Hungry baby formula vs early solids

[babyblabber]

DD is 19 weeks and has been formula fed since 2/3 weeks ago. she's big for her age as was DS but i was hoping to hold out til 6 months before weaning to solids. she seems to be taking a lot of formula though 6x7oz in 24 hours. she seems really really hungry and i'm not sure formula will sustain her for another 5 weeks.

she was on aptamil but then i read it's very light so now on SMA but it has made no difference. i know the hungry baby formula is only available in the uk and ireland (due to our obsession with getting babies to sleep or something) so not sure i like the idea. i've also read it can cause constipation and she's not th best poo-er since moving to formula as it is.

i started DS on solids at 20 weeks as he was huge and my mum talked me into it but in retrospect he wasn't ready and i found it very stressful. also i was hoping to try baby led weaning this time which i defo couldn't do at this age.

any thoughts on which is the lesser of two evils?

can't you just give more milk e.g. increase each bottle to 8oz and give an extra bottle if required. You could try hungry milk too - it is more casein based and is supposed to help them feel fuller for longer. I used it from about 14 weeks with ds and made it to around 23 weeks before weaning. He had no constipation issues with it.

I personally would just offer more of her usual milk and keep one eye on her weight. It doesn't sound like an excessive amount to me although I can't speak from my own experience. Do you have a helpful HV or GP to ask for advice? I wouldn't wean yet myself without medical advice.

My DD2 is 6mo (26 weeks or thereabouts) and I've been very, very slowly introducing purées for about 3 weeks as she'd starting waking at night and not going 3 hours between feeds.

19 weeks is a bit early IMO - I'm guessing that she can't sit upright unsupported just yet? Maybe it would be better for youth move onto a more substantial formula and see how she goes?

6x7oz bottles over 24hrs does sound a little too much formula to me; aren't babies of your DDs age meant to have about 35oz over 24hrs? I'd mix it up - give her some 7oz bottles and a couple of 8oz bottles
to bring down the overall daily intake a little bit.

HTH x

Meant to add: 5 bottles over 24 hours = x3 7oz, x2 8oz = 37oz over 24 hrs.

You would need to check the feeding guide on the extra hungry formula for 19wo/5mo

Why don't you just give her more milk?

the feeding guide is just a guide based on an average baby. Some need more than it suggests and some need less. Intake is normally based on weight and a rough guide is 2.5-2.7oz per lb of body weight e.g. a 15lb baby may need between 37.5oz and 40.5oz in 24 hours (15x2.5 and 15x2.7). I wouldnt restrict intake and would feed her according to her appetite. What weight is she?

as i understand it, hungry baby milk isn't more calorific, it's just less processed, in fact more like the milk we got when we were kids (assuming we weren't bf, obv). so because the proteins are larger they take longer to digest.

ps i'd just give her more milk. we were told to ff on demand so i never had a clue how many bottles mine had, and if you're doing blw in the future then demand-feeding is a great place to start.

I would stay away from hungry baby formula. It made my nephew so constipated he was given suppository. My dd was dropping centiles due to refusing to take milk so we weaned at about 18 weeks just with baby rice and stayed with baby rice until 24 weeks when I introduced fruit and veg puree. I weaned on the advice of my GP because of her weight issues, however, she was showing all of the signs that she was ready for food so I was confident in my choice. DD was a constipated, colicy baby so HV and GP advised against hungry baby milk anyway.

thanks all. not sure of her weight at the moment, she was 15.5lbs a month ago. am a little wary of more milk as the last time i let her have more than 7oz in one go she threw it all back up immediately so think her tummy got too full. that was a couple of weeks ago now though so might try 8oz bottles again tomorrow. it just seems like a lot to me. or more it seems there's no where really to go over the next while before solids as i don't want to be giving her 7/8x8z bottles a day, did that with DS and he was obese! didn't bother me at the time and i love fat babies but when i look back at photos of him now i actually think he was unhealthily fat for a while there.

Is she long too? If so, then she is in proportion.

Why not give slightly smaller bottles but shorter gaps?