hungry baby

[mrsmoomoopoopoo]

Is it normal for a 24 week old to wake hourly starving hungry?
She's bf.
I'm thinking of introducing some formula, do you think this is a good idea?
I started weaning nearly 2 weeks ago.
I've been offering her 1 to 2 purees per day but she very rarely eats them.
Is this normal at the start of a weaning process??

Thanks

[dementedpixie]

Is she starving or bf to get back to sleep again? Could be a sleep association rather than hunger

[mrsmoomoopoopoo]

She seems starving- sucks frantically and will feed for a good 5/10 minutes each time so I think it is hunger.

[BertieBotts]

I wouldn't say it's normal as such, but very common - probably a growth spurt! If it's still going in a few days perhaps try to bulk up her solids with filling things like banana, avocado, or weetabix rather than the usual beginning foods like rice and fruit. You can add formula if you want to, it won't do any harm of course, but there is no need to at this stage.

[figginz]

Growth spurt maybe? How often does sge feed in the day?

Every hour sounds tough

[mrsmoomoopoopoo]

She feeds less often through day but I offer her boob every 1 to 2 hours in the hope that she's not as hungry at night.
This has been going on for 3 weeks now. Up until then she was sleeping through.....sob sob :(

[0phelia]

This brings back memories! DS is now 16mo, but back when he was around 6mo he started waking every 2 hours in the night for a breastfeed.

He was bloody hungry! My breast milk wasn't satisfactory. We started weaning at around this time, we got him eating porridge, yogurt, cheese, mashed potato and carrots, those sorts of things.

Once we established eating, he started to sleep through the night again.
We introduced formula around this time, and by the time he was 9mo he was not breastfed at all, and was sleeping well.

It's part of the normal process.

[0phelia]

It seems like you need to consider formula and real foods now (mashed), not just purees.

[IAmAPaleontologist]

If it makes you feel any better the research behind sleep and milk/solids shows that there is absolutely no difference in the number of times a baby wakes up no matter whether you a bf or bottle feeding or giving solids. Formula mite get you a little extra sleep in the early weeks but at this age there is no difference in number of wakings. So no, formula won't make a difference.

This too shall pass.

[ODog]

Formula and solids did not help my DS's night waking a at that age. In fact stopping BF to introduce formula just took away one of the tools I used to get him back to sleep. Every baby is different but that was my experience, although he never slept through (has only ever done for 1 month recently which can has now stopped and he's nearly 2) so I never knew what I was missing in a way. It's tough though, but sounds like you are doing great.

[Dixiechick17]

My DD went through this phase at around 20 weeks, and it continued for us for two months. Was so tiring, but she did improve and formula didn't make a difference for us, if anything it was easier to breastfeed than make up bottles. As she got better with solids things improved, I'd recommend speaking to your HV too as they may be able to give you some reasons why she does this and offer advice on what you can do.

[icclemunchy]

I'd avoid you hv and speak to someone like la letche. She's going through a bit developmental leap aswel as a growth spurt around now so feeding regularly is fairly normal

[LaceyLee]

I would try baby led weaning maybe as she's not eating the purées. But agree it sounds like a growth spurt or maybe a comfort thing rather than actual hunger. Likely to pass soon - hopefully!