Can I give newborn water to top up?

[Watermelonbaby1]

My son is 11 weeks old and has become a very hungry baby! Recently he has been wanting to eat every 3 hours almost on the dot. I am giving 6oz bottles at the minute which is too much to feed him every 3 hours so I try my best to play/talk/keep him occupied to reach 4/5 hours at least before I feed him but most of the time he screams and sucks on hands so viciously that I have to feed him earlier. As soon as he’s had his bottle he’s the happiest baby smiling so I feel awful trying to make him wait all the time. I have tried giving him less oz per feed but this leads again to even more frequent feeding. From 12 weeks I have been told he should be on 7oz bottles every 5 hours so would like to give him this but scared he will gain too much weight because he will still want to feed every 3 hours. When I went for an appointment at 9 weeks he was just slightly above average weight but am now scared he’s gaining too much as he’s eating more often than he was then. So my question is can I give my newborn cooled down boiled water with just a bit of formula in every so often when he is wanting to feed constantly so he’s happily full but will not put on as much weight?

@ LilacTomorrow
Thank you I appreciate it, this is why i did not assume it was dangerous as a health visitor recommended it and I only asked if this could be given in between. Never said I am doing this or going to do this just came for advise.

I dunno where a lot of you are in the UK but it's been nowhere near hot enough in the North East to be worried about a ff baby being dehydrated.

@Watermelonbaby1 he's probably having a growth spurt and will level off again. Don't focus too much on his weight, just feed him on demand. He'll let you know when he's full. Babies all grow and develop at different rates and what works for one won't suit another.

Is he your first baby? My sister was absolutely obsession and anxious over her first's weight and feeding. She had PND and it was a symptom. It's probably not relevant but if you're getting super anxious over this then may be worth a thought?

I dunno where a lot of you are in the UK but it's been nowhere near hot enough in the North East to be worried about a ff baby being dehydrated.
Was going to say this.

How do you know which centile line is his line? Babies don't necessarily follow the line they are born at.

My DD1 was 25th centile for weight at birth, but long. She is about 95th for height and it wouldn't have made any sense for her to stay on 25th for weight. DD2 was massive when she was born - something like 99th centile for weight. She's average height, so staying on 99th for weight would have meant she'd be out of proportion and overweight. Instead she dropped through centile to reach about 50th.

We just fed both DDs on demand as it's what we would have done if BF. It really makes more sense than measuring and timing.

Honestly if he's hungry then feed him, 4hours is a guideline, taking growth spurts into account then this may vary, you will probably notice that in a few days he drops an ounce or two and that will also be ok.

The feeding guideline is 3/4 hours and not to go past 5hours. I just fed mine when they wanted it and topped up with formula accordingly, slept through the night too by being satisfied during the day.

No water not yet because this can cause baby to loose weight and you don't want that. Babies grow fast so of course he's bigger than the last time he was seen by a HV or midwife.

Congratulations btw

OP, I get it, I had a hungry baby too and I fed him so often that it was a lot more than the standard formula tin suggested amounts. My mum used to murmur that he was being fed too much and should be on a four hour routine. He was bigger than all the other babies at baby class. Everyone (in my life, not here) made me feel shit for feeding him so often but honestly he was that hungry and any attempts to distract were a short lived disaster.

In short, you know your baby best. Feed him when he's hungry, maybe even look at his cues so you can head it off before he gets upset.

My HV was helpful. She said if he's draining the bottle, up the feed by 1oz. If he's taking too much milk he will be sick, so it he isn't then he needs it. Feed on demand and don't worry basically. Your baby will grow and become leaner when they become mobile.

I personally took hot weather as 30+ degrees and only offered him a small amount of water a few times that day, the rest formula made up to the proper strength.

Something that took me an age to figure out is that wind also looks like hunger sometimes in small babies.

He often doesn't go four hours between feeds a year later but hasn't piled on weight, as she said he was become lean as he's got mobile. He also doesn't have vastly bigger feeds now than he did then, I was worried they'd just get bigger and bigger.

@ Justajot
My health adviser has done a line for him since he was born and charted this every time she has weighed him and has always said as long as he follows his own line (not just the general average) then he is a good weight and no concerns unless he goes too far above or below. So when the doctor looked at his line in his documents when I went for his appointment he said he was just above average and I hadn’t noticed much weight gain in him. Now it has been a couple of weeks I have noticed very significant weight gain so am certain he will be quite above that line now hence this post.

You are getting advice OP and your asking for more advice

"""""""6oz bottles every 3 hours is fine"""""""

His getting bigger because his filling out from a newborn into a 3 month old!!!!
They do grow and get "fatter" they dont stay thin little newborns forever.

A 6oz bottle every 3 hours IS NOT going to make your baby have diabetes !!

What was his last weight and how many weeks ago was it?

Stop worrying about the line and focus on the baby.

Babies don't eat out of greed. You can't over feed them because they'll refuse the bottle once they're full.

