hungry baby!!

[marie24]

i have a 8 week old baby and im breast feeding but thinking of switchin to formula as he constantly feeding but feel like im letting him down, has any1 got any advise??

Have you seen a breastfeeding counsellor?

Babies do feed a lot. It's normal. How much is he feeding? Is he transferring milk effectively? Gaining weight? Weeing, pooing? Alert?

This is normal in a bf baby, I feel like a milking palour somedays and DD nearly 12 months! Are you making sure that you are feeding for at least 20-30 mins on one side before switching, so that he is getting more of the rich hind-milk (fills them up for longer)? The more often you feed the more milk you produce, make sure you are drinking enough water (a big pint glass with each feed is my usual). He could well be going through a growth spurt and feeding more often to increase your milk supply. You are doing fine, there are lots of organisations which can provide advice and support The Breastfeeding Network and La Leche League are good starting places, La Leche have local groups in many locations where you can get help.

no ive not seen a breast feeding counsellor, he will be on me for over an hour then want feeding again 15mins later.
yeah he is alert and weeing and pooin plenty and gaining weight slowly,he just seems hungry all the time.
i gave him his last feed tonight formula and he is so settled

yeah is on one side at least 30mins before i switch him,i dont drink that much, does that affect ur supply?? he may b havin a growth spurt

It is exhausting but at that age they're brand new. I would see a bfc or phone one of those numbers so that you can check your latch is okay and he is transferring milk as effectively as possible.

But 8wk old babies can feed a lot, especially during a growth spurt when it seems constant. Are you offering both sides at least at each feed? Or 3 or 4 sides?

The Kellymom site is brilliant for bfing advice.

Bump this thread during the day too for lots of help and support.

I always found in those early days of constant feeding that the easiest thing to do was to think of what could make MY life easier instead of trying to change a newborn baby's needs. So, a sling, co-sleeping, asking for help, sleeping when the baby sleeps etc.

Bear in mind as well that formula milk is not so easily digested, easier to take and will fill up a baby faster and sit in a baby's stomach for longer. It's not that the bmilk isn't good enough or not satisfying him.

switch to formula

How much you drink doesn't affect your supply btw. It might make you feel rubbish though if you're not drinking enough. Bfing does make you thirsty.

Kellymom on growth spurts

Aptamil hungry baby milk?

How was your night marie?

Promise they get better at feeding too! My dd was a bugger for non nutritive comfort sucking too so if I had time (summat good on telly!) then I would let her if not I would latch her off and she seemed fine (if she didn't would stick her back on). Also breast compressions helped. Dd is now 18 weeks and bfeedibg takes max 20mins every couple hours. Got loads easier from about 12 weeks so stick with it you have almost done the hardest part! First 6 weeks were the worst IMO!

(oh I say that re length of feeds for my dd then temebered for last three or four nights her night feeds have taken a couple of hours each and there have been 2/3 of them! Gah! But think it's growth spurt, daytime is a doddle!)

Hi Marie

Sorry to hear you're struggling. I remember those early weeks - so much hard work. Still, it's worth it now to see my happy baby and knowing she got to this stage because of ME!

Anyway, it's fairly typical for young babies to feed almost constantly day and night. They have tiny bellies which empty quickly (because breastmilk is the perfect food and digests so quickly, unlike formula) and so need topping up more often.

Are you having any pain at all? Pain can sometimes indicate a slightly off latch, which can also cause inefficient feeding and longer feed times.

Either way, I'd recommend calling some of the breastfeeding help lines, as they should be able to talk to you, reassure you and give you any advice:

NCT: 0300 330 0771
LLL: 0845 120 2918

Also, if you have any local breastfeeding groups I'd recommend going to one, as it helps to hear first hand from other mums who've already been there (and there's normally breastfeeding counsellors there too)

Sounds about par for the course for an 8 week old. I did give both mine formula, and I had one baby who ws v v hungry and wanted a bottle every hour , and one who would take an ounce or two every 2-3 hours.. some babies do seem to have bigger appetites than others. but if you do have a baby who wants more, then you are just going to make more bottles and that s more work than putting him to the breast every hour. 8 weeks is a growth spurt time

hungry baby formula is not imo to be recommended for an 8 week old baby, if the baby was takig 9 oz of formula every hour then maybe there could bea an argument for hungry baby formula, but on the whole, babies just need feeding a lot at this age, not beacuse they are doing anything out fo the ordianry.

I really sympathise Marie but try your best to stick it out! It's totally normal and healthy for babies of this age to feed a lot. If you start feeding more formula your milk supply will start to dry up and then it's really hard to go back to breastfeeding. If you can persevere then in just a few weeks (I know that seems like a bloody age just now!) the frequent feeds will reduce and it will all get much easier.

