Ff baby feeding every 2 hours

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After months of bf problems (including problems with supply) I recently gave up to formula feed. However now we're exclusively ff, 18 week old dd wakes up every 2 hours, takes 2oz-6oz and goes back to sleep. In the daytime she feeds every 3 hours (5oz).

She is underweight (bf problems) so the hv says she might just be catching up.

How can I get her to take more milk at night so she goes longer in between feeds? (I've tried keeping her awake but once she wants to sleep she clamps her mouth shut!)

Help please!

You could try comfort milk, it's thicket than regular formula. My baby is going longer since I switched. You might need a faster teat though.

Thanks. The hv was really against this. Not sure why.

if she is underweight then surely you want to encourage lots of feeds at the moment?
Feeding so often is quite normal both for bf or ff babies and it's usually wise to feed on demand however you are feeding
Especially if they are catching up from a low weight.

I'm with poopoohead...our LO is only on the second centile, and we mix feed him. I'd be over the moon if he was waking up that much for food, and drinking that much too! He has never had more than 4oz at a time from a bottle...usually only takes 2oz at most.

Embrace it for now...it may settle once the weight has caught up a bit!

If she's hungry then you don't have much option than to feed her. Not that I don't feel for you, DD fed every two hours until she was two years old!

All the different formulas (first, "hungry baby", and comfort) have exactly the same number of calories.

Comfort milk is aimed at babies with constipation/colic symptoms as it is supposedly easier to digest. "Hungry baby" milk is supposed to be harder to digest so making babies feel fuller for longer.

I don't see how comfort milk will help if you want to artificially space out feeds. As it is supposedly easier to digest it may even make feeds more frequent. (Although I think this may be a good thing, as I'll explain below)

Hungry baby milk is also not going to help, as surely if your baby is underweight (and you have switched to ff to increase weight) the last thing you want to do is to make her feel full but with no extra calories, and so give less feeds!

If she is demanding a feed 2 hourly you should probably go with this at the moment as you have said that your aim is to increase weight gain. Why would you not want to do this?

Have you tried changing the teat to a faster flowing one? My dd used to always fall asleep after a few ounces so the HV suggested going up to the next stage of teat and it worked.

Comfort milk or hungry baby milk contains more whey protein or rusk to thicken it but it doesn't contain more calories which your baby will need to put on more weight.
Give baby a few weeks and I'm sure she will start sleep more, would you consider early weaning to give her more calories and fill up for longer.

Hth

Comfort milk is harder to digest actually you don't want to space feeds as your baby may be catching up or yup might feed two hourly as some babies to even when ff fed. Your hv won't want your baby's gain to slow because the harder to digest milk has artificially spaced feeds. She also knows that the most appropriate milk for babies is ordinary formula, all they need for the first year of life.

Cakesnbear, just want to repeat that comfort milk is designed to be easier to digest than first milk. "Hungry baby" is designed to be harder to digest.

Absolutely... No idea why is was reading and writing comfort as hungry...sorry

Thanks for all your help. You're totally right. If she was having 6oz every time is be delighted it's just when she takes 2oz sleeps then wakes up an hour or two later then snacks again. I'm worried she won't learn about feeding until you're full.

She decided 2am was wake up time last night anyway and didn't go back to sleep till 10am! Little monkey.

Best wishes for a better night tonight, hopefully 2am will see a sleeping baby, not a wide awake one!

Regarding the idea of learning to "feed until you are full" - I am curious, as I have not heard of this before. Is this something your HV has said?

Fwiw, this is not something that I think is true or helpful. Feeding on demand has been shown to be the most appropriate feeding strategy for both ff and bf babies. So unfortunately if she only wants 2oz at one feed and then another feed an hour later, there is not much to be done other than to go with it. Appetite doesn't always stay constant, and also thirst might be at play for one feed as opposed to hunger at the next. The concept of "snacking" is a bit unhelpful too, if you are aiming for responsive demand feeding. Sometimes we want a snack, other times a full meal and babies can be the same.