12 week old wanting excessive amounts of milk!!

[noarol]

I can’t find any advice for this so I thought I’d make my own post. My baby boy is about to be 12 weeks old and he’s always hungry! He’s draining a 10oz bottle (ff) at the minute every 2-4 hours (usually 2 hours in the house but 4 hours when out as he sleeps longer stretches when out the house). I’ve tried all the tips. We have tried pace feeding and he SCREAMS when I take the bottle away, if I try doing less more often he literally just cries until the next bottle. He wants more than 10oz but im trying to hold off since the biggest bottles I can find only hold 11. He’s always been having like double the milk expected for his age but it’s concerning me more as he starts having more and my mum has asked me if I think it’s okay for him to have this much. He does sleep right through from 11pm-7am and his last night and first morning feed are 7 or 8oz as he’s quite sleepy and has never wanted more. All others are 9/10oz. He was born on the 75th centile and is now 91st but he’s been on the 91st since very soon after birth and I was actually induced for slowed growth and he was 91st up until my last growth scan. I am extremely hesitant to try hungry baby milk because he had quite severe constipation, reflux and colic for the first 6 weeks of his life until going on comfort formula so I wouldn’t want to take him off the comfort formula, especially not when hungrier baby is harder to digest. I genuinely have no idea where to go next, I assume I’ll have to do multiple bottles each feed but surely this cannot be normal! All the things I’ve seen suggested I’ve tried and failed miserably so I’m at a complete loss now. Thank you :))

He will stop when he’s had enough. I would just give him what he needs it will probably only last a few weeks xx

Honestly I would discuss this with your Health visitor. 10oz is a big feed for a little tummy. How heavy is baby now? And how much does baby have over a 24 hour period? Have you considered trying a slower test so he has to work a little harder to drink the milk?

Mines been having 300ml at a time some bottles/ some days since 12 weeks. She gets fed 4/5 times a day and sleeps 6am to 6pm. I did notice a massive increase about 12 weeks where she just seemed so hungry all the time, i’m combo feeding and though I’d mostly managed to keep up until around then I had to add a bottle or two of formula every day since then as I just didn’t make enough. She’s slowed down again now we’ve hit 4.5 months.

How much does he weigh and do you know roughly his height centile?

Sorry forgot to ask, how much formula is he having in 24 hours?

I think he’s probably about 15.5lbs now, was 15 last week. Most says he will have 6 bottles but sometimes 5. I do try to give him as little as possible providing he will still settle for atleast an hour and a half. Most days it’s about 51oz. Definitely far too much but he would also drink more if I gave it to him!!

I did bring up my concern when he was 7 weeks and taking 7oz and wanting more then but I was holding off because it just seemed like too much and she just told me to give him as much as he wants and make sure there’s always some left so I know he’s full and tbh I ignored that advice purely because I genuinely do not know when he will stop and I’d much rather feed more often! I haven’t heard from her since but I’ll try to get in contact again.

His bottles are already thickened which slows him down as he’s had quite bad reflux since he was about a week old. If I don’t thicken it he also drinks it unbelievably fast and will end up choking. He’s on the smallest test + thickener so I literally couldn’t slow it any more. I’ve tried taking the bottle away to see if he will be satisfied and give his tummy time to register he’s full but he will scream and scream until I let him finish.

No he won’t. It’s very easy to overfeed a bottle fed baby.

OP I’d chat with your GP - those are really big feeds for a 12 week old baby and the level of distress when not receiving that volume does sound a bit odd. And I wouldn’t change formula until you’ve spoken with them.

He weighed 15lbs just over a week ago, I couldn’t really estimate now as his weight gain can be drastically different week to week. I have no idea what his height centile is to be honest but I imagine it can’t be too much lower than his weight. He’s a chunkier baby but he’s definitely not as chunky as a lot of other higher centile babies. I’m not sure if it helps but I’ll attach a photo.

He has usually either 42oz or 51oz depending usually on wake windows, he fights his naps most days which tends to lead to him having 6 feeds but he has 5 when I manage to actually get him to sleep properly lol!

