Advice for a mum of a very hungry 5 month old

[purplespecs]

Hi My DS is almost 5 months old and is a very hungry baby. He currently takes on average 42-45oz of formula every 24 hours - 7 or 8oz bottles every 4 hours, day and night. He currently weighs 19lb 3oz and is on the 98th centile for his weight (up from 75th when he was born) and the HV's are staring to get slightly worried he's going to shoot off the charts (not that I ever pay much attention to my HV as she has some funny ideas!!). He is fully in proportion to his length though so I have no concerns about him being 'fat', he is just a very big baby!

My query is about hungry baby milk - whether to move him onto it or not. I understand that it can cause babies to become constipated, but other than that I know very little about it. I just don't know whether to keep him going with his milk as it is or move him onto hungry baby. Does anybody have any advice either way? Thanks in advance x

 

[Nicola27]

hi - I also have a very hungry baby, though he's only 5 weeks old at the moment.

I have heard different things about hungry baby milk. When I went to see a lactation specialist at the hospital (because of Zach's tongue tie) she said that it has no added nutritional benefits and no extra calories than first milk, it just sits on their stomach for longer and this is why it can cause constipation. However when I've asked mums about it they all say they know of people that used it with no problems.

I'm thinking of giving it a go myself as Zach is eating crazy amounts (5 oz bottles about 8 times a day!!)

 

[purplespecs]

Thanks Nicola, my DS was drinking 5oz bottles at 5 weeks too.

Anyone else have any advice?

 

[melfy77]

We don't have hungry baby milk here, but when she was 3.5 months DD started to drink 45-50 oz/day. I waited for nearly a month, because I didn't want to start solids. She was also waking up 4-5 times/night to feed instead of 2 times/night. But I ended up starting her on oatmeal at night when she was 20 weeks, and veggies at lunch 2 weeks later. Since then, she's drinking 30-35 oz/day and is waking up 1-2 times/night again. She was showing signs that she was ready for solids, and wow, she LOVES her oatmeal

I'm aware of the 6 months advice, but is your LO showing signs he could be ready for solids?

 

[purplespecs]

Thanks Melfy, I don't think he's ready yet, he's still got the tongue thrust reflex and he's only just starting to put things to his mouth. Plus ideally I want to do BLW so 6 months would be a better time to wean him really. I've still kept him on the same amount of bottles for the time being, and haven't moved him onto hungry baby milk, and will wait to see HV to get him weighed next Monday before I do anything. Thanks again