Insatiable eater

[user1490025201]

Hi All, hoping someone can help.

I am a first time mum, and have a beautiful 3.5w baby boy. His birth weight was 8.3lb, coming in at 75% percentile. Unfortunately I have really struggled with breastfeeding (have seen lactation consultants at my council, millions of midwifes etc)- and as a result am currently combination feeding - essentially a mixture of expressing, then one breast feed a day (via a shield) and the rest on formula (most of his food is via formula due to the amount I can express). Baby seems like he is always hungry - and I'm worried on overfeeding him- but if he wants to be fed I'm not going to deny him.

When on the bottle he is now taking 150ml in a feed (and sometimes we have to top up on this) - and he is currently averaging 900-950ml a day feed (breast and formula). Seems like lot to me when comparing all the guideline charts.

The baby did lose weight after birth (like most babies), but put it back on fairly quickly. I saw the midwife last Friday (16 days old)- when he was 9.1lb and 3 days later on the Monday (19 days old) he was 9.7lb. So roughly putting on one lb a week...

Midwife was not worried, and obviously I want baby to be happy and healthy, but seems like excessive weight gain (?!), and he is continuously hungry, and eating more then the guidelines. My midwife was dismissive of hungry baby formula - but has anyone tried that - would anyone recommend that?

Just to lay everything out on the table in case anyone suggest this (please don't shout at me for doing this) but it is ridiculously hot today, and was worried on dehydration, so gave baby 1oz of cooled boiled water (it seems to be allowed when it is very hot and baby is formula fed). I don't plan to do it again (but was worried on heat/dehydration). Plus was rewarded with projectile poo as a result too...

Any advice on insatiable baby - please let me know.

babies aren't machines and unfortunately they can't read the back of the tin as to how much they are supposed to consume! it's just a guide. if your baby is happy and clearly thriving by putting on weight then you don't need to worry.

it's common to be almost constantly feeding in the beginning but it usually calms down as bsby gets older. hungry baby milk is a gimmick. it takes longer for baby to digest making them feel fuller but can mean they then don't consume enough calories. definitely not good for a 3 week old.

I really would avoid water for such a young baby - given the amount of milk he is consuming doesn't seem likely he will get dehydrated

Agree with your midwife and PP, don't worry, forget guidelines. Just enjoy the fact that baby is drinking happily with no colic/constipation/other issues! Stick to the formula that works and give as much as baby wants, they don't overeat. My DS was similar, eating double-triple the "guidelines" at every feed, I wish I didn't waste a single second worrying about it, especially now that I look at him and he is a tall, lanky 3.5year old, who definitely will stop eating when full, no matter how enticing the food might be (except ice-cream)