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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Should i put my 6 week old baby onto hungry baby formula?

61 replies

MsSparkle · 25/02/2009 11:10

My 6 week ds was born a whopping 9lb 8oz. He is gaining wieght ok, he was 12lb at his weigh in on Monday.

He is having 5oz of Cow and Gate formula at the moment and has been going 3 and a half to four hours between feeds.

Over the last few days he hasn't seemed satisfied and goes every 2 and half to three hours between feeds. Sometimes he will take the full bottle, then 2 and a half hours later will be really hungry again but only take 2 - 3 oz.

I have tried putting 6oz of formula in the bottle but he won't take it. I think it's because his stomach isn't big enough yet to take that amount of food in one go.

So do you think he needs to go on hungry baby milk? I am afraid he might get really fat though?

OP posts:

Original poster

MsSparkle · 26/02/2009 09:14

SnowlightMcKenzie, it was just a very odd thing to suggest NOT to offer a ff baby water? It's one of the first things the midwife tells you to do when you tell them you ff. To help with any constipation and with thirst.

OP posts:

Original poster

MsSparkle · 26/02/2009 09:15

I know you didn't say about the water starlight, i was refering to my last post which i assume is what you were refering to.

OP posts:

SnowlightMcKenzie · 26/02/2009 09:18

MrsSparkle,

From your post, it seems that you just need to compromise during the day, and wing it, like we all do.

Try not to have any hard set rules, feed him on cue when you can, and make sure he is full before you go out and offer distractions if you don't take enough milk with you.

HTH and good luck

Lulumama · 26/02/2009 21:08

i have formula fed two babies from birth.

have never given water

the formula, when correctly made up, should be thirst quenching and filling, it is food and drink. your baby should not be constipated or thirsty

if you are finding it irritating to give smaller feeds little and often, use ready to pour formula, which should make life easier

fernie3 · 26/02/2009 21:24

hi
my son was born tiny (5 pounds 8) and had reflux as a result of this he fed VERY often (reflux meant he was actually losing about half of each feed through sickness). He started of on sma gold and was eating small amounts of formula every hour - 2 hours.
BUT by the time he was 3 months old he was having a full bottle every two hours and the time between feeds was decreasing week by week - he wasnt ready to be weaned yet though as far as I was concerned.

we put him on SMA white (hungry baby) at three months. it DIDNT make the feeds any further apart BUT it did stop them getting closer together and he seemed more settled and satisfied in between feeds. we were then able to dely weaning until 6 months.

I wouldnt reccommend hungry baby formula for such a young baby it is meant more for older babies to just delay weaning a bit, it is heavy on their tummies. your baby feeding 2 hourly is fine, although many formula fed babies go 4 hours between feeds not all do so I would stick with what you are doing for now although it sounds like you may need to switch when he is older

sophie

fernie3 · 26/02/2009 21:26

I have only given water to my ff babies when they have been ill or in very hot weather

sophie

fernie3 · 26/02/2009 21:33

sorry lol forgot to add I dont thik you need to worry about him getting fat at this age.

sophie

Original poster

MsSparkle · 27/02/2009 08:44

Hiya Sophie, thanks for that. I will probably just stick with what i'm doing then. I'm sure he will settle down eventually I was only worried about him getting fat because i remember when my friend had her little girl. She weighed 6lb when she was born, my friend was bf her but had awful problems with it and the little girl kept losing lots of wieght, i don't think she was getting enough milk. My friend switched to formula when her dd was about 3 months old because bf wasn't working out and her dd still only wieghed around 8lb-8-and a half lb. My friend stupidly put her dd on hungry baby formula, even though her dd didn't need it (i think she was trying to bulk up her dd to make up for the wieght loss) and so her dd got really fat. I mean proper rolls of fat, not just the cute baby fat they get. I thought she was silly doing that but it made me abit wery of hungry baby milk. After people saying on here though about hungry baby milk not having more calories, i realise it my have just been the formula full stop that made her bulk up after having so little breastmilk for 3 months.

OP posts:

ochapple1 · 13/08/2017 21:11

Not sure if this helps mums that have had premies and are struggling with Nutriprem 2. My wife and I have identical twin boys and not long after leaving hospital, bearing in mind they were born 9 weeks early, they we're struggling to get down their powder Nutriprem 2 formula, whilst they were used to the premise version in hospital, with colicky silent reflux like behaviours. I noticed that when we were all out and about which is when we would feed them just the pre-made Cow & Gate for hungrier babies that both twins didn't struggle to get it down. I said this to my wife and she thought about it and agreed so we told our night nanny who said, hey why don't you try mixing half half!! We did and the results were instant!! Much better feeding and once we had them in a 1.5 hour awake routine they then started sleeping much much better and for far longer at night. Not only but also within and less than 1 week all the reflux colicky type behaviour stopped completely. This was the magic bullet for us, my experiment was using our identical twins and it worked equally and as fast for both, beyond our wildest dreams as we were going totally nuts with it!! Now we reckon they are not gaining weight perhaps at the ideal rate being that they are both between the 25th and 50th percentile now and so having read this thread, our next plan is to start mixing Nutriprem 2 powder formula with the pre-made normal forumula, Number 1 C&G, just during the day and then for night we will continue to use the half half, Nutriprem 2 powder version with hungrier babies pre-made formula as before to keep them sleeping for as long as possible. It's certainly worth trying if you're struggling to feed your babies Nutriprem 2 due to them baulking at the bottle! That way you mix the calorific value of Nutriprem 2 with the bulking feature of Hungrier Babies at night and/or for day feeds you get the non-bulking feature of Number 1 C&G so you can adjust their weight gain plan by varying The feeds in this way. I hope that helps someone as we haven't seen anyone else post this idea/solution anywhere!!

GinIsIn · 13/08/2017 21:19

ZOMBIE THREAD

No, @ochapple1 I should imagine it doesn't help as the baby in question will be nearly 8 now!!

Turno1 · 14/08/2017 09:51

Every baby is different but We asked our health visitor something similar and she advised against hungry baby formula as it is misleading. She said it just contains more whey protein and less of other ingredients to make baby feel fuller, but they are not getting same nutrients as normal formula. She sdvised to do smaller feeds more regular during the day. We did also use the aptamil chat to their midwives to ask them but they told us to go with health visitor advice. Our LO is happy with this feeding at 1.5 to 2 hrs during the day and will go 4 hours during night. But I know every little one I see different.

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