To think that you don't just give your baby 'hungry baby milk' because your 2 month old won't go more than 4 hours between feeds?

[BonkeyHasGOLDMollocks]

My 'friend' used very very lightly told me that she had her baby on this because he was feeding every 4 hours and she thought he should be going longer.

I FF ds and I am pretty sure it was a 4-5 hour gap until at least 3 months.

Incidently she is planning to wean at 12 week too.

Am I being a super know it all judgy panted bitch? Or do I possibly have a point?

Weaning at 12 weeks is not ideal but those of us with older children will remember when this was the recommended time scale. The baby wont blow up. The baby will be fine.

You do have a point, but, end of the day, the child is being fed.

Is it her first child?

Hungry baby milk isn't poison you know.

What valium said. I never understand why people on here get so het up about it.

I can't work out why you're bothered?

No third.

Although she is hardly parent of the year

Bloody hell. DS1 NEVER went longer than 3 hours. He was still on 5 feeds a day well beyond a year.

DS2 occasionally manages 4 hours at nearly 7 months. And then we all have a party to celebrate as it is so rare.

My hv told me not to use hb milk at all. Nasty stuff, and seeing the effect it had on my niece I am inclined to agree.
Ds drank 90 (yes ninety) ounces of milk at 15 weeks. The hv advised to try and hop off as ling as possible and wean. We weaned at 18 weeks, just inside th guidelines.
I understood that ff babies should now be fed on demand just like a bf baby.
Before you get all judgy, have you thought she doesn't know this. Perhaps she has a lot of older relatives that still think babies should go four hours like they used to?
Its all well and good judging someone, when you don't live their life. You obviously don't spend a lot of time with her so you don't know the reasoning.

Hungry baby milk won't harm the baby unless she is ignoring it when it cries thinking it can't be a hunger cry after "just" 4 hours, but I would be trying to discourage the early weaning as that is potentially harmful.

I appreciate that hungry baby milk is not poison, but I also think there is alot to be said for increasing the amount of milk in the bottle.

Why do you have an issue with a baby being fed milk designed for babies? Hungry baby milk wont do any harm

You have a point, but it does depend, and I say that as someone who gave her baby Hungry milk from about 14w. We use it for the bedtime and dreamfeed. This was after she went from sleeping from 8pm - 5, 6am to waking up at 2, 3am. After a week of monitoring how much she drank we worked out that she wasn't taking any more ounces overall by having a feed at 2am and again at 6am, and she was increasingly grumpy by having her sleep disrupted. We experimented with Hungry milk and she slept through again.

If your friend is sure that the ounces are the same and the Hungry milk is encouraging, say, more settled sleep then IMO that is ok. If she is just doing it because she wants them to go longer and is thus cutting down on their overall ounces than feel free to hoist those judgey pants up high...

What if she's at 9 or 10oz a feed and he's still screaming for food every 2 hours? He's clearly too wee to wean. Leave her to it and i hope you get a ravenous beast of a baby one day

FGS so many people seem to be thoroughly obsessed about what their friends put in their babies mouths.

Just forget about it. It's hungry baby milk, not battery acid.

I think you may have a point, however it's quite hard to say without knowing the weight/length of the baby and whether the baby does in fact have a larger feed interval on the hungry baby milk. Maybe she's spoken with her health visitor/gp about it? If not, perhaps it could be suggested?

I do think that 12 weeks is too young to be weaning a baby, and I have a firm but factually hazy conviction that it could be, if not outright dangerous, (and it well might be for all my woeful knowledge can say) then it could set up problems with food intolerances in later life.

I remember someone on her tell me hungry baby milk has not actually been proven to work, its a different type of sugar in it or something but in no way harmful and still a first milk (HV told me that second bit) so no need to worry there.

As for the weaning, she is going against medical research advice BUT its her baby and her choice so just hoik your judgy pants from afar :o

Oh and increasing the milk volume isn't always good for babies either, so much formula can be hard on their kidneys, HV told me that too!

Its not poison but I personally would rather feed with normal formula slightly more often. But not everyone shares this view. My friend did similar (from birth with 5lb baby born 3 weeks early with support of health visitor) and he seems like healthy 8 year old now. I was a little but not enough to post in am i being unreasonable.

I don't know why the stuff is even made if it's so bad? I personally wouldn't use it but my dc were bf with a bedtime bottle of aptamil 1 til 8 (DD) and 9 (DS) months. Why user it recommended for bf babies? Because it's too much hard work for their little tummies to digest? Seriously? People who give it to tiny babies just to get them to go longer between feeds are wrong. I had months of no sleep because my baby wanted milk. I'm not trying to sound martyr like but... That's what babies do.

Ok so maybe IAB slightly U

It just pisses me off when people do things for themselves first rather than their baby. Surely yor 8w baby's needs should come before your own.

I really do think she is just doing it this way because she really cba to do the regular feeds. She said that at least by weaning him at 12w then she would get a decent nights sleep

I shall happily keep my nose out!

Why ISN'T, not user!

Bonkey- I'm u too then because I'm inclined to agree...

Yes, you are in a bitchy mood. Is that normal for you or are you just having an off day?

Your thinly veiled criticism of your 'friend' makes me wonder if you're insecure in your own parenting choices. I come to that conclusion everytime I see one of these type of posts.

Perhaps that is what is best for the baby?

DS was on hungry baby milk quite early on because I was advised to use that instead of making his feeds bigger.

YANBU If you're not prepared to be up multiple times a night with a small baby then maybe you shouldn't be thinking about being a parent just yet. I can't stand selfish parents.