Hungry baby, help.

I just breastfed so eventually tried cutting out milk&soya from my diet which they say can take a couple of weeks to work but there was a positive lasting difference straight away to skin sleep and happiness. I didn't realise and do it til nearly 18 months though when eczema was worsening (it started on introducing solid food). I hear there are a couple of different allergy formulas GPs can try so worth experimenting , many struggle with soya as well as milk. There are some helpful FB groups.

I always post on these threads now as I wish I'd worked it out earlier when I had a "colic"/"reflex" baby who was crying up to 8 hours a day, with red face, arching back, and feeding up to another 8 hours a day to start with. She fed for comfort so it was initially this awful cycle of feed till she briefly sleeps, then she wakes and screams in pain, feed again. She went from 50th centile at birth to 90s pretty quickly. We did twig after a while that the "hunger" again soon after feeding was her sucking to soothe pain so introduced a dummy and learned a million winding techniques, used Infacol, did things like angling cot/sleeping in a pushchair when a bit older, and she did gradually learn to sleep through the pain a bit but was never happy, couldn't tolerate tummy time, she was so much better once the dairy/soya went.

@FTMbg oh really! Hmm he does sleep well during the night though and is content 'sometimes' though it only ever seems to be fit a short while. Otherwise sounds exactly like my son. I'm really wondering if he has CMPA now.

Did you see instant results when you switched to new milk? And which one?

@Strawberry06 ours was so hungry, gained lots of weight, never sick, never happy, terrible sleeper, wind, bit better for Infacol. it turned out to be cmpa, she was so much better in every way once off dairy and soya. I'd suggest it's worth trying the allergy milk from the GP just in case.

This! Hungry baby milk is nonsense.

@Bushmillsbabe it's really hit and miss! Sometimes he is, other times not! Or he will appear to be then all of a sudden decide to scream! He's like 0-60!

We thought he was unsettled cause he had trapped wind so we've been giving him infacol which helps get the wind up but still he can be fussy.

I have actually seen my GP and straight away he said he had allergy and prescribed Neocate but at first I wasn't convinced so we've not given him it yet. HV thinks he's still hungry and that's why he's screaming. She was round yesterday where he ended up guzzling 8oz but after that was very settled and fell asleep. Same happened today after he had 7oz. But I just can't get over giving so much to a young baby! That's why I'm wondering if he is comfort eating cause of silent reflux which is a symptom of allergy.

He's gaining weight lovely, never sick and he tends to just have one poo a day, which is on the watery side though I've read that can be common with kendamil organic which is what he's on.

Some babies are just very hungry. I remember my son shouting at me while I ate when he was almost 5 months so I started him on yoghurt and croissants the next week.

Is baby settled for at least an hour after feeds, or constantly unsettled?

If never really settled, I would consider silent reflux or Cows Milk Protein Intolerance (CMPA). My oldest fed pretty much constantly, but didn't gain weight. Turned out she had CMPA and wasn't absorbing any nutrition from the milk, and appeared constantly hungry as was 'Comfort feeding'. Are their poos ok, any ezcema etc?

@Lolarose999 - sorry: i missed that your original post was from June 2023. Good for you for taking action and sorting it. One thing I learnt very quickly as a new mum (19 years ago…) is that there are no “one size fits all” rules. Glad to hear he’s thriving now!

@Lolarose999 - if he’s draining the bottle at every feed, he needs more milk. Hopefully that will settle him down.

Thanks for coming back! Did you have any back arching or planking as a result of still being hungry? Was he ok to wind?

When my daughter was tiny, she'd get through up to 9oz per feed! She was a hungry baby.

One thing that did help was the MAM Anti Colic Bottles. They leak everywhere and a pain to clean, but well worth it!

I thought you were supposed to feed on demand and not to a schedule, regardless if breast or bottle feeding?

@Lolarose999 I know this was a while ago but I just wondered if you had any more updates on what happened?

My 6 week old son is exactly like this except my HV advised to up his feeds to 5oz possibly even 6oz! He was on 4oz. When she was here yesterday she fed him and he guzzled 8oz which is a hell of a lot for a young baby! And his last feed today he had 7oz.

I wondered about comfort feeding and silent reflux or if he is just a hungry baby! He's 10lb7

@Lolarose999 I am glad there’s been improvement!

Oh I’m so pleased to hear that. I remember being there so clearly and could think of nothing else when we were going through it. I just wanted a happy baby. I’ve been thinking about you.

It will probably take some time to adjust so hopefully this is just the beginning of your little ones improvement.

If a baby this little is showing hungry cues, then try feeding her. The worst that can happen is that she throws up. It honestly can't do any harm. Give it a try.

To be honest we never had a “diagnosis”. But the amount we was feeding was just not right, coupled with those symptoms. We spoke to a pharmacist who gave us invent gaviscon to try. This is notorious for causing constipation so I gave half a dose per feed but it didn’t help much anyway. I spoke to a friend whose baby had reflux and a midwife advised hipp organic to her. When researching hipp organic I saw the reflux milk but we didn’t try it for some time. We decided to give it a try and it hardened her stools a little bit she still managed to go daily. We got some lactulose prescribed from the dr for it it got bad but only used it twice. Once we started on the reflux milk we saw a dramatic change. It was so nice to see her relaxed and more happy.

When I spoke to the health visitor or gp I stated that she had reflux rather than asked. They didn’t question it. It is actually very very common in babies.

I was combination feeding due to dd initially not regaining her birth weight fast enough. She would be happily breast feeding and her eyes would suddenly dart about before pulling off the breast and screaming. Wanting to feed more but not latching on. Then unsettled and crying for ages after until falling asleep.

With formula she would drink the whole bottle but then be unsettled afterwards. Squirming on us, a bit of back arching, a lot of hiccups, eating her hands, sounding a bit sniffly sometimes as though she had a cold. Never smiled or seemed content. She hated the car seat and the bouncer although I’m not sure if that is unusual as most babies with reflux prefer to be sat up rather than laid down.

We switched from aptamil to Hipp Organic and saw a big improvement. Then onto Hipp organic anti reflux which was a game changer for us and she was like a different baby

Any hiccups? Is he always wanting to be held? What are his nappies like? Silent reflux makes them want to drink because it soothes the sore throat.