Formula feeding on demand? Help!

[newmum234]

My 5 week old is fed 100-120mls of formula every 3-4 hours and has about 700-780mls a day. I checked this with the health visitor and she said it sounds right.

However, this morning he was fed 120mls at 7.30am, fell asleep and was then woken by the postman knocking on the door at 9.15am! He wouldn’t stop crying after waking and was getting more and more distressed. I tried cuddling him for 15 minutes but he was still sounding really upset. I concluded that he must be hungry and gave him another 60mls of formula, which he drank quite quickly. After that he settled down.

I’m wondering - did I do the right thing by feeding him again so close to his last feed? And how can you tell whether a baby is crying in hunger or for some other reason?

Thanks - and last question (sorry!)

How do you know for sure that they’re hungry and don’t just need a cuddle? Sometimes I’ll cuddle him for 10-15 mins and if he’s still crying I’ll assume it’s hunger. But obviously I don’t know for certain!

OP, you're doing fine! Please try not to overthink things and second guess things too much!

A sign he's hungry is if he's rooting- usually with a sort of single syllable cry as he turns his head towards you perhaps with a slightly irritated twitchy movement. If he's head butting you, going ah, ah, ah, and fussing at you then he's hungry.

Occasionally they will get over hungry and over tired and rage and cry and refuse the bottle- those times you try and soothe them into a doze then pop the bottle in. They tend to suck quietly and then wake up as they feed.

@picklemewalnuts he does do the head butting thing! Thank you

Yay! I'm so sorry you are having to do this without a wider support network of family, neighbours and other mums! I know it feels like a huge responsibility- I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed they were letting us out of hospital!

It's a real adventure! Try and enjoy it despite all the worries!

@picklemewalnuts it’s hard but thank god for Mumsnet!