3 week old formula feeding advice needed

[Ruby3105]

Hi all, I'm new to mumsnet and my little one is 3 weeks old today. He is formula fed and I have followed the recommendation of roughly 150-200ml of milk per kg of bodyweight in 24 hours. He generally ends up taking at least 200ml/kg and goes 3 hours ish between feeds. The last couple of days he has been constantly hungry, it feels like he is feeding almost non stop and never seems full and content. He isn't bringing milk back up but I'm worried about over feeding him or if I should be doing something differently. When he wants to feed nothing else will calm him. Is it ok to just let him decide how much he needs and go with it? Thank you in advance for any help.

Yes I was told that basically give them as much as they need/ want at that age. If it ends up too much, they just throw up, but if he's hungry, feed him

I've FF both my girls and found in the early days that it is like demand feeding.

My midwife and HV told me if baby seems hungry try feeding. If they don't want it they will let you know.

Start with the normal bottle then if he still seems hungry, make up another oz

Thank you for your replies, will keep feeding the little piglet

We demand fed as well - they know when they are done. I found our DS would feed all evening if he could but we introduced a dummy as it was getting ridiculous (we had to have a bottle on the go for hours) and obvious he was just after the comfort.

its like breastfeed babys you start to wonder if they are a bottomless pit its only when you express you realise the sheer amount they seem to put away

Yes, he does have a dummy and sometimes it is obviously just that comfort factor that he wants. I try to rule out all other things he might want first but at the moment he is obviously just needing that bit more milk. Don't know where he is putting it all at the moment!

We fed on demand for the first five weeks or so, then I started a schedule (three hourly). I never let him go hungry though.

Responsive feeding (new term for demand feeding) is promoted for.breastfed and bottle fed babies. Ds used to take a huge amount for formula and fairly frequently up until he was about 6 months and solids started when he started to reduce (saying that the not can eat!) He has recently weaned himself down to 1-2 bottles at 1 year. He's a big boy but in proportion and his weight gain isn't inappropriate for him.

If you're sure it's not wind, comfort or pain causing his hunger I would put it down to a growth spurt and go with him.

Thanks, I was initially concerned that it might be discomfort but once he's full he's content and with the feedback from here I'm happy that he is just needing that little bit more at the moment and is probably having a bit of a growth spurt.