Also, remember that formula fed babies sometimes have to sleep for longer because it's so hard for them to digest compared to breastmilk, and they're crashed out because they're trying to absorb the nourishment from it. It's much easier for them to get the goodness out of your breastmilk.

Do see a counsellor or look for some breastfeeding support locally. It won't be this hard forever, I promise

They may of course be using you more as a dummy to soothe to sleep if they're literally back on within 15 minutes of coming off you? Are they really sucking the entire time? Just a thought?

Or it maybe they think they're still hungry and actually they're crying due to wind? And using you to soothe/ calm them in their pain.

How are they about naps? Or do you let them sleep on you in the day and co sleep at night?

Sometimes there's more than one answer. I tried by 8 weeks to stretch the feeds to every 2 gradually to 3 hours (never got above 3 hours) closer to weaning it returned to 2 hourly feeds.

Are you eating plenty of high energy food such as porridge? And resting lots? All helps with milk supply.

I would definitely ring La Leche or similar or go to a local BF clinic. Don't give up yet.

Hopefully someone like TikTok will be along soon with some great advice for you as well. She's very good

breastfeeding is also about the comfort and sucking and soothing...

an 8 week old barely knows they are seperate from their mum..

It gets easier - its very normal, although frustrating and tiring for you, for them to feed almost permanently for the first weeks.

Do you have a local Sure Start centre? On top of all the helplines that have been mentioned, they tend to have a breastfeeding support group.

As much as he may have seemed settled after a bottle of formula, if you want to breastfeed and he is a hungry baby, it (sadly) won't really help you. The more a baby is on the breast, the more milk they stimulate. Also, formula is much harsher on the gut, and is harder to digest, so that tends to be why they sleep more.

Keep going with it if you can.

I don't actually think there's anything obvious that implies a supply problem here but a bfc would be the best person to assess this. It does sound like normal behaviour.

If there was any question over supply at all then the first thing to do is to ensure the baby is put to the breast as often as possible and removing milk effectively.

Please don't start to think that the amount you drink or your diet or the amount you do is affecting nursing. Of course your diet, hydration and rest is very important for your comfort.

Hi, marie - some great stuff already on this thread, especially about actually speaking to someone in RL like a breastfeeding counsellor. Sometimes I think a lot of posts on a thread can be overwhelming, and of course there's no real dialogue with you so it can be confusing.

Generally, resting does not help with milk supply; drinking more water does not help with milk supply; eating particular foods or more food does not help with milk supply. I say 'generally' because individuals may feel these things do, and anyway they help with overall well-being, but there is no biological reason why they would help and they have been shown in research to make no difference. So changing your routines and intake is not necessary, usually.

In any case, your baby may be behaving perfectly normally - 8 week old babies do feed a lot. Even if you could increase your supply by doing all those things above (which I would suggest would not happen anyway), what is the point of increasing it - if your baby is well, happy as long as he has close access to the breast, and growing as he should, there is no need for you to make more milk

It is usually easier (as ShowofHands says) to change your expectations and 'self-management' than to change the normal needs of a young baby - so to adapt how you sleep to make it easier to do night feeds; to accept that feeds take an hour or more with no more than a short gap and try to get help with other stuff you need to do; to accept he is happier close to you and experiment with slings to find one that's comfortable and which keeps him close and allows your arms to be free; to avoid trying to put him down all the time which makes babies like yours upset and frustrated and actually more likely to express a need to feed often...all these things may be a challenge, but you can change more easily than your baby who has no language, real memory of anything but his own immediate experience and needs, and who will grow out of this need in time

Formula may 'settle' babies but this is a result of the harder work of digesting it -and of course it undermines your choice to breastfeed, so using it has drawbacks.

Find some good help in real life, and use whoever is in your life to help you through this time with support for you and practical help with chores etc.

Hope things get easier for you soon

I would echo the advice to see a breastfeeding counsellor - in person, so they can check your latch and positioning. If he's feeding for an hour then on again 15 mins later, he may not be getting the milk out very effectively. Sounds like supply is OK, but a better latch might help him feed quicker?

If you can't get hold of a BF counsellor, perhaps try some different positions, some good info here.

But also the advice to stick with it - it will definitely get easier and then you will really reap the benefits of BF (which is much, much more convenient than FF, as well as the healthier option for both of you).

There's lots of good advice here, Marie. I just wanted to say that you are about to come out of this constant feeding phase and bf is about to make perfect sense.

My dd was exactly the same: I couldn't go anywhere without having to stop to feed her, feeds took hours and hours and it seemed that as soon as she'd finished one she was ready for the next.

It got better really quickly after about 8 weeks or so.