Fed up!

[aimee-lou]

It's official. I'm fed up of worrying about Earl's eating habits!

He takes 6 7oz bottles per day and 1 8oz bottle at bedtime. He eats every 2-3 hours during the day and approximately every 4 hours at night, and this is the way he likes it!

I've been told this is too much, we've tried hungry baby milk, and it just upset him. He's an habitual eater but he's not fat, he's on his centile line, he's developing well and well, to be honest, I've had enough of worrying about this. If he needs feeding at night, I'll flipping well feed him!

He's 10 weeks today, he's only little! He's not going to sleep through, he's not going to go 4 hours during the day, and I don't care any more! As long as he's happy!!!!!

Sorry, I needed to get this off my chest as I'm sick of worrying about it and thinking, 'Oh he shouldn't be eating this much'.....I'm going back to on demand....It's much better for my blood pressure!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Who told you it was too much?!

You have the best attitude. If he's hungry, he needs milk!

 

[aimee-lou]

Who told you it was too much?!

You have the best attitude. If he's hungry, he needs milk!

It may sound daft but 'people'.

The Dr asked at his check up and sort of Ummed! My HV comments when I go to weigh him that he should be slowing down by now but he's showing no signs. Last time I went she said to 'stretch him out' as best I can. He's never gone more than 3 hours.

Still....it's all over with now. He's doing so well and if I need to be up every 3 hours with him....then we can both be tired together!

 

[ninab]

Good for you honey. You know what he needs better than a stranger mw x

 

[Kte]

Stick with what you think Aimee That's what they were doing to me before! Do what you think and feel is best for Earl and ignore them. Its worrying when they make comments but last time I went they said nothing. Trying to make him go longer is not nice, they told me to do that too, take her for walks, feed her water . . . it just prolongued that fact she was hungry and in the end she ate whilst we walked and had a feed after a water! Its ridiculous what they say, no two babies are the same and shouldn't be judged on a curve, its should be on their own merits and looking at Earl you can see if he is fine. My OH read an article somewhere saying that babies now are bigger than babies a few years ago and our babies are being compared to them so obviously the statistics look wrong!

I think its just this 'Britain is obease rubbish'. Eg I went to the docs for my pill once and was told I was slightly overweight so to I should walk up stairs and not go in lifts, eat fresh fruit and veg and excersise . . . all things I was doing at the time the cheeky gits! They didn't ask me if I were doing this, I just got a lecture and was still sent on my way.

I hate it when people say about Chloe 'surely she isn't hungry again?' Well . . . yes, so I will feed her, it's just how she is!

Its good to have a healthy appetite so long as you are eating the right things!

So, after my rant . . . just stick to what you think is best for him. He looks fine! Plus its his happieness at the end of the day, they don't have to deal with an unhappy Earl because he doens't match their outdated statistic.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yeah Kte is right, making them wait is not on really IMO, I'm surprised anyone would advise this. 4 hours during the day is a long time to go at 2 months old anyway.
That's so annoying about the Drs Kte, my friend got told to cut down on cakes and biscuits by her Dr, but she doesn't eat ANY in the first place, how rude.

 

[history_girls]

My HV told me that by know Phoebe should only have five 6oz bottles a day. Well she wants six 6 oz a day and she will have them when she wants and no other time! We tried to feed her after 3 hours the other day to make it easy to go out - she flately refused to eat. One hour later screamed that she was being starved! She had been going through the night then Christmas Eve decided that no she wants to have two night feeds now!

I've also given up with trying to make her follow a routine - if she is hungry feed her! As my mum says 'She's a big baby' and big babies need food. If it is any comfort when I was a baby I was put on baby rice at 2 months because I was so large and hungry and although I'm not a size 6 now I'm not that big either! I just grew quick!

 

[dom85]

Totally agree with you, except I need that attitude back myself! A few weeks ago Brady started going 4 hours between feeds, when i took him to clinic the hv said not to let him go back to 3 hourly feeds.

he was also having 5oz a feed and then last week jumped up to 7oz and the last few days has been having 8oz, but then he's started going from 7/8pm to 8am without a feed as well. I thought it was just a growth spurt but it seems a bit too long for that. Of course now he's nearly 3 months I've got everyone telling me that i'll never get him to 6 months until i wean him, it'll have to be 4! It's driving me mad because i really want to wait until 6 months and i just think he's having more in the day now because he's not having anything at night, but what would i know, i havnt done this before!

 

[history_girls]

I had that thought that she was eating more in the day as she was eating less at night. Is there any fact in this? or is it just us?

 

[Kte]

Chloe is the same, she eats more in the day. She only has two bottles usually during the night, I fill the bottles to 180ml as she has this in the day but at night she can sometimes have half of this.

 

[aimee-lou]

Earl usually wakes once (sometimes twice) in the night. Lately it's been terribly erratic but this is the norm. He eats the same sorts of amounts as during the day (5-7oz per feed) but he will normally have a 6 hour, then a 4 hour gap. During the day he's every 2.5hours and will again eat between 5&7oz. I offer him 7oz at each one and just let him take what he wants. He will sometimes take 8 at bedtime so I've upped this bottle to allow for this (tonight, even with all the disruption and his teeth, he took 7oz )

Thanks for the support girls. I'm just so fed up of worrying and I just thought if I put it as a statement then I'll stick to it!

