New born - hungry all the time

[ktchang77]

Hi

My 3.5 week old baby always seems to be hungry. I feed her every 3-4 hours but after an hour after feeding she is crying again, looking for food. I am thinking could she just be thirsty? If so do I just give her more milk. Thought about giving water but thinking she might be too young for it.

Any advice would be much appreciated

is she breastfed?
in fact, however she is fed i would just do it on demand. she's very small and it's normal for babies to want to feed more frequently than every 3-4 hours

Are you breast or bottle feeding?
bf babies need no water, bottle babies do occassionally

If your baby is hungry feed her on demand, their tummies are tiny (about walnut size) so need frequent feeding

Are you also winding her properly? She may cry due to wind

DS was feeding every 1-2 hours at that age, their tummies are so very tiny.

Experts will be along soon - if not post in "Breast/ Bottle Feeding."

But, it sounds totally normal to me. 3.5 weeks is very early days and, yes too early for water. She will eventually settle into a routine, but for the moment, just get yourself a remote control, a packet of biscuits and snuggle away.

If you are formula feeding, she could well be thirsty. The advice from the formula companies is never water down the feeds and don't overfeed - totally useless IMO.
Mine was formula fed, he too was born in hot weather, I fed him what he wanted, when he wanted it, it has not done him harm and he is not overweight or reliant on food as a comforter.
Your GP will tell you that it is ok to mix an extra third of water with formula when they are dehydrated from diarrhea - so I took that to mean when dehydrated. and mixed an additional third in very hot weather for 1 feed a day unless it was mega hot (we were in spain). e.g. 100mls of mixed formula would get 50mls of boiled water added extra.
Don't give boiled water on its own though, something to do with digestion.
I probably added water to 1 feed a day once or twice a week last summer in southern spain.
If you are worried about dehydration (signs are a sleepy baby who falls asleep during feeds or sleeps for extra long periods not waking for feeds) go to A&E. Mine was admitted when he was little, which is where I got the FF dehydration advice for mixing water into formula.
Theory is that if you were BF baby would be getting extra water through the extra BF's that he gets in hot weather.
Of course if you aren't FF, then the BF site here has some excellent experts who give fantastic advice.
Go and see your HV and GP and discuss what I have said before oing it so you can be sure you are doing the right thing backed up by medical expertise by professionals who know you and your baby, I am just a random person on the internet telling you what I did for my DS.