Hungry Baby - Looking for some advice please

[tweetee]

Hello everyone, my LO will be 17 wks actual, 8wks corrected tomorrow. Over the past couple of wks she has been fighting sleep through the day, waking for feeds in the night (where she was sleeping through before), and seems unsatisfied after her feeds. She takes between 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours. Evenings are worst with her wanting fed constantly but turning her face away from the bottle, doesnt want cuddles, doesnt want dummy and eventually takes so much milk she ends up throwing up. She's not crying but very unsettled. I wondered about trying her with a couple of spoons of baby rice to see if that made any difference. When I spoke to HV yesterday she advised us to try Hungry Baby milk first for a few days then give rice if no difference - LO doesn't seem to like the Aptamil Hungry milk at all, won't take full feeds and seems very squirmy after it despite getting lots of wind up. Please can anyone give some advice? Hate to see her so unsettled. Have any of you given baby rice at 17 weeks? My instincts are telling me she is hungry so give her it but I'm just looking for some opinions/advice. I know its best to wait as long as poss but what if baby just won't wait?

Thanks for reading this xx

 

[AP]

Hey tweetee
The guidelines are 5-7 months actual age for preemies so I would say 8 weeks corrected is too early Hun. Do you think it could be reflux? It's very common in preemies, if she seems unsettled and fussy with feeds, reluctant to finish bottles and/or overfeeding at times it could be just that.

You can get Infant Gaviscon from the doctor which thickens the milk, or medications to neatralise the acids.

 

[tweetee]

Thanks sb22. She has had infant gaviscon in the past as she used to seem like she was in pain mid feed but the gaviscon didn't really do much. We tried Aptamil comfort as well but that just made her sick. She's grown out of this now though and now it just seems like she's not satisfied with her milk at all - she'll take 170ml and still be mouthing about for more and dummy doesn't settle her so I give in and give it to her but then she just throws up coz there's so much milk in her tummy! Then it all starts again as five minutes later she is hungry again

A lot of my friends have said they had similar at 4months and just started to give a couple of spoonfuls of baby rice on top of the normal milk feeds and this made a massive difference. However, their babies are term babies so its not really the same is it!

Its hard not knowing what to do for the best isn't it - I wasn't prepared for the uncertainty of motherhood! xx

 

[AP]

nope its not the same. The weaning age for preemies is simpily because of the iron stores they have from birth. 8 weeks is too young for any baby, even preemie, their stomachs cant deal with solids.

it could also be a growth spurt? but i do think your HV gave you bad advice and you should see the GP again. xxx

 

[tweetee]

I've taken LO off the hungry baby milk as it made her sick! I've put her back on normal aptamil and she seems happier but is still hungrier than normal. I'm just going to feed her more often and see how it goes - as others have said, it could be a growth spurt and she may calm down again soon xxx

 

[alparen]

what about using a thickened formula or adding rice cereal to the milk your using to see if it helps. if it is reflux it'll help it stay down and not come up. Samantha gets really fussy if i burp her to much during feeds., I think it aggravates her reflux so I bought playtex vented bottles and also her bottle nipples have air vents so it cuts down on my having to burp her. Sometimes she'll go the whole feed without wanting a burp and shes way more settled. If I burp her it makes her really squirmy and upset sometimes. Also her formula has to be like a nectar consistency or she really just doesn't drink it and it hs to be really warm almost hot. If it's room temp or below it really upsets her.

 

[tweetee]

Thanks alparen! I'm using Dr Brown bottles which have made a difference - maybe I should stop burping her halfway through.... she doesn't need it half the time and I think its just habit on my part - she gets very upset sometimes if I stop to burp her! She has calmed down a bit and sometimes just wants a bit of a top up in the evening so am going to persevere with that until she's 5 months and then start to introduce baby rice. xx

 

[lozzy21]

There is a growth spurt around 6-8 weeks and 4 months which some people confuse with needing weaning. Baby rice will just fill her up with stodge when she realy needs the extra calories and vitamins from her milk to help her grow.. Hungry baby milk can give some babys tummy ache and make them constipated.

 

[heyyady]

My girls are 13 weeks (6 adjusted) and are going through the same thing- Massively hungry and eating constantly, but it doesn't hold them through. we have just taken them off the preemie formula (22 cal) and put them on regular infant formula and I can't help but wonder if that's where the difference lies. When my oldest was a baby, granted 19 years ago, it was no big thing to give them rice cereal in their bottle before their night time feed. In fact my son started sleeping 9 hours though at 2 months as soon as we started this. Now I'm trying to hold the girl's off as long as possible, but there is NO WAY they're going to make it to 4 months adjusted! They already wake up and cry when they smell dinner cooking and one of them grabbed a fistfull of food off my MIL's plate at dinner tonight!

 

[freddiesmum]

LOs consultant told me to wean start weaning him end of nxt month he will 5 and a half months actual but only 9weeks corrected, im under the impersion as far as weaning goes its actual age! Fred seems to be going thru the same thing, i will feed him 4oz and a hr later he will want more, i keep thinkin if i keep feedin himche will b sick, but he wouldnt take it if he wasnt hungry. She may just be hungry lol. Im goin to have to buy bigger bottles AGAIN!

 

[heyyady]

Well, we started with the rice cereal in the bottles at night and WOW has it made a difference! Last night they slept for 6 1/2 hours before waking for a feed, where as when we don't give them cereal they wake every 1 1/2 to 2 hrs