

Please can someone help me

[edgeware]

Does she have a dummy? Babies who have bottle instead of breast often don’t get enough sucking time - a dummy can help with that

[Thekinkymouse]

Some babies are just very hungry. 3-4 weeks is often a growth spurt as well, so that's probably making her hungry.

She'll either stop when she's full or she'll be sick. If she's asking for a bottle and not throwing it back up, then just carry on feeding her - that's the entire point of feeding on demand.

[dementedpixie]

Could also be reflux as drinking the milk soothes the burning

Does she sleep much overnight?

[pawivy]

Yes dummy

No never sick save for burp little tiny bit.


I don't know about reflux, how would I know.

No she just feeds. I moved to six yesterday and she did sleep 945 to midnight then fed then winded then fed then winded all night,

[dementedpixie]

How much does she have in 24 hours?

[pawivy]

Reading reflux now

Is gaining weight
Is not sick
Is unsettled but rooting and tounge in and out looking for milk. Fists clenched etc.

Takes feeds well, only time not crying

[dementedpixie]

Silent reflux has no sickness

[pawivy]

Averaging about 1000 ml

Is about 8lb 6

[pawivy]

She is noisy but more in a grunting looking about for food this way.

How am I to know if it is silent reflux.

[Livingmagicallyagain]

My last baby was breastfed and just didn’t stop for the first ten weeks! Normal cluster feeding. I wasn’t worried as my first cluster fed for the first seven weeks.

At four weeks this may well be normal but always check with a medical profession if you’re worried.

[Sophagain]

All the advice is to formula feed on demand as you would a breast fed baby. If she’s hungry she’s hungry. You can’t leave a baby to cry, that’s for sure. Four weeks is very young, they can go longer without milk as they get older.

[pawivy]

I'm not leaving her to cry. I'm terrified I'm over feeding her. I don't get how she can hold so much when everything says eg 3 ounce max and she's taking 6 and wanting more.

I don't want her to sleep longer, just sleep normal for a baby, which isn't ten minutes then needing another 6 ounces

[Rockettrain]

Probably silent reflux. Try feeding little and often rather than big bottles as either way she will ask for more after an hour or two. Also tell the GP she is struggling and ask to try gaviscon. Or you could try an anti reflux formula.
Some babies are just quite hungry but she shouldn’t be having double the recommended amount. It’s probably that she is feeling the burning sensation from the reflux and so wants to soothe it. Also try a dummy like a pp said.

[Thekinkymouse]

Just 6 feeds a day? Crikey, mine didn't take that few until about 6m old. I think they might be why your baby is so hungry tbh.

Ps, completely ignore the frequency and amounts on the box.

[pawivy]

@Thekinkymouse not six feeds, six ounce feeds

[pawivy]

Have a dummy

[Twizbe]

I'd second smaller but more frequent feeds.

All babies cluster feed and this is totally normal.

Make up a 3oz bottle and have some of those starter kit little bottles handy, if she gives feeding cues give her an oz from the ready made as she asks for it in between the larger bottles spaced throughout the day ....

Hope that made sense

[pawivy]

It absolutely does make sense but that's where I was until the increase this weekend . She just drained 3 and starts screaming for more . Absolutely will not settle down. I try to bf first as well and shes feeding well there now. Like plenty milk. So is actually having even more
3 hour cycle can be bf 15 each side wind. Scream.bottle wind. Scream bf repeat.

[WednesdayWoohan]

My first DC pretty much ate 9oz as soon as they were born. That aside, I think I'd speak to my GP/HV if they were draining 3x6oz in one sitting - just to make sure nothing else was going on.

[pawivy]

@WednesdayWoohan no, not 18 ounces. 6 ounces but not full and being told should be 3.

So if yours had 9 I take it you were also way over the amounts in a daytime? Without issue.

I feel I have one lot of information saying I'm over feeding and one saying just feed her. Not here, just in life.

Like whatever I read says no more than three etc, then others say just feed her.

Feel like I'm going mad.

[1990shopefulftm]

My son is pretty big for his age but apart from his 4 days in the special care unit he has always had way more than the box suggests.
He's been on 7oz since he was 6 weeks old and the doctors have no concerns, he is quite settled apart from the fact he's teething at the moment so I would just feed her when she wants it and if her weight gain got way too much then worry but I wouldn't worry about the "recommended" amount at the moment.

[WednesdayWoohan]

Yes they had 8/9oz 6 times a day. He was lowish in birth weight and seemed to need to catch up. Perfectly healthy adult now.

[Tyranttoddler]

How long does it take her to have a feed?
My daughter at that age went about 1. 5 hours between feeds at the absolute max. It could take her maybe half an hour to have a bottle sometimes so it could feel like I was constantly making milk. I just fed her whenever she was hungry. Which essentially was the whole time 😁

[newnamesameold]

My eldest was like this. HV suggested when she was 6 weeks, and I had made a note of how much formula she was having (literally double the recommended amount!) that she was maybe just very hungry and had arrived a little earlier than she should have done so had less time to bulk up than she needed.
Then we had a day when she screamed ALL day. I took her to the GP who diagnose reflux, prescribed Gaviscon and she still ate like a champ but was less grumpy between feeds after that. She still always drank more then the side of the box suggested.
She is now a skinny bean who eats everything and anything and runs around all day long burning it off. Please be prepared for never having enough snacks in the house!

[pawivy]

Thank you. I can't stop crying. What a bloody mess I'm in.

She takes it well, maybe half hour max.

I feel completely useless and lost. She is far, far from content.

That's her had six at 1240, six at 230 and two feeds from me and feeding again now. Only stopped crying when I took her in bath.

I have a toddler as well.

What about all this stuff about stretching her tummy and harming her? Just ignore that and keep feeding?

If she was feeding hourly, happy content and thriving I wouldn't care.

She's feeding massive amounts over and just empty. I videoed her earlier and sent it to a friend saying am I reading this wrong and she said that's hunger.

If she continue to feed like this today I'm scared to even tell you how much she will have had come midnight