The line in just a tool to track their growth and its a pretty blunt instrument at that.

Surely he can't have actually been measured that much in 11 weeks especially with lockdown? I'm sure my child was last weighed and measured at his 6 week check and nothing since then. If he's feeding well and producing wet nappies then I wouldn't worry about a silly line.

I hate those graphs. My DS at 3 months went above his line and looked all squidgy. He then went back down to his line when he was more active. I didn't give a hoot in all honesty. He was hungry I fed him. He's my baby. They follow a very generic line. No 2 babies can be the same.
Boiled water is actually fine for babies and is recommended on the NHS. Not much of course but it's only BF babies who don't need water. I just wouldn't use it as a way to make him full instead of a feed. But DS was always on a 3 hour schedule. Never did I do 5 hours he would have bit my arm off. He's now 11 months and hates his bottles all together but downs his water!

@ Scruffbob
Thank you for your reply. Yes I am getting the same, people saying that he is being fed too much, makes you question yourself. Unfortunately there’s not usually much of a cue that he is hungry before it’s instant screaming. I have thought that maybe he has wind as he also has colic however he will almost always take the bottle so I don’t think he would if it was just wind causing him to cry like this.

I did foster care for newborn and up for many years and used a formula for working out how much they needed, it goes by weight and age. if you can find it online.
I looked and the NHS site says 150 to 200ml per kilo of their weight a day until they're 6 months old.
So divide the total over 24 hours by how many bottles they have each day. I did it for every three hours in the day and 4 at night, it worked well.

Could be reflux? They want bottles because it helps to take the pain away.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/reflux-in-babies/#symptoms

You sound like your trying to back track from your original post OP.
Ether that or you really didn’t word it well.
Ether way, as PP have said, you can’t give your baby watered down feeds, it will make him ill.
A little water is fine if it’s really hot and he looks a bit dry.
I assume (I may be wrong) that the ‘average’ weight you are speaking about is actually percentiles. Meaning that if your baby is on the 50th, then 50% of babies are above this weight for their age and 50% below.

@ Chevron17
I am not trying to backtrack I would just simply not carry on writing on this thread. I’m trying to explain myself and more of what I have been told to gain advice from people who actually want to give sensible advise without judgement. I don’t know about the percentiles. By average I am talking about his own personal average from what the health visitor has done, noting his weight on a chart. He has gone above his own average line which I was told he should stay pretty much on the same line without wavering.

Hi Watermelon

Your GP is talking bollocks - this is not unusual, they are not experts on newborn nutrition. It has been nowhere near hot enough for a newborn to need water - remember, women in Africa have babies. It’s been warm at most.

You won’t make your baby fat or get him into bad habits by feeding him when he’s hungry. Their tummies are so little, they need to east frequently.

Enjoy your lovely Baby

STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE GOD DAMN LINE!!!!!!!!!

@ HermioneWeasley
Thanks, I am just going to continue as I am doing and see what the health visitor has to say tomorrow.

By average I am talking about his own personal average from what the health visitor has done, noting his weight on a chart
See this is what I'm confused by. He clearly hasn't been weighed much in the 11 weeks he's been here its at most three times surely, once at birth and possibly 2 check ups at home. I dont know any babies whose weight went up consistently following a specific line.

By average I am talking about his own personal average from what the health visitor has done, noting his weight on a chart. He has gone above his own average line which I was told he should stay pretty much on the same line without wavering.

Most babies do waver though. Mine was born two weeks early on the 9th and within a few weeks had jumped to the 25th (my health visitor thought this was great) and then the 50th and eventually the 91st! He wasn’t all chub, he just grew tall and developed a big frame very quickly. He was still on the 91st last time I weighed him and is a normal looking two year old - I have a friend who’s DD is on the 9th and she is also a normal looking two year old. Being high or low on the chart does not mean overweight and underweight, unless it’s really out of proportion with their frame and height.
You also don’t need a health visitor to do all this, you can chart all this yourself and have some autonomy over it - it’s not complicated and I think the reason you are getting so worried is that you don’t understand the charts and the terms the HV is using (this talk of ‘averages’ makes no sense at all and isn’t a thing). I only saw the health visitor four times - it’s good to get advice when needed but you don’t have to report to them like they’re your parenting boss charting your progress. Learn how the charts are used and what the numbers mean and then hopefully that will give you a bit more confidence.

And I agree with PP it hasn’t been that warm. The year my DS was born was very hot, but I only gave him water a handful of times when it was 30+ degrees. We’ve had highs of maybe 24 or 25 in some places so I don’t think being extra thirsty is an issue at the moment.

@Shordytee You need to start your own thread.

OP don't worry too much about weight at this very young age, as PPs have said.
But don't mess about with the ratio between formula and water in the feeds you give as you've mentioned wanting to try. Not a good idea. Also as PPs have said if it's very hot then that is the only time you give water. But certainly not with a little bit of formula mixed in. The ratio is set for bottle feeding for a reason. You shouldn't go over or under it for any feed.