My 8 week old wants formula every 2 hours!

[AmberLillyxx]

My 8 week old is completely formula fed and suffers quite badly with reflux. He is genuinely quite an unsettled baby but naturally follows a eat, play, sleep routine. I haven't forced this on him but he mainly follows the routine because everytime he wakes up from a sleep, he screams until I give him a bottle. I have tried giving him water but he either refuses it or carries on crying afterwards, I've tried his dummy but he spits it out - searching for a bottle, I have tried getting him back to sleep but it's no use. I don't mind him following this routine, but the only issue is that sometimes he doesn't stay up for long after his bottle and then cat naps, meaning most of the time he is wanting a bottle after 2 hours. Everyone tells me that he should be having a bottle every 3-4 hours but I can't always distract him for that long. I give him 5oz in a bottle and he usually drinks it all, occasionally only drinking 4oz, I don't want to offer him more if he's going to be wanting a bottle every 2 hours. It's got to the point where he never wakes up happy, just constant screaming until I give him a bottle and it's quite exhausting. At night he has a bottle around 9pm and then wakes up around 2am, I give him a bottle which he downs and then goes back to sleep until around 5:00am, I give him another bottle and then he sleeps until around 8:00. I don't find the nights too bad, but I'm worried about over feeding him! Any advice would be appreciated. Should I try and drag him out until 3/4 hours, or should I just carry on feeding him when he wants it?

Is the reflux being treated? He may be wanting milk as it soothes the burning of the reflux. I wouldn't give water to an 8 week old

@dementedpixie Thank you for your response. He has been on anti reflux formula for a little while however he is still being sick. The health visitor and doctor haven't suggested anything else other than to ride it out and carry on with the formula so it could well be that!

Have they not suggested any medication? I'd maybe see the gp/hv again

It's not abnormal to be on a short cycle (my 15 week baby is - no reflux but she is very small so not really a surprise) but I second the advice about trying with your GP again and it may be helpful to introduce a dummy if he'll take one.

My son was like this but didn't have the reflux. We put him on the hungry baby milk which seemed to help. But with your DS being on special formula anyway I would consult your Health Visitor.

Mine were demand fed, often hourly, it's normal

Gaviscon saved my life when my DD was this age!

as he wants it mine eats every 2 and half like clockwork .Mines just a very hungry baby .If the reflux is bad have you tried another formula ,kendamil works well for me but theres also nannycare formula

Isn’t 8 weeks classic growth spurt time?

Small amounts often for reflux. I was told to give my 6 week old boiled cooled water as she wasnt losing weight. This was GP advice so seek their advice first but it was fine for us.
Some babies do drink frequently, one of mine didn't have reflux and drank every 2 hours until 3 months old.

9-2 and then again till 5 is not every two hours. It’s a long time 9-2 for an 8 week old which would explain the hunger in the daytime.

DS is 16 weeks and he can only just manage to go three hours between feeds during the day - often it's less than that. I remember the midwife telling me to try and stretch it out when DS was 6 weeks or so but he wasn't having any of it and I wasn't prepared to let him scream with hunger. He seems to feed often during the day but then will also go from 11pm - 8am without needing food so it all balances itself out. Every baby is different and, sadly, they haven't read any of the parenting books!

My 10 week old has just gone up to every three hours from two. He's got silent reflux and usually you can tell his stomach is empty because he brings up clear fluid.

We've been giving him 2oz, and if he keeps that down for 15 minutes he has another 2. Sometimes he's happy with the first 2. Health visitor was happy with this as he is still gaining weight.

My DD is still massively a love of her formula, its anti reflux milk. Its her comfort and even though she is 17 mo and she shouldn't still be having it she still does. The doctor tood me that she is healthy within her percentile and that is it comforts her it is fine as people breast feed until children are a lot older than DD is.. but i have just discovered (after DD throwing up a lot despite the anti reflix) that she is dairy intolerant. Could that be the case for your DC? He sounds extremely

That's completely normal. My dc1 was exclusively bf, had bad reflux up until 12 weeks, though it only stopped when I excluded dairy from my diet.

He also demand fed, and co-slept with me, right up until I weaned him off.

You might want to check if your baby isn't lactose intolerant or has cow milk protein allergy.

sorry posted too early.. he sounds extremely similar to my DD

Probably going through a massive growth spurt! If he's hungry then feed him. You don't need the back of a packet to tell you when your child is hungry. They're guidelines.

Mine were fed on demand. Admittedly at that age they were on breastmilk but I expressed and it wasn't unusual for my son in particular to guzzle it down. Feed the baby for everyone's sake. Please. If they're hungry they're hungry

Thank you all so much for the responses!!!

The health visitor and doctor haven't suggested much other than to keep him upright after feeds (which I do) and that it will apparently go away after I introduce solids?

I did originally think he might have an intolerance but he hasn't been tested for it, it might have to be something I follow up though! Along with this I might have to be firmer with requesting medication as obviously the formula isn't working.

I did think the fact he went quite a while during the night without milk made up for the amount throughout the day as on days where he has lasted longer throughout the day he doesn't sleep as well at night, but wasn't sure on this so thank you!

Another thing to add is at 5 weeks old he was just above the 50th percentile and when he was weighed at 7 weeks old he was down to the 25th percentile.. I didn't know whether this was anything to worry about? I am seeing the health visitor on Thursday so will mention it then but didn't know whether anyone else had experience with this or whether I should be worried??

Because of this I didn't want to "hold him out" with his milk and so I've just been giving it to him when he wants it.

Every 2 hours is still completely normal at that age in my experience. DD had really bad reflux and after trying Gaviscon with no help, my GP and HV both recommended anti-reflux formula. We switched to Cow & Gate Anti-reflux and Regurgitation formula at 8 weeks and it was like a miracle formula. So might be worth a try.

@iamtinkabella Thank you so much for your response! I originally thought he may have an intolerance, did your DD have any other symptoms? How did the intolerance get diagnosed? I'll definitely follow it up with the doctor and HV

Just let him have it. He's not read the book, he's hungry. If he were gaining weight like crazy then maybe it'd be worth pushing for longer, but as he's actually losing weight, don't make him wait.

DS was breastfed and I'd be lucky to get an hour between feeds. DD was formula and she was also pretty frequent although I don't remember exact times now.

I'd also question lack of medication though or possible CMPA. Gaviscon or ranitidine, and if no improvement then try dairy free formula. My neighbour was fobbed off with "all babies scream, it's just reflux" for months before they allowed her to try dairy free formula. Instant improvement.

Re CMPA. DS has it too. Well, he's actually just graduated the milk ladder but he had it. Reflux, green gooey nappies, bad skin, eczema. All went away within a month of cutting out dairy. It's not something you can test for sadly, you just have to try ab exclusion diet and see if it helps.

You wont get ranitidine just now as it's all been recalled over fears of contamination with a carcinogenic substance

Water can reflux I wouldn't give it to him. Honestly just keep giving him a bottle when he needs it he is still very young mine didn't settle into 4 hourly until they were 16ish weeks.