Hungry baby - eating all the time !

[Littlemermaid]

My DS is 8 weeks old and for the past few weeks has been feeding every 3-4 hours 5oz bottles usually 6 or 7 a day.

Since yesterday morning he has been much hungrier and crying for food every 2-2 and a half hours - is it OK to feed him this much ? It seems alot and it's more than suggested on the tin of milk and in most of the books I've looked at.

He weighs 11 and a half pounds and was 3 weeks early. He has always been a hungry baby - any suggestions would be great !

Can't help really littlemermaid, but have noticed that my dd (6 weeks) has been hungrier than normal for the past couple of days - 4-5 oz per feed and where she used to go every 3-4hours she is now waking every 2hours or so - it could well be a growth spurt is the thing that I am putting it down to.

my sil told me to expect a growth spurt with dd around the 6 - 8 week mark .. perhaps that is all it is.

my baba is 9 wks old and she wasnt as big as yours (9lbs 1oz) but from day one she always had a big appetite. I was feeding her every 4 hrs on 5 - 6oz average but she needed alot of it so i changed her milk to White SMA (she was on gold before) when she was 8 wks old and she seemed to be more settled and happier (if you are on gold sma your baby is old enough to change to the white sma for hungrier babies). i also give her plenty of water too in between so she doesnt get constipated as being on white sma .

i dont go by the tin that youre supposed to feed baba 4oz every 4 hrs as its loads of rubbish. i give baba as much as she wanted and its true that baba have a growing spurt too, if you want to stick to the milk that baba is on now then just add 2 ozs. (mine is now on average 7ozs)

hi littlemermaid my baby is 8 wks old too!

she became like this about a wk ago too - wanting fed every 2-2.5 hrs. i changed over to farleys second milk from farleys first (second is for hungrier babies) and she was still hungry as often apart from overnight - she has started to sleep 8-9 hrs at night! say 11pm til 7 or 8am. so she is just as hungry during the day but sleeps all night.

they change all the time and no sooner will you get used to this 'routine' and ds will change again.

dont worry, i think they all go through growth spurts, ie hungry spurts.

lots of luck

Thanks for all your advice - he had his 8 week check up today and immunisation (seemed to upset me more than him !)

HV and Dr advised to try SMA white and increase feeds as necessary and not to worry too much about amounts as his weight increase is about average - he's now 12lb 2oz at 9 weeks.

I guess I was just concerned as I finally felt we had established a routine and that's gone now - upside is he's slept from 11-5 last 2 nights, his longest so far so I'm willing to sacrifice routine for sleep !!

blimey! as mine is now 14lbs as baba loves her milks. i know how U feel about the 8 wks check as mine had hers last week and i felt really nervous...

also make sure u give plenty of water to baba every day

also i think girls puts on weight quicker than boys ?

biglips, young babies do not need water and certainly should not have 'plenty'...are you in the UK? In the UK, water is not advised, unless there is some over-riding need for it (it might be suggested if a formula fed baby is v. constipated).

i was advsd by my midwife and couple of mates that cos ive switched over to white SMA (for hungerier babies) is to give them water. i said it wrong...i give mine about 4oz of pre-boiled water every 2 days so baba doesnt get constipated as white SMA is heavier.