hungry baby again

[pippel]

so I put my nearly 4 month old baby (when the hell did that happen?! ) on to the stage two milk on the advice of the hv

the hv said she could have 6 ounces of this instead of putting her up to 9 ounces and then having to wean her in a couple of weeks when 9 ounces doesn't fill her

all good except no one told the bloody baby! it worked for two feeds and now shes back to 8 ounces and is starting to finish them so will be going up to 9 soon and shes not even going longer between feeds its still every two hours

and to top it off shes now constipated and when she does manage to go it stinks!

so should I go back to the old milk?
try a different brand?
go to bed and refuse to get up until shes 18 and can make her own dinner?

Of all of your options, I'd go for number 3!!

Seriously, 4 months is well known to be growth spurt time, and from my experience it is the worst of the lot. I remember hysterically crying, thinking I was the worst mother in the world and having my hv seriously worried about me at that time. All I can say is, it will pass. I bf my dd until 6 months so can't offer much advice on volumes/milks etc, but stick it out, give her what she wants, when she wants it and I promise you she will settle down soon.
Do you offer her water? I'm not 100% sure but I think that at this stage a ff baby will need it, and it will help with her constipation. With my dd when she was constipated a couple of ounces of water and she'd go fairly soon after.

Its a very difficult time and I feel your pain, but it will pass, I promise!

hungry baby stuff can make them constipated. If it's making no difference i'd just switch back to normal milk. but prefer option 3

number three is my favoured option!

I think Ill switch back, the thing is though the hv said it wouldn't make her constipated because of her age.

I dont think its a growth spurt because shes always been the same.

This is why I dont normally go and see the hv!

Oh well at least she sleeps well! (touch wood!)

the hungry milk is harder to digest hence it is supposed to make them feel fuller for longer - this also means it can be constipating. When ds was on hungry milk he still took the same amounts as the first milk but seemed more settled between feeds. I'd go back to the first milk if it is less constipating for your lo.

p.s. you can get 10 and 12oz bottles so it must not be unheard of for a baby to take a larger feed than 8/9oz

DS was the same as pippels. He'd down 9-10 ozs every two hours at 15 weeks.

There's no actual limit to how much milk she can have though, is there? I know bottles only hold so much but if she is still hungry can't she just have another bottle? Definitely preferable to weaning so early, whatever your HV says.

Hungry baby milk can be constipating as its harder to digest, so maybe just more of the first stage milk would work.

I might look for those bigger bottles, the hv seemed to be under the impression that once 9 ounces wasn't enough you had to wean

leonie my friend showed me the amount she used to feed her dd at the same age (she had written it to show the hv) and she had 10 ounces a day if I tried to feed dd that there would be hell to pay!

I may have missed something, but why are you not weaning your LO?

A baby who is having 9oz every 2 hours surely needs to eat something?!?!?

There is so much conflicting advice about weaning but if my baby was doing that, I would be introducing baby rice and puree.

Motherhood is full of difficult decisions. I hope things start to settle down soon

Sambo- why? For babies, milk is food.

Quuen - That is what I mean about conflicting advice! There are some mothers who rightly feel that milk should be sufficient food till x months and some mothers who feel rightly that milk is no longer sufficient. Each mother has to make a decision for their child.

However, if MY child was consuming that volume of milk with such frequency, I would question whether they needed something more substantial than milk alone.

At some point between 4-6 months, the majority of babies are weaned. Some need to be weaned earlier than others? It sounds like this LO might need to fall into the earlier, rather than later camp!

But that is just my opinion, like yours is above!

she isn't 4 months yet though

Pippel - I'd say to go back to the first stage milk, and to feed her the amount she wants. You can get bigger bottles, or offer her another few ounces after she has drained 9oz.

I think Im going to have to go to the first stage stuff shes very uncomfortable

I think part of the reason she eats much so often is because she sleeps for twelve to thirteen hours at night, so Im perfectly happy to give her ten ounces if she wants it really!

she is obviously just stocking up for a long sleep at night then!! I'd go back to the first stage milk and see how you get on.

I spoke too soon! she woke up at half 4 last night after sleeping all night for weeks so maybe it is a growth spurt after all

It is not an opinion to say that a baby not yet 4 months old is too young to be weaned. It is a fact.

I have never said that a baby should be weaned before 17 weeks. I thought the baby was 4 months