6 week old... hungry- not hungry??

[lewibeck87]

We have a 6wk old... she had some weight issues for the first 3 wks and is formula fed for this reason.. she has started eating smaller amounts fairly regularly... 7-8 times a day and generally eats about 100ml a time... however for the last few feeds she seems to be hungey again after about half an hour or an hour... when we were in the hospital we were advised against letting her "snack"... not sure what to do... do I keep feeding her even if it means lots of smaller feeds... or do I try and make her wait til the next feed even if she is sucking her hands and gurning.... she is eating a good amount a day... just not sure how to get her to eat more less frequently.. or if there is anything I can do to make her eat more each feed... she often eats til she falls asleep or will keep spitting out the bottle... she has many of of the signs of a satisfied baby it just doesn't last long
..

At that age i'd feed on demand, she's still very tiny. I can think of nothing worse (personally) than trying to make a hungry baby wait. If she's falling asleep on the bottle you could tickle her, wave her arm about etc to try and keep her awake to feed a bit longer.

Congratulations!

Feed her whenever she's hungry at that age. I think there's a growth spurt around 6 weeks too so you might find she settles again in a week or so.

Make sure you wind her properly to avoid reflux issues.

At that age you should be feeding on demand. If she isn't hungry, she won't feed.

Yes feed her as often as she wants to. She’s tiny with a tiny stomach. I don’t know why they said don’t let her snack.. if she’s hungry and m/or crying then feed her. I always respond to crying at that age with the offer of food (3 kids)

I've never heard the phrase snacking when it comes to a six week old baby! They are hungry when they're hungry, their stomachs are so tiny, it's natural that they feed smallish and often ish.

I'm in the feed in demand camp. Although, I did read a thread the other day about a feeding schedule and I was fascinated. I bf mine and there was no schedule at all, I was quite envious actually of the freedom a schedule brings! But I don't think it started as early as 6 weeks.

I couldn't not feed an obviously hungry baby.