FF and hungry between feeds... help!

Hi everyone :)

We have been FF our DD with S26 Gold for the past two to three weeks now and she's absolutely flourishing on it but we're having some problems with her seeming to be hungry between feeds.

I'm starting to really struggle with it. I was told you could overfeed on formula and I just don't know what to do. My DH insists she's not hungry but I don't think he's necessarily right - she's trying to latch onto me, sucking her hands, searching with her mouth and eventually crying. She won't suck on a dummy or anything (which tbh is fine by me, never wanted her to have one). It's mostly at night time that this happens - she's a bit of a night owl. She tends to just feed and sleep during the day (which makes it very hard to get any tummy time or anything because she just goes to sleep) and at night she's more awake, especially between about 10pm and 2am. This is when this is going on.

Does anyone have any ideas or anything? I asked the maternal child health nurse about it today but she pretty much just dismissed the whole thing and was useless. At the moment she's drinking 100ml - 120ml of formula every 3 - 5 hours. In two weeks according to the back of the formula tin we will increase again but no-one will help me with any of this! I've just been made to feel like I'm a horrible, evil mother for FF and giving up on BF so I'm feeling a bit lost.

Thanks!

OH your not a horrible mother!!!
and BOO the child nurse thats her job!! cow!!

On the tin it also should say this is only a guide your child may need more or less then stated (along those lines)
she could actually need more to be more full..
you can over feed but thats where your feeding her just cause you want give it to her even if she isnt hungry but if she is searching for it she could actually be hungry
as for the day and night side it could be she isnt full enough to settle comfortably or try holding off her feeds in the day to stimulate her more and then feed her 20 minutes later and then also stimulate her while you are burping her by talking to her and etc..itms?
my dd sleeps through the night from 8-9 on wards and wakes at 7 for her milk and then back too sleep till what ever time she likes but as she is very tuny i offer her milk quiet alot.. and i stimulate her alot during the day i engage her and play with her do stretches etc.. but when it hits around 7 i start to do quiet time where i hold her and stroke her hair maybe ven a bath to relax her..

First up, you are doing a great job.

Secondly I don't personally believe you can overfeed a formula fed baby, mine have always stopped when they are full. I'd make her a bit more, the tin is just a guide not the rule. My ds was always above the recommended amount but fed every 4 hours, dd1 fed under the amount but fed every 2 hours.

Just demand feed her and don't worry about what the tin says cos the author hasn't met your baby ;)

Hi Yarrawin,

We are FF here too, and the guide I was given by the hossy is:

150 x bubs weight e.g 5kg = 750...so 750mls is a guide for the 24hrs, then you just divide it by the number of feeds (e.g 750ml divided by 8 feeds= 95ml per feed) divide by less if she has less feeds.

When they hit 3 months, you drop it down to 120 x bubs weight. but like anything to do with lil bubs, its just a guide, as they are all different in their feeding patterns/appetites. I do think the FF tin guides are very generic, my bub never drank what is printed on the side, she was drinking quite a bit over the guide at one stage (before the reflux monster came)

MCHN's can be so vague & unhelpful sometimes :wall:

BTW its sounds as though you are an awesome mummy, doing a great job!

HTH

Bec xo

She may need to be fed more often. My DD has always had a bottle every 3-4 hours but at night it was every 2-3 hours.

And you are not a bad mummy. Its all trial and error with babies until you get it right. My DD didnt like s26 gold so changed her to novalac and she has less but its more filling for her and she has really im proved since being on it. She used to be very windy on s26 and we tried her again on it jsut recently as novalac is quite $$ and its still making her windy.

Just go with your instincts if she is hungry give her some more or up her bottles.

I "demand" FF fed my DS and it ended up being a disaster, he just ended up drinking less, more frequently. At about 8-10wks I changed to 4 hrly and we never looked back, I always made sure I was feeding enough so that we had 10 -20mls left over, and just upped it when he consistently drained the bottle.
It took a day or so of stretching his feeds (distracting him) but after that it was awesome.
TBH I dont see how you can overfeed a ff baby anymore than a bf baby, and i think being concerned about obesity a bubs so young (unless there is an obvious problem) is absolutely rediculous.
GL hon.

Thanks everyone :)

Livinthedream - is that why they say you can overfeed? God, I'd kill for my DD to be a chubby little thing lol. She came at 34 weeks and is growing well but not even on the charts for weight, length or anything else and is kind of long but thin.

Also, I don't really feel like a horrible mummy, just lots of people have pulled the guilt trip in a big, big way, you know? I felt really horrible about FF at first but I don't now - DD is flourishing and that's all I need to know :)

Thanks for all your advice ladies.

firstly theres nothing wrong with FFing.
I would recommend giving her that bit more cos she sounds like she is wanting it.
She will drink til she is full and no more anyway so theres no harm in offering it to her

sounds like you're doing great! I too, felt terrible when i changed to FF when DS was only 3 weeks old. but you do what you have to do! :)

i found that bub would fall asleep half way through a bottle if i let him, then want the rest an hour or so later. so now im making sure he finishes it by doing everything i can to keep him awake. also, if he does manage to drain a bottle, i make up maybe 30 mls and offer it to him. just to make sure he's full. :)

good luck with it all!! :)

you are not a bad mother and just ignore the child nurse! grrr!

she may just need an extra bottle at night. it sounds like she is hungry and just may need that extra top up. the tin says that each child is individual and may need more or less then whats recommended on the tin. try an extra bottle or a bit more in the last bottle and see how she goes.

good luck xx

The thing to remember is that your baby hasn't read the tin and doesn't know how much she's supposed to be having.

If you are hungry, you eat don't you?

If your baby was breastfed and acted like that, you would feed her. Formula feeding is no different, if she's hungry, feed her.

Some babies grow faster than others, so they eat more. Some babies just have a fast metabolism and so need to eat more.

I think you're doing a fabulous job - you've recognised the signs that mean your daughter is hungry, tell you DH to take a hike and feed her and you might find she's much more settled. You could also try waiting a little longer during the day to see if she can cope with a play time before her bottle, but just take it as it comes.

BW

Hi there,

Just wondering how you are going now? : )

I only just saw this, but for anyone out there who may look back on this - You CAN overfeed a FF baby... but not in the way we would normally think. I only know this, because I did it when DS was little and was giving him tummy aches. The amount of formula you give your bub isnt the issue, the problem is feeding them too often.

When DS was a newborn, we were giving him 10-12 bottles a day - TOO MANY! Now I look at that and cringe, but no one told us otherwise! I think the standard they recommend is 6-8 bottles in a 24 period. The quantity within each bottle? As much as your baby wants...

I hope it's all worked out for you now.