Ive honestly asked about this multiple times starting from literally a week or so old and they have never seemed too interested. The advice was actually to up his feeds to make sure there’s always some left in his bottle. I didn’t even follow it because I genuinely don’t know how much he will eat if I allow it because every time I add an oz he eats that too. I give him as much as it takes to settle him for atleast an hour and a half because I’d much rather do more regular feeds than he giving him that much in one go. He’s been eating over double recommended for his age since he was born!!

91st centile is perfectly reasonable I wouldn’t worry at all it sounds like he is thriving.

Also he looks great - he will lean out when he starts crawling my three month old daughter was exactly the same and probably drank more at that age as she was having seven bottles in 24 hours!

My son was exactly like this, he's always loved his milk. He's 13 month old now and I never thought I'd get him to cut down, he still has one during the day, for bed and at 4am.. but compared to the 9 he was having I think he's doing well 🤣. I used to worry so much because he was literally never full.

I would probably look at reflux again. It can cause comfort feeding. The act of feeding soothes the reflux but then the feed causes more reflux so they want to drink more and it spirals.

My daughter had a bad reflux flare up and went from drinking 5-8oz overnight to 25+Oz at about 14 months old and was drinking it like she had never been fed before when her reflux flared up again.

We had to be really strict with her night feeds and not let her have more than two feeds and once it stabilised we got her down to 2-3 Oz one or twice a night and had her medication reviewed

I would probably speak to the GP about trialling omperazole to see if that would help.

My son was like this. The HV kept saying to increase the bottle if he finished it which was bizarre and we thought was wrong but didn’t go against it. He was on the 90th centile for the first year. Was on 300ml bottles by 4 months every 3-4hrs (although some he took 210/240ml) but did then sleep from 10pm-5am from 5.5 months once we moved onto hipp stage 2. He was also a very reflux-y baby and I always thought it was because he was drinking too much. The HV never had helpful advice about it. We did increase the teat size with age but again that likely added to the reflux.

What I would say is I think he was just a hungry baby, because when we weaned him he absolutely loved food (and he still took 4 bottles a day alongside food). From age 10-18months he ate food like a 4-8yr old and I’m not exagerating. We went to a pub at 11 months old and he ate a children’s meal. He started to crawl at 12 months and walk at 16months. Then from 18months he became a bit more fussy/selective with his food. He now looks like a normal toddler, eg no baby fat. Loves to walk and full of energy. He can still eat a lot if he chooses to but he’s now finally regulated and decides what to eat. He has just turned two and he’s perfect.

Oh and once he turned one he moved onto cows milk with just it in his food and a bottle/cup at night before bed. He never brings milk or fluids up now even if he drinks a lot of water in one go.

I’ve asked the gp and hv about this!! I was also quite concerned about cmpa for a while because he really did seem to suffer however we stuck by using carobel and switched to comfort formula and he honestly doesn’t really seem to struggle anymore. We have always kept him upright basically all the time unless he’s sleeping and to be honest, we keep him upright until he falls asleep then sneakily put him down most of the time. I don’t necessarily think he is uncomfortable on his back anymore I do think it’s just how it’s been since he was born and he’s just used to that now because he’s absolutely fine going down at night. I will ask them to trial omeprazole but tbh I don’t think they will entertain it when he doesn’t really have colic anymore, doesn’t really lift his legs or seem uncomfortable or bring up milk very often.

But actually now you have mentioned this he’s been sick hours after feeds for the last week or so, I’d just been putting it down to the heat so it may still be a problem I’m not sure. We still have massive issues with his naps in the day and he will scream for hours if he gets overtired but refuses to sleep, im still having to let him fall asleep in his bouncer or upright on my legs and then transferring in the day time so it could be a possibility!

