5mth old feeding more than wen he was a newborn - is this normal?

[poopeeplops]

I have a 5 month old and he is on bottle feeds, Aptamil first baby and he has 6oz every 2hrs, he was going longer but seems to lately want it more often sometimes every 90mins, how could this be, i thought as they get older they get to a 4hr feeding habit????!!!

Ive tried giving more in a feed so instead of 180ml i have given 200mls and he just leaves it and sometimes he wont even have the 180mls. I have started givin him rusk in the breakfast feed with a bottle of 4oz and that works but he just wants more food - little and often!! Really frustrating now as i cant do anything as i dont know wen he will want a feed again, anyone got any advice - i thought they fed less and spread out more as they got older?!!

It could be that he is thirsty rather than hungry. It's been nine years since I was bottle feeding and all the advice seems to have changed but back then we were advised to give previously boiled water inbetween feeds so long as the baby still has the recommended amount of milk for their weight.

hi poopeeplops, i'm afraid i can't help, but have you tried posting under breast and bottle feeding? Lots of feeding guru's round there! Good luck.

thanx will try that x

Just a few short years ago the advice was to start weaning at 16 weeks rather than 24. Milk is not especially filling and so a particularly hungry baby has to drink lots and lots of it at frequent intervals in order to feel satisfied and get the calories. If he's already happy with the idea of rusk I would suggest starting him on solid foods with milk in between. A bowl of baby porridge and stewed apple for breakfast, perhaps, might keep his tummy fuller a little longer.

chil - actually there are more calories in a bottle of formula or breastmilk (both of which have more fat than cows milk) than there are in pureed veg or rusks, so what you say isn't true. A bit of carrot puree is going to do less for filling him up than more milk will. Just because milk is liquid does not mean it has fewer calories than solids.

As jenroy says, it could be thirst in this hot weather - and whereas breastmilk waters downs to accommodate that, you need to give ff babies water in the heat. So maybe try that.

Calories does not always = 'filling'. I know it's heresy bordering on child abuse to suggest weaning a particularly hungry baby a little earlier than normal around here but I stick to my point. More water to drink is also a good idea but, if he is still screaming for milk after the water then you'd have to assume that he really is hungry rather than just thirsty.

Ah, chil, I wasn't going to say that - I weaned at 5mo. I know what you mean about 'filling' but there should be enough calories in a 6 or 8oz bottle to keep a 5mo going for longer than 90mins and a small bit of veg or something won't really change that. Which is what makes me think to try quenching his thirst first.