Dom....I want to BLW so I would also like to wait until 6 months. I will let Earl start to play with food a little before that as I know that it's rare that they actually swallow but I'm talking 2 weeks max. Before that, I'm really loath to introduce solids unless absolutely necessary If I need to it will be the smallest amount of baby rice that we can get away with, at the latest possible time I think. I think what people need to keep in mind is that 6 months will be here before we know it. It's only a short time that they are on milk, and giving them food on demand is not going to make them funny eaters....if anything, it will make them less picky and more able to control appetite.

I'm glad that you agree with me on this. Thanks for the support!

 

[OmarsMum]

My baby is 7 weeks now but I still give him 90 ml although the formula box states that he should take 150 ml 5 times a day. It was so hard the 1st 2 weeks after delivery to control his feeding habits. But now I am confortable with the quantity he's taking. He takes the total recommended acoops but in small quantities. This way u dont over feed ur baby and at the same time u give him what he needs. My advise, dont over feed as u'll stretch his tummy which is not healthy for the future.

 

[aimee-lou]

My baby is 7 weeks now but I still give him 90 ml although the formula box states that he should take 150 ml 5 times a day. It was so hard the 1st 2 weeks after delivery to control his feeding habits. But now I am confortable with the quantity he's taking. He takes the total recommended acoops but in small quantities. This way u dont over feed ur baby and at the same time u give him what he needs. My advise, dont over feed as u'll stretch his tummy which is not healthy for the future.

Thanks for the advice....sounds like our LO is the opposite of mine. Just goes to prove that the adage about every baby being different is very true indeed.

 

[aimee-lou]

Guess what.... We went 7.30-2am, then 2.30-6.30!! Woohoo!!

 

[dom85]

Guess what.... We went 7.30-2am, then 2.30-6.30!! Woohoo!!

yay, well done Earl and mummy

 

[aimee-lou]

Thanks Dom....I was amazed as this was exactly the same as on the HB.

 

[dom85]

Yeah, I'm not sure that hb is worth it either. I've been trying Brady on it and he's having exactly the same amount at the same times as the first milk but he's been a lot more sick and got constipated as well so I had to go out in the crazy rush tonight and get the first milk and ended up paying £9.50 at the corner shop coz none of the supermarkets had any first stage milk!

 

[loopdido]

first of all don't listen to hv! they gave me plenty of stupid advice with my son! If you happy with his feeding and he's happy and well then what is the problem! my son had a bottle during the night til he was 16 months old for gods sake and the hv told me to just give him water - she wasn;t the one caring for him! she also told me he should be drinking his night milk from a beaker at 1 year old - the poor lil man enjoyed the comfort of drinking from his bottle before bed! i let him do this til he was 3!!!!

good on you for standing you ground - just do what you feel is best and relax and enjoy him!

 

[aimee-lou]

The revolution starts here!!

Dom - I had the same with Earl. It made him sick (he's never sick), it made his bowels really loose and gave him nappy rash (really mild but all of this within a 24 hour period of being on it full time kind of showed me that it wasn't for him!) I'm really not convinced especially as Earl is properly his normal self again, went down to sleep with very little fight at all and just seems happier (he'd stopped smiling at his songs too!) Is it the SMA one as I know brady was on SMA 1. Earl is too and we tried the SMA one....makes you wonder doesn't it.

Thanks loopdido. Tbh - I'm not too confident in the advice given by my HV's as we have 2 and they don't seem to talk to one another. What really got me is that none of them knew anything about the Erb's Palsy which Earl had when he was born, and when I've been to clinic they have just sort of fobbed me off because....well actually I don't know. I did get a 'you stupid girl' look from one of them becuase as it was so cold I didn't want to undress Earl completely and the week before had been told by the other one to weigh his clothes and then subtract that from his weight........well I was only following advice.

Still....I have a very happy baby again now! All is good in the world......now I just have to see if we're snowed in as I am on my last tin of formula

Thanks everyone

 

[dom85]

The revolution starts here!!

Dom - I had the same with Earl. It made him sick (he's never sick), it made his bowels really loose and gave him nappy rash (really mild but all of this within a 24 hour period of being on it full time kind of showed me that it wasn't for him!) I'm really not convinced especially as Earl is properly his normal self again, went down to sleep with very little fight at all and just seems happier (he'd stopped smiling at his songs too!) Is it the SMA one as I know brady was on SMA 1. Earl is too and we tried the SMA one....makes you wonder doesn't it.

Thanks loopdido. Tbh - I'm not too confident in the advice given by my HV's as we have 2 and they don't seem to talk to one another. What really got me is that none of them knew anything about the Erb's Palsy which Earl had when he was born, and when I've been to clinic they have just sort of fobbed me off because....well actually I don't know. I did get a 'you stupid girl' look from one of them becuase as it was so cold I didn't want to undress Earl completely and the week before had been told by the other one to weigh his clothes and then subtract that from his weight........well I was only following advice.

Still....I have a very happy baby again now! All is good in the world......now I just have to see if we're snowed in as I am on my last tin of formula

Thanks everyone

Brady's on Cow and Gate now. He seems really prone to constipation issues, he's needed water since he was first born, but he was starting to need more and more. I had my post natal check at 8 weeks and the doctor said I should probably try a different milk as it had been about 5/6 days since he'd had a dirty nappy. Aptamil didn't work but Cow and Gate is obviously the one for him! I was an SMA baby too so I was surprised it didn't agree with him. I didn't really like the hb though, even making it I found a pain, it's so clumpy and it blocked his teat the other day (and he's on stage 2 teats).

If you're on your last tin I'd get out there tomorrow! I went to Asda, Sainsbury's and Tescos today and they all had hardly and fresh veg, there were actually people fighting over eggs in Sainsburys!!! And as I said, none of them had any first stage milk of any of the brands.