Thank you, yes the hv has always told me to keep increasing if he finishes but I’ve never actually done it as I’m yet to increase it and have him not drink it all!! I have no idea how much he will drink if I let him so I’ve ignored the advice since he was born and just give him enough that he won’t cry for more. He’s not even 3 months and regularly drinks 300ml but I try keeping it to 255ml for most bottles when it will settle him because I’d rather feed more often than give too much because I’m quite certain he would finish quite a lot more as he will drink 300ml and then suck on his hands for a good while after and be searching for a bottle! Luckily he is a great sleeper overnight and doesn’t need anywhere near as much milk, he sleeps through and his last night and first morning bottle are far less and it doesn’t bother him. His dad does have a big appetite lol so perhaps that could be what it is, but both his dad and I were tiny babies too so it’s very odd lol! I think weaning will definitely be great for him, im not concerned about his weight really as I’m sure it wouldn’t mean anything once he starts solids and begins walking, I just worry about his little tummy lol

Yeah he’s the same! I don’t think I’ve ever really seen him finish a bottle and be satisfied unless it’s nighttime or first thing in the morning!! I think he’s have far more if I gave it to him but thank god he’s a great sleeper and dropped his 4am feed a while ago so he now does 11pm until 7am lol

It always worried me and people constantly said he will stop when he's full but he doesn't. I wish I had never listened to other people, it caused me so much anxiety, even now people say he shouldn't be having a bottle in the day, but it's not causing him harm, he's extremely happy and healthy.

I was told this and listening to it is one of my biggest parenting regrets.

this is what I’ve been told too since he was about 2 weeks old and I’ve completely ignored it so far lol. I give him enough so that he will settle and not cry for more, if I were to give him as much as he would eat I honestly think he would be having like 14oz. I honestly think the professionals that push this don’t know what they are talking about because some babies will just not stop!

I really think it sounds so much like reflux comfort feeding and if it is the more he drinks the worse the reflux will be.
With babies with reflux its much better to have 5 8oz bottles closer together than 4 10oz bottles. You could give him 20oz bottles and he will finish them but it won't be because he's hungry it will be because he's in discomfort and trying to ease the pain. We literally once gave my day 5 5oz bottles of formula over 8h thinking she was having a growth spurt as after each bottle she was desperate for more.

Is he still being sick close to the time of the next feed? If so there's still milk in his stomach from the last feed so it won't be hunger driving the demand for more milk.

It is awful but I would try to reduce the bottles by an Oz even if it means him not going as long between feeds. Give it a few days and potentially drop them by another Oz. It might mean he has a similar amount over 24h but the smaller more frequent bottles will hopefully cause less discomfort and the total daily volume might start to get to closer to the expected amount.

Also strongly suspect this relates to reflux.

I have mentioned this earlier on to the gp. he’s been on carobel for reflux since he was a few weeks old, I refused gaviscon because he had severe constipation.

In all honesty he isn’t really sick anymore. He has been more the last week or so but I’m not convinced it’s reflux related I honestly think it’s because it’s been so warm as it only tends to be when he’s quite warm and he was very rarely sick up until last week. He’s also been drooling a lot atm so I think a lot of what comes up is literally just saliva. His colic has also been gone for a while too.

I can try and reduce the amount in his bottles but he will scream if it’s any less than 8oz! I’ve tried multiple times but he will quite literally scream until his next feed. 9/10oz he will still have a lot of hunger cues and would definitely take more but he will also settle. He really doesn’t go long between feeds as it is in the day, probably about 2-3 hours usually.

Teething/ extra drool is a massive reflux trigger. To be honest the thickener aren't usually effective on their own.

Silent reflux has been much bigger problem for my daughter than the physical reflux which is hard as we don't always know it's happening. It's easier now she is older and can tell us. If we listen carefully we can hear the milk come up and her swallow it. She now tells us it's uncomfortable. She did cry a lot with her silent reflux when it was really out of control but there was absolutely a time before that where she was bothered by it but no longer crying about it.

Would it be worth trying a dream feed so he needs less during the day?

My daughter did that too but by this point we were very confident it was reflux so had had her medication reviewed and toughed it out for a few days whilst the medication kicked in. I think we would have struggled without also treating the reflux. It can be so hard to get silent reflux recognised though!

Just clocked the constipation. Constipation can be a symptom of cmpa as well as loose stools but one less talked about.
You can buy some of the formulas at pharmacies/on Amazon. They are pricey but if you wanted to try a tin and see if it makes a difference before talking to the GP you could try that.