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?

It’s not as straightforward as being made out in some of these comments. Self regulating they may be, however if that means they are being distressed by vomiting and reflux, they’re reliant on help to manage that too. the advice there is to try to offer smaller feeds more often .

Hi Op, wanted to comment because my Dr gave the same advice at my 8wk check, DD is now 13 weeks.
Dr asked me how much I was feeding(6oz every 2hrs) went on to her computer, did a little calculation and told me it was too much and I should be feeding 4-5oz every 4hrs.

When I got home I said to my DH how worrying that advice was, luckily DD is my second and we are just going with the flow and feeding on demand, but DH and I both said that it could really worry a first time Mum.

I spoke to my health visitor and she said it was rubbish and to ignore and carry on feeding as and when DD wants.

Please don't worry about lines or weight, babies are supposed to be chubby, as soon as they are rolling/crawling it'll even out.

I hope that helps

At 11 weeks, putting on lots of weight is a good thing. That's what you want them to do! It is probably a growth spurt. Try to worry a bit less about following the right line. Babies take a while to settle on to a particular line, and between 3 and 5 months is when they sometimes change

My daughter was born on the 25th centile line. She gradually moved up to the 75th centile line and has followed that since about 4 months of age - she is now 3.
My friends daughter was also born on the 25th centile. She gradually moved down and settled on the 2nd centile and has followed that line - she is also 3. They're both doing well.

A 99th centile baby is not "extremely overweight". They are bigger than average. But as you know not all people are average size, height and weight. That doesnt make them unhealthy.

Just feed him whenever he's hungry, but I wouldn't give water yet. My son was feeding a lot, I did 5 measure it, just fed him on demand. He was 99th percentile height and 90 weight, but he didn't stay a big chunky baby for long, and is now a very tall and muscly (but not overweight at all)12 year old.

Op, I just wanted to say that I understand your worry about weight. My son was born 7 weeks early due to preeclampsia and was severely growth restricted (still is at 4)
However he has followed his line except for when he's growing. He'd pack on the weight just before a growth spurt becoming very chunky, then he'd shoot up become a skinny little thing and then fill back out again back to normal.
He's generally always between the 0.9th and 2nd centiles and no one is worried about him. All it means is that if you lined up all the children, my son would be one of the smallest in the UK for his age. Kids weight fluctuates all the time.