Hungry baby!

Christine - posted on 01/24/2010

Someone advised me to give the baby a bath close to sleeping and feed them a couple ounces of catnip tea (it helps to calm them and make them sleepy) and then swaddle them. I don't know if your breastfeeding or doing formula, but my little girl is 7 weeks now and she has about 6oz formula before bedtime and sometimes she'll sleep for 5 hours. But, I was told it's perfectly normal for them to continue the 2 hour feedings for 3 months. The swaddling helps to keep the baby from waving their arms and startling themselves awake. I hope you get some sleep soon!

Brandi - posted on 01/23/2010

My daughter is 5 weeks old (she's formula fed), she use to go 3-4 hours w/out feeding during the day and night, and she'd sleep during that time as well. lately she's been wanting to eat bout every 2-2.5 hours...she'll still sleep during that time, and at night she'll sometimes sleep "through the night." although i think she's going through a growth spurt right now, cuz not only is she eating more, but she's sleeping more than what she was a week ago...she is still up and alert at her "regular" time during the day and that, but she takes more "cat naps." and offer my daughter a nuk between feedings, just for the sucking factor...and it helps. and we'll go for car rides when my bf gets home, or i'll put her in her bouncer, give her tummy time, and just distract her with other things when i am absolutely positive she's not hungry, she's just bored. so i hope this helps as well, and good luck

Shannon - posted on 01/23/2010

my son is 5 weeks and eats about every 3 hours sometimes less. there was a point when he ate every hour around the clock and it was killing me! i spoke with the dr and she told me that he was a) snacking or b) using me as a pacifier (i breastfeed), she told me at a minimum i should feed every 2 hours. i agree with the women who suggest distraction dancing around the kitchen, a ride in the swing, a walk around the block, a pacifier (try that as a last resort because the sucking can sometimes interfer with their sucking when feeding and may not allow them to get enough)
for nighttime, stick with a routine. if you're not already, do bathtime an hour before you want your baby to go down to bed, maybe add some lavendar to relax (if you dont want it in the bath try putting some next to the baby's bed!) the bathtime works miracles for me, my son sleeps 4 hours sometimes now, at one point he was starting to fall asleep in the bath - it relaxed him that much!!! i've also heard that you should try not to put your baby down before 10pm and then before you go to bed (if its not at the same time as baby) try waking the baby some to feed a little bit and top him off, then he might sleep a little longer and give you some more sleep!!
i hope some of these suggestions are useful! Good Luck!!

Cassandra - posted on 01/22/2010

My little ones are both 7 weeks old. They also want to eat about every 2 hours. I do feed them about that much during the day and I pump after about 2 feedings everyday which helps my milk supply at night. Then after their 10-11pm feeding I swaddle them up which helps them to sleep longer. When I didn't swaddle them they'd wake every 2 hours like normal now they are staying asleep for 4-5 hours. Yay!

Janis - posted on 01/22/2010

My little one fed every 2 hours for a week and then he started go longer. I think they eat a lot when they are having a growth spirt. Hopefully it dosen't last long. BUT babies go through growth spirts every couple weeks so the frequent feeding will probably come back. :(

Courtney - posted on 01/22/2010

I went through that with my daughter for a couple days and, as I am breastfeeding, could NOT feed her every hour like I was doing. What worked for me was distraction- I figured out I was misinterpreting her cries and thinking she was hungry when she was really just bored. When she'd start to cry I'd walk her around or get her to chew on her binkie for a bit. After a few minutes and a change of scenery, she'd stop crying. I feed her every 3 hours during the day, sometimes 4 if she's in the middle of a good nap, and at 6 weeks she started sleeping at night in 5 hour stretches (which was just last week, haha). It's not every night, but we're making progress toward mommy getting a full night sleep :).
Try distracting him and once he gets used to it, maybe he'll start sleeping longer?? It takes a few days for them to adjust, and if she's REALLY acting unmistakably hungry, I wont worry about if it's only been 2 hours and 40 minutes of anything- but I feel like once she expected food every three hours, she could wait it out a bit better.
Good luck!!!!

April - posted on 01/22/2010

My little boy is 7 weeks..he eats 5 oz every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. His docyor actually told me that 5 oz that close it to much but if I dont feed him that much he screams until I do..so I asked the doctor what I shoud do and she actually told me to put 1 teaspoon od cereal in his bottle to see if it stopped him from wanting so much..which it didnt..but maybe you can try cereal at night time and see if that makes a differance

Nicole - posted on 01/22/2010

I pump a couple times a day and that way my husband can give the baby a bottle during the night so I get more sleep. I also cluster feed him like crazy in the evenings, sometimes every hour and he sleeps longer.

Ashley - posted on 01/22/2010

My daughter is the same way, except she usually eats more like ever 1 1/2 hours during the day. She is 7 weeks and this is my first time breastfeeding so it is very frustrating when I know my other daughter was full for 4 hours between feedings with formula. I don't know if you are breastfeeding, but do you sleep with your baby? I have found that my little one will sleep better in my arms and I just nurse her while laying down...then at least I don't have to get up. Otherwise, I feel you because I am running on very little sleep as well. Good luck! I think it will get better with time (at least I am hoping)

Elizabeth - posted on 01/22/2010

My son is 6 weeks and is exactly the same way. He eats every 2 hours during the day and night. Sometimes at night before bed he cluster feeds and will eat every half hour for like 2 hours. I am breastfeeding so I expected to have to feed more frequently, but not this frequently cause my daughter could go 4 hours without eating.

Kristen - posted on 01/21/2010

oh even when they start to sleep through the night completely those whole night sleeps still seem to not exist... its just as they get older its for different reasons they wake you up in the middle of the night... my youngest son wakes me in the middle of the night just cuz he wants to be with mommy or cuz he had wet the bed or don't feel well... if i remember right i think my youngest son was like that where he was up every like 2 hours or so for awhile and i what got him to sleep longer was a binky because most of the time with him it wasn't that he was hungry as much as it was he wanted to suck on something... man 4 years seems so long ago

Katie - posted on 01/21/2010

i have started to mix feed as i just cant keep up! he generally feeds for 20-30mins too . ive tried to get him to feed for longer but he generally doesnt fall asleep whilst feeding so other than force feeding him (JOKING lol) i dont know what to do... he is definately getting enough as he is putting on pleanty of weight.. ive even tried the formula for hungrier babies and he STILL wants 2 hour feeds lol.. hes just a little porker but it would be lovely to have even 3 hours at night.. a whole night sleep seems like a distant memory lol .. thanks for ur advice though :)

Kristen - posted on 01/21/2010

I'm not sure if your breast or bottle feeding.... I am breast feeding my little girl and she is 3 weeks old... When she eats around 9pm she usually eats longer... normally during the day she eats about 20 -30 mins total about every 2 hours then in evenings usually eats about 45 mins to hour... I switch sides a couple times and try to keep her awake some so she eats more then she will sleep for about 3 or 4 hours before she wakes again and she'll do another good feeding in middle of the night (i usually fall asleep with her while she's feeding at the midnight feed lol) then she'll sleep another 3 or 4 hours and after the 7 am feeding she goes back to the every 2 hours... so i guess i'm suggesting is in evenings see if you can get your little man to eat a little more so he's a little fuller before going to bed