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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

VERY VERY hungry baby, which formula will fill her up?!

12 replies

BellyMonster · 20/02/2011 20:02

Hey everyone

I've breastfed my daughter exclusively for four months but then added a formula feed as she was hungry every two hours and I couldn't keep up. She's now six months old and on three solid meals a day plus four breastfeeds, two formula feeds (at 7 and 10pm) and one to two breastfeeds at night. She's having SMA extra hungry baby formula but I was wondering if anyone knew if any of the other brands were good at filling them up!

OP posts:

ShowOfHands · 20/02/2011 20:06

The bulk of their calories/nutrients come from milk at that age. My dd still fed 2 hourly day and night at 6 months.

Can you not fit in some more breastfeeds during the day? The other thing to bear in mind is that with the bulk of the calories needing to come from milk, you could be filling her up with less calorie-dense solids and then she's needing to snack more and more.

At 6 months their needs should still be met mainly by milk.

Are you offering milk before solids?

And is it a need to suck that makes you think she's hungry?

MoonUnitAlpha · 20/02/2011 20:09

Is it the nightfeeds you want to drop? Have you tried offering a dummy or water when she wakes in the night?

AngelDog · 20/02/2011 20:09

Dunno about the formula, but it doesn't sound like an excessive number of feeds to me - DS was bf and at twelve months was on 3 big solid meals a day, 7 daytime bfs and 1-4 nighttime ones.

It took 2 months of being on solids before I noticed any reduction in the amount of milk he took, so it can take a while before their milk requirements adjust to solids. (DS ate loads of solids from the outset too.)

rainbowinthesky · 20/02/2011 20:09

I would up her milk intake tbh and not give so much food.

MoonUnitAlpha · 20/02/2011 20:16

I don't know about cutting food - I've had some luck with a tea of porridge and banana. My 6.5 month old has 5-6 breastfeeds in the day, then a bottle of formula at 11pm. I've started just offering a dummy and water if he wakes between 11pm-6am.

organiccarrotcake · 20/02/2011 20:46

I would suggest upping milk but without cutting out food. Can you encourage her to stay on the breast longer?

May sound silly, but how sure are you that she's hungry? What signs of hunger is she showing?

PenguinArmy · 20/02/2011 20:46

mine fed 2 hourly night and day also, up to 7 months. Even when not BF 2 hourly, she was feeding 2 hourly just with solids

she has 3 solid meals, two good snack meals and still BF frequently at 11 months. The faff of FF would never enter my head as an easier option, but that's what you want to try.

Why do you want her to go longer? Is it just because you think she should or you're knackered. If the latter can you get a partner to help out more?

Original poster

BellyMonster · 20/02/2011 21:33

I try to settle her at night with dummy, cuddles, soft music etc but she reaches out towards my chest with her mouth open making what I now call 'hungry noises' She feeds until I'm empty.
I'm not using formula as an 'easier option' because its not. It's far more convenient to bf but like I said, I was struggling to keep up with her demand and I was told that babies can go slightly longer between feeds on formula cuz its digested slower.
I'm knackered, I'm getting two to three hours sleep a night and I can't keep it up much longer. But it sounds like I'm just going to have to deal with it until she's bigger.
I'll try more breastfeeds in the day and see if that helps. I thought she was a hungry baby because she is compared to all my friends but from what you guys are saying she's not.

OP posts:

MoonUnitAlpha · 20/02/2011 21:38

I've found if I go to ds in the night he wants to feed regardless - but if DP goes to him he'll often accept a cuddle.

Can you have the baby in bed with you? It saved my sanity when ds was feeding frequently in the night - I barely had to wake up to feed

What kind of things does she eat in the day? Protein is supposed to be particularly filling.

PenguinArmy · 20/02/2011 21:39

I think we feel like we're failing somehow if they don't feed 3/4hourly so in RL we keep it secret.

Know what you mean about the tiredness, made the return to work much harder than I expected. But DH does nearly all housework and gets up with her at 5/6am when she's awake. Otherwise I was on the verge of delayed PND.

ShowOfHands · 20/02/2011 21:40

Aah are you taking her off when you think she's 'emptied' the breast?

Your breasts don't empty, they continually make milk. If she comes off naturally, offer the other side, then the first side again etc. You never run out. Best analogy I ever heard is that it's a river, not a pond. The flow does slow down and they do have to work harder as the feed goes on and particularly if they're used to the ease of a bottle and its fast, consistent flow, a baby might be frustrated and pull off and you incorrectly think you're not 'keeping up'. This isn't true thankfully. If you offer when they're hungry, your breasts will make the milk.

And formula is harder to digest but if your baby is truly hungry, it doesn't help because she's still not getting the calories. More milk feeds are probably the way forward and keeping her on for longer.

It does get better. Promise.

Caz10 · 20/02/2011 21:44

There is a chart thingy on kellymom which shows the calorie content of breastmilk vs weaning foods etc- basically breastmilk is the most filling! I feel your pain, Dd never cut back on feeds when I started solids, she literally seemed to be eating/drinking 24hrs straight! It did pass, eventually!

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