Have I done the right thing?

[HelenA]

I changed the formula KimberlyAnn was on last week and she was feeding well on it and not being so sicky, but now she wants feeding all the time, she was going through 6oz every 3 hours!! I felt like all I was constantly on the go with a bottle! So we changed again to formula for hungrier babies, which says from birth onwards. It's the same company and she does like it but I was just wondering whether these milks are good for baby. My health visitor was no help she just said to ONLY feed her every 4 hours, but when my little girl is screaming for a feed and trying to suck anything that goes near her mouth I find it hard to refuse her a bottle. I also found she was getting colic so have introduced colic drops into her bottles which has stopped the windiness. We have tried giving her water in between feeds but she refuses point blank plain water and will only have it if we put a tiny amount of baby juice in it (like a couple of drops just to give it a bit of flavor) But even then it just does not fill her up and she still wants a bottle afterwards. The milk for hungry babies does seem to work, but she still wants feeding every 3 hours instead of the previous 4 hourly feeds but only want about 4½oz now.

I rang my HV and asked if 4½oz every 3 hours is enough on the hungrier baby formula and her reply was "go back to regular formula and give her more milk" Which was what I was doing before... Now I haven't got a clue what to do!!

[PamelaRose]

Poor little Kimberley! All of my babies were colicky, so I understand full well what you're going through. I don't think we have "hungry baby" formula here in the US, but I do know that there are going to be times when she is just not going to wait 4 hours, no matter what you do. Babies, oddly enough, don't seem to have a concept of time! My guess is that she'll eat more and more frequently at one point of the day, and then she'll doze and slack off at another point. It's more about figuring out her schedule right now; once you get an idea of the pattern she's developing, then you can try to space things out to fit your own idea. Good luck. She sure is cute!

[emily]

Does she take a pacifier? Some babies have a really high sucking need. My dd never took a pacifier but she would suck on our fingers.

[mandy]

Hiya,

Try not to panic or get too stressed and most importantly don't feel that you have to take what your health visitor says as given.

I am a Nursery Nurse and have worked on baby units and cared for many babies from just weeks old. I agree with the previous posts, Kimberly will find her own pattern of feeds which hopefull will be more frequent feeds during the day, closer together followed by a peaceful night preferably skipping at least one feed. I remember reading that you said KimberlyAnn is a great sleeper. If this is still the case then she will be feeding more frequently and taking more during the day to make up for the lack of milk during the night.

I also really promote the use of a dummy. Both of mine had them in those early weeks and I stopped using them by around 12 weeks so they never even knew they had ever had them. My 2nd baby was a 9lb-er and VERY hungry - wanting feeds every 2 hours for the first 3/4 weeks. I was exhausted (as was my partner) and it was very hard. The dummy helped us loads and I fed my baby as much as he would take at each feed and he found a routine and spaced the feeds out on his own in time. (He did not turn into a huge baby either! Which I worried about - he obviously needed what he was taking).

Wishing you loads of luck. I really worry about what hv tell mothers because they tend to quote their text books and guidelines rather than appreciating every baby is different and has different needs. You know KimberlyAnn best so follow your instincts.

Mandy x

[Atsie]

Jordan gets 4 oz every three hours. Somedays Jordan will eat every two hours, I guess it depends on if she is growing. They also have growth spurts (I think 2 and 6 weeks??) when they are hungry all the time. For awhile we had been putting 180 ml in her bottle but she would only take 4 oz, so she knows how much she needs.
Jordan used a soother for the first 6 weeks and now refuses to use it. I don't know what I would have done without it. It helped us so much.


Good Luck
Erin

[rjdecker]

Hellon,

KimberlyAnn may also be going through a growth spurt, which is common about this age. If she needs the bottle, then give it to her, you won't spoil her or make her "fat". Babies eat what they need and sometimes some need more than others. I would be more concerned if she wasn't eating. Seems like she just needs those extra calories. As long as she is gaining weight she should be fine. If she was eating voraciously and not gaining weight, I would start to worry. Sounds like she is doing fine, though.

Jenny

[nomore]

Hellon,

Ive always more leaned towards to "on demand" style of feeding for a newborn. But, I was also BFing (and supplementing with some formula too). My SIL had a baby 3 months after MAdison and she was making herself crazy trying to get to the 4 hour mark, as my niece wanted to eat more every 3 hours. If your trying to space out the feedings, do it in small clips of time (ie- 5 to 10 min ) over a period of time. Otherwise, you are bound to both be miserble

Also, she very well could be in a growth spurt. You arent going to make her "fat" at this age. Good luck. I keep looking at her pics and she is a cutie

Robin

[teddi]

By "hungry baby" formula I assume you mean something like (as we have here in the US) Enfamil AR- which means added rice???

If she's on a 3 hr feed schedule that seems pretty normal and reasonable for her age. If she's eating 4 1/2 oz, you said she is a big eater, that sounds totally normal.

If that makes her happy, and it's within normal limits, I'd say just stick with what's working.

[HelenA]

Thanks everyone, I feel much better now, she tends to eat more in the evenings before she goes to bed, tonight she had 4oz then an hour later she had another 2oz then an hour and a half later she had another 2oz after her bath, then she fell asleep and has been there ever since! (3 hrs ago). I am certain that this must be a growth spurt, as we tried on some of her sleep suits after he bath and the ones that fitted a few days ago are now too short for her! So I am reasured now and am not so worried that she'll get fat!

[emily]

LOL Okay, I missed the getting fat part. I was just looking at pics of dd when she was a baby last night. She was almost 10 lbs at birth and by her 4 month appt she weighed.... EIGHTEEN POUNDS! LOL OMGOSH. Looking at her pics she was one fat, adorable baby. OMG. No wonder I had such a hard time lugging her around. But, she did only gain 3 lbs for the rest of that first year (21 lbs at her 1 year appt) and she has been a thin toddler/child. I wouldn't worry about them getting too fat though as babies, it is just adorable. Just make sure to keep those fat rolls cleaned out and use a bit of powder on them so they don't chafe!

[caty]

I agree with everyone else, but wanted to add one thing. Emily needed to suck and usually wanted a bottle instead of a pacifier because they were shaped differently or something. I remember that we changed her nipple to one that dripped more slowly; it took her longer to eat, but then she was full and had all the sucking she wanted to get in. Of course then when she hit a growth spurt the slower nipple just frustrated her. Sometimes you can't win for losing!! When Emily was colicky I more than once found myself giving her to her daddy while I sat on the front porch with the door closed and cried. The gas drops definitely helped, and music tended to work for us too. We had a CD player in her room, and we'd let it play all night that way she'd hear it falling asleep and if she woke up she'd still hear it (and sometimes go back to sleep) and sometimes that CD would help when she was fussy. LOL...I also remember having the hardest time explaining to my much younger brothers and sisters that sometimes babies wanted to be put down and left alone..."over stimulated" just didn't work as an explanation. Kimberly Ann is so beautiful!! I get excited everytime I see those pictures. I can't wait for our little boy to get here.......
Anyway, good luck, and sending sleepys your way
~Caty