Feeding

[sthitch]

We have a 6 day old baby who was 9lbs when born - We are formula feeding and finding it hard! For example, tonight she had 4oz at 1am and was really sick - by 220am she was absolutely hysterical and nothing would console her - changing, playing, cuddling, music etc and all she seemed to want is a bottle so given her another 2oz over the last hour - she's still not satisfied but we can't just keep giving her milk! Any ideas as to what we're doing wrong? Some nights/days have been fine and others have been endless crying but can't keep giving her bottle after bottle.

maybe try a dummy? she probably wants to suck - it is very soothing for babies and calms them down.

but of course, if she's hungry, you will need to feed her - little and often is best, as her tummy is still so tiny.

I breastfed my DCs and they wanted feeding every 1.5 to 2 hours in the first few weeks.

Of course you can give her bottle after bottle?! They feed on demand at that age, little and often. It's normal.

My 5 week old is still unpredictable and not really in a feeding routine at all, it takes time. If he cries and a cuddle/rocking hasn't stopped it within a couple of minutes, I know he he hungry so he gets milk, regardless of how little time since the last bottle.

At that age, they really can need feeding at random. Offer every 3 hours if they haven't asked for milk and whenever they ask in between. After another week or so, they will start to settle down a bit. Is she doing feeding cues? Don't forget - if she was sick the first time, of course she'd be hungrier quicker as she lost all that previous feed.

Try taking little breaks during bottle feeding by offering a finger to suck on so that baby doesn't feed so fast. If she's still hungry she'll keep going. I think the midwife who showed us called it sympathetic feeding.

We had a similar problem, needing to formula feed, but as baby had been through a cesarean, was throwing up a lot of mucus so it wasn't staying down.

When babies are that small they often just need feeding little and often. If she wants milk just give it to her. The feeds will space out over time as her stomach grows.

I just worry about giving her bottle after bottle with no real break in between after she's had like a 4oz bottle- she only has a little belly and I worry that I'm over feeding! Of course we don't want to starve her, that's why I'm asking as I'm so worried and hate to hear her cry! I do take into consideration when she is sick but when she's not sick and still cries for more it really worries me. I did a search for her weight v formula intake and it said I'm giving her the right amount. It's so hard knowing what to do!

Has your health visitor come by yet? You can also contact the midwifery service if you have questions. But do feed on demand! And try the sympathetic feeding! Our baby at 8 weeks takes in more formula than seems necessary since the beginning and we were anxious too because he the so much of it up, so we take little breaks to give him time to digest it. If baby swallows than she can fit into her stomach, it'll just come back up again.

*threw so much of it up

You can't over feed at that age. If they need it they will drink it, they tell you when they have had enough.

Don't focus on how much or how often, just feed as and when they want it.

We had a better day/night, she's had plenty of feeds (as usual!) but I tried a dummy -thank you @TanteRose just for the melt down moments and it has really calmed her down and was all she really wanted, it wasn't what I wanted and I certainly won't be leaving it in there... just for when she needs some comfort to settle her. Last night she had her 4oz and couldn't settle to sleep with anything so a 10min suck sent her straight off.

Health visitor isn't coming for a while so will hopefully find a routine.

Totally normal! I have an 8 week old, I am breastfeeding and at one point she was feeding every hour or so or continuously for hours and hours, throughout the day sometimes she would just lay "feeding" but not actually doing anything so I tried a dummy and it worked amazingly! They also get into a bit more of a routine at first it's all over the place (we still are kind of! But I have an idea when she will want to be fed) so you'll start to know what is wrong, me and DP we're desperately trying to feed her in the night at one point as she was hysterically, turned out she was over tired and just really needed sleep but was fighting it! (She still does this!!)

Don't feel bad about using the dummy - they're wonderful and babies like to suck for comfort! TBH I wouldn't worry about giving the dummy as often as you like to begin with, and then try to stick to giving it for nap times when your baby starts to get into a cycle of napping once they're out of the newborn stage.

Honestly dummies are brilliant. There is eveidence they reduce the risk of SIDS so our health visitors recommend them from birth in all formula fed babies. I was adamant I wasn't going to use a dummy but lasted three nights before I caved. It worked miracles. DS slept through at 10 weeks and although we went through an irritating phase of having to find his dummy for him when it fell out they learn quickly how to do it themselves. He's only had it for sleeping since he was a few months old and now only gets it at night. In my opinion it's a great tool for learning to self settle.