Newborn won't stop eating

[Littlelegs19]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if you could help with my questions. Will be a long one, apologies.
DS is 3 weeks old, weighs 6lb 11oz. He was 4 weeks early and delivered by emergency CS. His birth weight was 5lb 9oz.

I started breastfeeding but after around 2 weeks it just felt he wasn't getting enough, so I started pumping and I was getting nothing out of one breast and barely 1oz out of the other breast. My HV said it might be due to having a bad infection in my wound and being on antibiotics, my body just couldn't cope with both. I started bottle feeding and me and DS were a lot happier. At night he would sleep between 3-4 hours.

Now, it's all changed. During the day he will have 4oz and sleep for 3 hours. At night he will wake every 1-2 hours. He will have between 4-5oz nearly each time. He is very bunged up and just won't settle in his basket (last week he slept in there fine with 3-4 hours between waking) he has a bit of colic and infacol seems to be working but I've ordered colief to see if that's better

This morning he had 5oz at 6:15 then another 3 1/2 at 8:30!
Is this normal? Why is he eating so much? How can I get him to go longer between feeding and help him settle better after feeding? Also, any advice to get him to sleep again in his basket?

Thank you all, lack of sleep is sending me potty!!

[PhilODox]

Has he been checked for tongue tie? My second was like this- never stopped because he wasn't getting eniugh inside him.
It's very easily sorted.

[DoItTooJulia]

That all sounds terribly normal, for want of a better word!

The things to watch out for are reflux and tongue tie, but even without those problems some newborns don't like sleeping in baskets (they want to sleep on you the little buggers!) and they like milk. Lots of milk!

Do you still have a midwife visiting?

[welshweasel]

Sounds very similar to my DS. Born 5 weeks early via CS, same weight as yours,
never took to BF so was fully FF from 4 weeks. He piled weight on and doubled his birth weight in 9 weeks. I was amazed at how much he took and how frequently. It's no different to the cluster feeds that BF babies do. The really frequent night feeds settled by about 6 weeks then it was every 3-4 hours which is much more doable. I used a dummy, swaddled and put him in a sleepyhead in a cot next to me so I could lay a hand on his belly til he fell asleep. Sorry it's a bit shit at the moment but sounds like he's just catching up with where he should have been.

[Misspilly88]

Yup. Sounds normal. Sorry!

[Iwasjustabouttosaythat]

3 week growth spurt. All babies do this. All parents should be told about it on day one.

Cluster feeding like this is how babies stimulate more breast milk production. There is absolutely nothing you can do but feed, feed, feed. It will only last a couple of days to a week. Your reward at the end of this is usually at least one really sleepy day of growth so get excited to nap that day.

Google the 3 week growth spurt (and the other growth spurts to come) and send DP a link. Your partner absolutely needs to be taking every second feed during this time. You need sleep too.

[MyBlackCat]

Similar situation, ds is 1 month and born 4 weeks early, at around 10 days we had two days of hell where he constantly ate and wouldn't settle despite previously sleeping in his Moses basket fine. It was put down to a growth spurt and he returned to his previous behaviour after the two days. We've just had three days of screaming between 5 and 8 which put town to colic and using infacol. Touch wood the last two days have been ok, I cluster feed him at this time and he is happy on the boob. I bf so have no idea how much he gets. DH does an 11pm feed from bottle where he has between 100ml and 140ml. As most people say it's probably a phase and will get better. Sleep deprivation is a killer though, I've had some very low moments in past month.

[Littlelegs19]

Thank you everyone! The midwifes have signed us both off so we only see the HV. She came Monday and he was eating a normal amount then so I didn't mention anything.

I'm glad it's normal, I was worried as it seems an awful lot to eat for such a little man! I'll google the growth spurts.

Thanks again ladies :)

[annlee3817]

He's still so small, and feeding will be pretty sporadic, my DD used to cluster feed sometimes, although she was breastfed and I think that had more to do with increasing my milk supply. When they have growth spurts they demand more milk. Can your DP do some of the night feeds? I used to pop the moses basket sheet in my top for the day so that it smelt of me, I also used to get my DD to sleep on the bed next to my legs and then gently transfer her, Ewan the dream sheep was my saviour as well, white noise apps, heatbeat sounds etc are good.

Someone reminded me that they have spent nearly 9 months tucked up inside you, hearing sounds from your body and muffled outside noises, plus also been hugged by you that whole time, then all of a sudden they are out and have all this space and new noises and can take them a little while to get used to it all.

[annlee3817]

He's still so small, and feeding will be pretty sporadic, my DD used to cluster feed sometimes, although she was breastfed and I think that had more to do with increasing my milk supply. When they have growth spurts they demand more milk. Can your DP do some of the night feeds? I used to pop the moses basket sheet in my top for the day so that it smelt of me, I also used to get my DD to sleep on the bed next to my legs and then gently transfer her, Ewan the dream sheep was my saviour as well, white noise apps, heatbeat sounds etc are good.

Someone reminded me that they have spent nearly 9 months tucked up inside you, hearing sounds from your body and muffled outside noises, plus also been hugged by you that whole time, then all of a sudden they are out and have all this space and new noises and can take them a little while to get used to it all.

[MyMrKnightley]

Mine is 6 weeks and did this at 2 weeks, feeding every 1-1 1/2 hours day and night. I put it down to a week in hospital not getting much due to me having sepsis and midwives just syringe feeding tiny amounts so that hopefully he'd be interested enough to latch and bf. it never worked.

Once I gave up trying to keep up with him expressing and put him on formula he'd just drain bottles. It settled down once I up the formula amount to 5oz every bottle at 5 weeks, feeds every 3 hours during the day 4 at night.