Hungry baby?

[1sttimeparents]

Hi,

My son is showing all signs of being hungry - he is needing a feed more regularly and is draining 8oz bottles. I am slowly putting him on to Hungry Baby formula (as I didn't want to upset his tummy) and we are on to 3 feeds a day using this formula. This seemed to have helped up until the last few days when he has became grumpy again.

I am starting to wonder if I should try and give him some baby rice (he is, however, only 4.5months). The only thing that is stopping me is the fact that he still sleeps from 7.30pm to 7.00am. If he was hungry, would he be waking up in the night or is he so used to sleeping through that it doesn't wake him?

baby rice won;t fill your baby, milk is all he needs. there are lots of growth spurts in the first 6 months and they can best be tackled with lots more milk, which is more calorific, nutritious and filling than baby rice

Just give him as much milk as he wants, when he wants it. They often go through a growth spurt around then that increases the amount they want to eat for a while.

Thanks lulumama - I am hearing so much conflicting information at the moment! Some people say that once they gave their baby rice, they settled down immediately. Others are saying to carry on with milk. I am starting to let him drink as much as he wants but he brings a lot of it up as his tummy can't handle the volume so I don't know if he is satisfied with the milk. It's really getting me down at the moment as he just doesn't seem happy during the day...

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It sounds to me as if he might be tired not hungry during the day. Does he have good day time naps?

Well this is what is confusing me! And please don't get me wrong, I know how very lucky I am that he is sleeping 12 hours! It's just that when he is so grumpy during the day, I don't know if it's worth it!! I've even thought that he might be teething but he isn't showing any of the signs other than when I rub his gums, he stops crying but then I don't know if this is just soothing?

Mine had 3 naps a day at that age totalling 4hours sleep.

His naps aren't great but I have tried everything to improve them and nothing works . He basically catnaps - awake 1.5 hours, naps 30mins

And were sleeping through.

Not true of ds though (14 weeks - up 2x a night still)

Do you ever put him i his cot in the day?

If the LO is sleeping, I'd leave the food. I agree it is probably naps. Where does the wee one sleep? If it is in their cot can you go in before they wake up and wait for them rousing and soothe them to get them sleeping longer? Might be a pish idea but worth a try?

I try to put him in his cot for 2 of his naps - morning and lunch because I don't want him to only get used to going to sleep in his cot / the dark. He goes to sleep with no problems at all - just needs a quick stroke of the head and I then leave the room and he goes to sleep on his own. But he wakes after 30mins and is all smiles. I have tried leaving him which sometimes works (he only grissles a bit, no full on crying) but he will only go back to sleep after 30-45mins. I have tried going in before he wakes and I have tried letting him fall asleep with me. I have also tried picking him up and rocking him back to sleep but that just infuriates him. Nothing works! I ended up so stressed every time he woke after 30mins that I kind of gave up and now I just let him nap when he is tired, either in his cot or in his chair. A couple of people have said that their babies only started napping properly once they were on solids at 6 months so I thought I would just leave it.

Personally, if he isn't crying I would leave him even though he's awake to let him try and get back to sleep again. He will learn eventually and he'll end up with more sleep in total that way. I know I felt very funny about the idea of lo being alone and awake with my first. I'm quite cool about it now though. They really don't need constant stimulation and will let you know if they are not happy.