CHANGING MILK IN A 9 WEEK OLD...ADVICE PLEASE?!

[kylah]

My 9 week old son is currently on 8 ounces of SMA Gold and guzzling the bottles like there is no tomorow. He sleeps well and is very content otherwise, however sometimes in the mornings especailly I need to get a second bottle ready as its not uncommon to go through 10-11 ounces. I bought him SMA White for hungrier babies a few weeks back as he was going through a growth spurt and was advised that may be a solution. Mother in law intervened and said not a good idea to change babies milk as it could make him poorly. My husband was a big hungry baby too and she started weaning him gradually at this age. She has talked about adding something called Fairec to his bottles to fill him up, I've searched for this on the internet and cant find anything on it. Has anyone ever heard of it and if so what are your experiences of it. I dont want to strat weaning him at such a young age as I feel he is far too young and his digestive system wont be able to cope, alo worried about him gaining weight excessively as he is already 13lbs 13oz! He's not fat just big and long (was 8lbs 13oz at birth). Should I move on to SMA White as its supposed to be good for 'hungrier babies', so suggestions and experiences of moving up the milk scale welcome....

How often is he feeding? My ds was 8lb 13oz at birth as well, and fed every 3-ish hours I think.

It isn't a bad idea to change baby's milk as long as you don't do it all the time (love your MIL's attitude that changing milk might be bad but weaning a 9 week old would be fine!). I don't know much about these 'hungrier baby' formulas but I think they are meant to take longer to digest, so keep the baby feeling full for longer, rather than having more calories. I'd be tempted just to feed more often in the first instance.

i would not add anything to his milk, unless it is on medical advice

hungry baby milk is suitable from six weeks, and should not make him poorly. it fills the baby up longer as it takes longer to digest..so it is worth a go

do not start weaning yet, WHO guidelines do advise not to start weaning before 26 weeks

milk , milk and more milk is all he needs...try the sma white, but if it seems to give him a tummy ache , go back to gold for a while

some babies are hungrier than others !

Thanks for the reassurance on that, I think I'm going to try him on the SMA White last bottle before bed and see how that goes.
He's feeding every 3-4 hours and sleeping straight through from 10pm till around 6-7am without a feed so i cant complain.

hungry baby milk is actually suitable from birth!

No way should you start weaning him

current advise it to wait until 6 months none of 'my' babies could have waited until 6 months but best no to start until 4 months at the earlierst IMO

a week on babyrice only then just fruit and veg.... no protein or dairy until 6 months is the rule i tend to follow.

if u start at 4 months by the rime u have done apple pear, carrot , sweet potatoe, butternut squash, potatoe parsnip swede and other normal veg, leaving a few days in between each new food, then they are practically 6 months anyway!

Thanks fro the advice NannyL, its just hard as much as I respect my MIL's advice and help she just seems to be reliving my husbands baby days through my son. Cos they are so much alike in appearence and personality I think she just forgets that he's NOT him and cant be treated so. I know she means well but what works for him dosnt apply to the boy. When they reel off stories about how they fed him mashed up chips and tomato sauce at 6 weeks old and then he was demolsihing a pack of biscuits at 6 months it makes my stomach churn as I dread to think what they'll try him with when they babysit. Just got to stick to my guns on this one.

kylah..if you wait until 26 weeks, then you can do baby led weaning, which does not involve any pureeing or mashing ,but offering finger foods...\link{http://www.babyledweaning.com\BLW]

you must make it clear that your baby cannot be fed adult food at this young age, and if you are worried that your in laws will, don;t leave the baby with them!

until 26 weeks, milk & more milk is all that is required nutritionally, and a good milk feed is more filling, calorific and nutritious than some pureed veg...

i would hold off as long as you can !

BLW

kylah - if he's sleeping that long without a feed (lucky you, btw) he's going to need to feed frequently in the day to make up for at least one feed most 9 week olds would be having in the night, if not two. Enjoy your sleep! (And ignore MIL, chips at 6 weeks )

I asked my hv the same question. DS1 went onto solids at 24 weeks, up till then he was on milk but constantly bf then constantly guzzling bottles. HV said that the 'hungrier baby' formulas are full of bulking stuffs that, as tribpot said,it just makes baby feel full for longer.
I swapped formulas about with no problem, but I didn't do it suddenly, I would alternate bottles of formulas as I was phasing one out and another one in. Also at 9/10 weeks don't they have a massive growth spurt? Both my ds's did, so keep with it his appetite might calm down. Ignore your MIL. All I got from 10 weeks on with both babies was 'isn't he on solids yet'. Its a relatively short phase in your babies life so don't worry soon she will find something else to intervene on!!!!

Chips and ketchup eh??? I thought my inlaws were bad dipping my nieces dummy in chocolate sauce at 9 weeks and all sitting around making a fuss like it was a big development stage 'ooo look, her first taste of chocolate'.

My DS was on SMA gold from day one but like you he wasnt getting full. I changed to SMA White and it helped to an extent but not majorly. It isnt a problem changing young babies milk my HV actually told me to.

I would not add anything to the milk - this is a big no no from what i've heard/read/seen.

Just keep filling him up and i'm sure it'll be fine, he's sleeping well so your doing something right!

Your MIL is thinking of Farex which was (and may still be ) made by Heinz. It is a powdered cereal which in the past was added to bottles of formula to give them more "bulk" - a practice now discredited in UK mainly due to the choking risk of feeding semi liquid food that way particularly to babies who have yet to lose their gag reflex, risks of early weaning to the baby's digestive system and potentially triggering eczema and allergies, although for some reason it is still done in Europe. It was also often used to wean pets - I used it for hamsters !

Back to your problem - continue to feed him his milk more frequently if needs be. You can try a different brand but some babies get constipated on the "hungrier baby" formulas and you could just continue to use the same one until he is a year old. if it isnl;t causing you a problem to feed him as you are , and he sounds contented on it, I really wouldn't change.

Thanks for all the advice and reassurance re the MIL issue! I know she means well but food supplements at his age really concern me. Well I tried him on the SMA White and he took it all...and then vomited the whole lot over him, me, the couch etc so I dont think we'll be moving on just yet! Had to fire up another bottle for him straight away as he was just empty, followed by an hour of ground shaking hiccups and screaming till he turned blue. Mind you growth spurt has calmed down and he's leaving one or two ounces in his bottle so I'll just keep doing the norm for now as he's still sleeping well and really content.

Keep following your instincts - sounds like you are doing great!