Very hungry baby

[mom2ben]

Hi,

My baby boy is a big baby - 16lbs at 16 weeks. Up until a couple of weeks ago, he was a very contented baby that hardly cried at all. This has all changed and he has become a very miserable and unhappy baby. Originally I thought it was because he wasn't napping enough during the day (he sleeps through at night but wakes after 30mins during the day). He has a dummy so I tried ditching it to see if the naps improved, however, it didn't really make much difference. He would start screaming 10-20mins after waking. I gave him back the dummy after 6 days without it as I couldn't cope with all the crying.

I have realised in the last day that the reason he has been crying so much is because he is hungry. He is formula fed and I normally give him his dummy at the end of a feed as he never lets you know when he has had enough and most of the time, I think he just carries on feeding as he needs to suck. Yesterday, however, I gave him a 7oz bottle and then tried to give him his dummy but he wouldn't have it. I then gave him another bottle and he polished off a further 4oz. The problem is that he is taking 7-8oz every three hours (but crying way before this) and his tummy can't handle the volume of milk so he is quite sicky. It's almost as if the milk isn't providing the nourishment he needs.

I am at my wits end with all the crying and really am not sure what to do. I can't keep increasing the amount I'm giving him as he can't handle it but at the same time, he isn't even four months yet so can't wean him.

Has anyone else faced a similar situation? I am thinking about trying Hungry Baby milk but have heard that it isn't really recommended. Does anyone have any advice about this?

Oh dear bless well I will probably get shot down in flames for saying this on here as it seems I am the only mother on the planet to wean my dd at 17 weeks but my advice would be to start thinking about weaning, ie just a tiny amount of baby rice after his milk to see how he goes with it. If he is hungry and miserable imo he is probably ready for weaning however I fully appreciate some others do not agree with me! However my brother who was also an extremenly big and hungry baby was weaned by my mum who was at her wits end at 11 weeks and I can happily report he has suffered no long term ill effects! Good luck whatever you decide and talk to a health visitor.

He may be teething or just going through a growth spurt, hopefully it will seetle down. Sorry no good advice but hopefully this will bump and get you some better advice

Have you tried giving him his feeds more frequently - i.e. an extra bottle in the day. So his tummy has time to process the higher volume of milk

DD was teething by this point and it made her really unsettled. Try the powders or even a very small dose of calpol just before the bedtime feed and see if that helps.

Thanks all for the advice.

Somehow I don't think he is teething as he doesn't have any of the signs (other than being grumpy!) so I definitely think it's hunger. The only strange thing is that it hasn't affected his night sleep (thank goodness!) so do you think I could give him the baby rice in the morning instead of the afternoon? I have swapped one of his bottles for hungry baby formula and that seems to be helping a bit. I will change him over slowly as I don't want him to get a sore tummy!

don't give him baby rice

it won't fill him up in the same way extra milk can

IIRC, there is a bit of a growth spurt at 16 weeks

offer more formula when you can - if he is draining each bottle add an extra 1 oz to each one

Do not give him baby rice - how on earth will that help if he is hungry? It has far less calories, fats, protein, anything in fact, than milk. It will provide NO nutrition at all, just bulk in his little tummy, which will actually decrease the amount of milk (and calories) he takes.

If he is hungry, give him more milk - hungry baby milk if it helps. Feed him every 2 hours maybe?

He can't physically take anymore milk - he is bringing most of it up as it is. If I feed him every two hours, it's only going to make it worse. I am going to hold off weaning him for as long as possible by changing to hungry baby milk but even my HV has said that I may need to give him baby rice / pureed root vegetables sooner than six months.

i fed my 16 week old 2 hourly

he needed little and often - perhaps your LO is the same

worth a try perhaps?

Search the archives for thread titles: 16 weeks or 4 months. Loads of similar tales.

Keep feeding him milk. Even if it looks like he is bringing it up he isn't. Feed it more slowly i.e increase no. of feeds in the day.

Try hungry baby milk if you want to, but a hungry baby isn't gonna do well on some diet food just because it's solid!

And, he's not that big anyway, but if he was this has got absolutely nothing to do with weaning!

Hiya, I put my dd onto hungry baby formula with no probs. Didnt cause her any tummy upsets. You could also try and add another oz to the formula, my dd is a hungry baby too I know it can be hard work but I find if I feed her every 3 hours throughout the day its enough (she is 17.5lbs).

meaning she is on 9oz bottles!
I dont know how much she weighs now btw she is 22 weeks. She weighed 17.5 lbs at 19 weeks.