Demand feeding (ff) & how to tell if hungry in their sleep

[u32ng]

So my DS 7wks old & we have been demand feeding. Unfortunately he doesn't give v.obvious hunger cues at all & often is crying by the time we get to him with the bottle.

I hate this & want to get to him before the crying happens.

However I find it really difficult when he's sleeping. Almost always he'll want a feed as soon as he wakes but although I might see him give sucking motions in his sleep, I've no idea when he'll wake up so don't know when to have his bottle warmed & ready! I could wake him but am loathe to do this as I think it's a bit mean, and also he's not a great napper so when he's finally asleep I want him to get the rest.

Just wondering how other people deal with this?

You don't have to make the bottle up the minute before he drinks it do you? I think they're ok to make up and leave for a bit.

Even if you're demand feeding, you should have roughly some pattern to feeds, my 8 week old feeds roughly every two hours (bfed), so I'm watching out for it.

Oh god yes, feeds are ALWAYS made in advance!

Yeah he feeds about every 2hrs as well but still get caught out by him wanting fed before then...

I think I will need a day of just watching him from an hr after his feed to see what his cue is as I never see any obvious cue so maybe his is quite subtle??

Oh I see! Would he take a bottle that wasn't precisely warmed up? Even room temperature or cold straight from the fridge?

Sticking tongue in and out, twisting mouth to the side, making an O with the mouth, fist chewing and rooting are the usual signs here.

Yes he's not fussy haha! Have often cut short bottle warming just to stop him crying. I just prefer not to feed him really cold milk as I don't think it can be nice for their digestion.

Going to really observe him tomorrow!