Hungry baby, what advice to take????

[alex14]

Hi there,
I have a 9 week old daughter who is constantly hungry.
She was born a week early by C-Section and i breastfed for 11 days, i would have for longer but due to her loosing to much weight and feeding every hour i was advised by a pediatrician to put her on to a bottle. This worked out fine to begin with until she started being sick a lot and then loosing more weight.

Iwas advised by my health visitor to take her to the doctors because she could have reflux but the doctor was not concerned and said she was just a sickly baby and should sort its self out by the time she is 6 months. Now she is on 6 ozs of milk which but wants more and is still sick. Last night i put her on to hungry baby milk to see if that would satisfy her a little more. i have also had advice from 8 different people to give her 1 spoonful of baby rice. but i feel it may be to early for that . I am just stuck please help.

Is she having lots of wet nappies (at lest 8in 24hours) is she well other then being sick? I take is she's still putting on weigh if your doctor wasn't worried?

Don't give baby rice without ped recomendation as she is way to young. Has she been check for tounge tie this could explain the poor weight gain while breastfeeding and the reflux.

Make sure you keep her upright for at lest 30minutes after a feed and maybe raise one end of the cot to.

You probably need to go back to your doctor with this if your not happy ask for a refural.

yes she has lots of wet nappies, she seems happy in herself plenty of smiles, no temp, just constantly got her hands in her mouth sucking, she cry's when i wind her in the middle of her feed and after.
No she has not been checked for tongue tie (what is that?) the doctor didn't look at her just checked her book that the health visitor has recorded her weight in, but when she went for her 8 week check with a different doctor she said she was perfectly healthy.
I have been keeping her upright, but will try and raise the cot now.
I don't want to give her baby rice and i have even increased her feeds to every 3 hours.

Tounge tie www.nhs.uk/conditions/tongue-tie/Pages/Introduction.aspx can course a wide range of problems.

But reflux in itself can cause the constant sucking problem they want more milk as its a comfort thing and then are sick. Or are sick and therefore need more milk as are hungery again. Reflux baby's are normaly better with smaller feeds more often even if you have to feed every 2hours. It can help with the amount of sickness.

I'd take her back to see another doc if your still concered.

Every 3 hours doesnt seem often for a 9 week old... can you try feeding little and often? May help with the sickiness if she has less volume at each feed. Not sure about hungry baby milk at all, don't really get the concept of giving a baby something that is more difficult to digest so they can feed less often. If there have been weight issues will this not be counterproductive?

I'm in no way shape or form an expert and I'm breastfeeding my DS so it might be different, but my DS only goes 3 hours without a feed now and he's 5 months old - I think at 9 weeks he was feeding every 90 mins or so.

She will still have a very little tummy so will probably need little and often which might satisfy her more?

She is far to young for baby rice.

If you're worried about her being sick have you spoken to your GP?

I would also agree that every 3 hours doesn't sound very often. You say that you have increased this to every 3 hours, how often were you feeding before this?

Thank you for your advice everyone, i decided not to give her baby rice as i felt she was way to young, i went back to the HV and she advised hungry baby milk as this would be heavier and fill her up more and may even reduce her sickness but to make sure she has a couple of oz's of water so she does not get constipated. Also her weight gain is normal now. But first as a few of you have advised i started feeding her every 2 hours but she was sick more. She is now on 6oz of hungry baby every 3 hours and she is the most content i have ever seen her and is only sick a little bit after her feed. :)

So glad you sorted this Alex. I read your OP and thought "oooh, please don't give her baby rice". I'm really pleased to see you found the right balance of milk and timing for her. That's what it's about at this age. No normal healthy full term baby needs solids at 9 weeks.

My experience (after BF more or less continuously till 8 weeks) was that you can't FF a baby at less than 3 hour intervals because they will be sick - it lies much heavier on the stomach than breastmilk and is much slower to be digested.