Hungry Formula - has anyone tried it - advice?

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My 8 week old has hungrily bf constantly since birth - was 7 pounds 1 ounce born at 36 wks on 75th centile, I started expressing wk 4 for husband to feed on last feed at night- he could drink 7 ounces of expressed milk on this feed, but does then sleep for 5 hrs, however, I am now exhausted from bf and expressing all hours and have started to give him more formula at last feed, last night he took 1 ounce breast, and 6 ounce formula and from now on want to give up expressing and just gonna give him 7 ounce formula - on aptamil 1 - but when I speak to people 7 ounces is a lot for 8 wk old - I was thinking does he need hungry formula or are these amounts normal. I plan to stop bf for rest of feeds at 3 months - advice greatly appreciated...

i would talk over this decision with your babys health visitor first before you change his feeds, it does seem that u need to change it to the step 2 but you need to know the pros and cons for doing this

I'm not sure what to suggests but first, the disclaimer: Breast milk is best for your baby, contact a health professional to find what suits your child and you better.

Now my humble opinion:

I used to give DS 8 oz when he was well past 8m. I think the idea would be to give little and often rather than swallow such amount. There should be some guidelines in portions and periodicity in the formula's box. I wouldn't go into formula for hungry babies yet. DS had plenty of constipation problems and the formula for hungry babies certainly didn't make the problem better, quite the oposite.

Giving formula full time is a hassle too, forget about washing the bottles, and carry the formula around, but just finding the right teat for the bottle was even a liability (too fast and colic problems, to slow and baby frustrated, too tired to complete the suggested amount, and then by the time you find the right teat, your baby has a grow spurt and you need to try them all again).

Then comes the problem of finding which formula is the right one for your child. Depending on his very own characterisitics, he may be better with one or another, one may cause him constipation, the other diarroea, he may react to something or maybe not. So.... in a nutshell, if you are doing the change because you are exhausted, think it twice, things may not get necessarily easier with formula.

I am already into all the sterilizing bottles etc. with the expressed milk - my baby is so hungry any bottle any teat he will take - he has vitamin drops he's supposed to hate (premature baby so hospital gave them to me) he loves them - anything he can get in his mouth he'll eat. I am exhausted cos the only way to fill him up is to feed him every 2 hrs-3 hrs for an hour or more each time so that's constantly on my breast - I thought if I gave him formula I might be able to fill him up and he'd be happy and spread out feeds - breast is best but I speak to mums who feed for 15 mins every 4 hrs - every baby has a different appetite and that's so different to me & I'm sorry but I'm bored with no one seeming to care about mothers and their health and happiness.

Call you HV and discuss the matter.

I tried hungry baby aptamil but it gave ds1 constipation and wind.

I know what you mean, DS used to breastfeed for 45m-1 hr at a time. And yes, I felt a bit resentful at mums saying breast is best and yadayada when they had babies who seemed able to have a complete feed by the simple act of kissing the nipple; obviously, what did they knew about spending 8 hrs a day with a baby to your breast, or the incesant pain, or DS vomiting my blood?. He sucked so hard the pump was sweet and kind by comparison. I had a problem with milk supply for allowing a day of rest to ONE of my breasts, and a month of putting baby on the breast and expressing when he was not there didn't bring the supply up. I stopped when I realised I was growing resentful of my baby and then, finally, life began. So no judgement from my part.

Since then, I have learned many things I didn't know at the time, like that there are BF counselors, although I'm aware this may not be what is needed in this case. What I'm trying to say is, that if I could do things again, in a different way I would try harder to find a solution to the problem, speak to more people, a BF counselor, HV or doctor, etc. before stoping.

In DS's case, giving him formula didn't change the things (apart from the pain, of course), he needed to feed as often as before and would take the same time to have the same amount on a bottle. But the formula brought in a lot of problems I was not expecting when switching like severe eczema, a permanent bloated tummy and constipation state which included desperate crying for hours when he needed to go. I understand this would NOT necessarily happen to every formula feed baby, but in our case, it did, unfortunately there was nobody around to believe me the formula was causing these problems, so we were left to cope with the problems on our own. After years of mentioning about milk he was finally diagnosed with dairy allergy being 3 yrs old!

Hence my suggestion, but as I said, you are the one who knows the situation better. If you think you can not cope anymore, stop. I'm just trying to tell you about some of the disadvantages we faced. Although is starting to seem like a very loooooooong way to say "no, don't use formula for hungry babies yet"

Best of luck in whatever you decide.

I did exactly the same with all 3 of mine, a formula feed last thing, from a few weeks old. When my ds2 was three months old we had to get a specialist oversize bottle cos he drank so much! But he didn't feed more at ather feeds, almost like they know they're stocking up for the night! So, I would say 7oz is fine, if tha's what he wants. We used hungry formula, and it was fine too!

My ds has always needed a lot of feeding right from the start and we were advised to use hungry baby formula - but it gave him terrible tummy pain and he screamed all night - I went back to normal formula and just gave him as much as he wanted.

Hello again, I've read the whole thread through properly now. I always gave my LO's formula. It was always fine. I know people have problems with indegestion, baby not going back on breast etc, which must all be considered. But, lot's of my friends have done the same as you, with the bedtime formula feed, and no probs. I know breast is best, but I also consider that a happy mummy is best, rather than tired, stressed, guilty mummy. Sounds like you've hit on a really good way of feeding your baby, so just be pleased that he is feedeing so well, and don't worry about what people say about ff.