HOW WE CAN HELP YOU to satisfy your hungry baby.
-
Not getting enough milk!
If your baby's NOT gaining enough weight, then it may be because he's not getting enough milk (breast or formula). If you're concerned about his weight, your first step would be to increase the amount of milk you offer him and if this fails increase his weight gains, see his doctor to make sure there's no physical reason.
If he's breast fed, the level of your lactation may not be enough to meet his needs or it may have suddenly decreased for some reason. (See our article on How to tell your baby is getting enough milk from the breast.)
If he's formula fed, you may need to offer more formula. Take a look at our section on bottle feeding for information on 'how to estimate how much formula he needs' and dealing with 'common bottle feeding problems'.
Strangely, it's most often the bigger babies, who experience no problems putting on enough weight, that are the most difficult to satisfy. For these thriving infants the problem may be related to one of the following reasons.
-
Lowered breast milk supply in the evenings
It's normal that your breast milk supply can be a little lower in the evenings. This could be a reason why your little one is restless and wants to breast feed more frequently in the evenings. If he's gaining good amounts of weight, then he's getting enough breast milk over a 24 hour period and it may help to plan your day so that you can allow for more frequent breast feeding in the evenings.
However... if he's gaining weight well and wants to feed more frequently throughout the entire day, it could be a sign of a growth spurt.
-
Growth spurt
If he's formula fed, you will find he's looking for just at little more formula at the end of each feed. An increase in the amount of formula offered at each feeding will normally resolve his restlessness.
If he's breast fed, you may need to offer more frequent breastfeeds at these times, to stimulate an increase in your supply. Restlessness should settle within a few days and feeding patterns return to normal. If his feeding pattern does not return to normal, yet his weight gains are good, there may be other reasons for him to "appear hungry".
When a baby cries one of the first things parents think of is hunger. It may sound a simple enough task to figure out whether your baby's hungry or not, but it's not always as simple as it sounds. If you feel he's feeding more often than you would expect, you may be mistaking his cues.
-
Infant reflexes
While many mammals are born with several reflexes and survival instincts that enable them to stand or run soon after they're born, the human baby begins life with only a few reflexes to ensure survival and these relate mostly to feeding. (A reflex is an action that's performed involuntarily or automatically.)
The rooting reflex is a normal response in newborn babies when the cheek is touched or stroked along the side of the mouth. The infant turns his head and opens his mouth toward the touched side and seeks something to suck. The reflex usually goes away by 3 to 4 months of age but it may last until 12 months of age. This is an automatic response and not a clear sign that a baby is hungry.
When the roof of a baby's mouth is touched, he will begin to suck. The sucking reflex is triggered by inserting a finger, pacifier or nipple in to a newborn's mouth. This too is a normal response and not always an indicator of hunger.
Babies also have a hand-to-mouth reflex that goes with the rooting and sucking reflexes. Although present from birth this reflex appears more obvious at around 3 months of age. It's not until around this age that a baby can control his arm movements enough to purposely suck his fingers or hand. Prior to gaining this control, sucking on his fingers or hands is a 'hit or miss' process. (At around 3 months of age this reflex is often mistaken as a sign of teething).
-
Developmental stage
Babies are in an oral stage of development. They often want to suck or feed not only when they're hungry but also when they're tired, in pain, distressed, for comfort or for pleasure. Young babies (under 3 months) have a strong urge to suck. Many will want to suck at times other than feeding to feel contented.
-
Lactose overload
Healthy, thriving, exclusively breast fed babies often develop symptoms similar to lactose intolerance. This is due to lactose overload from large and frequent breast feeds. The extra lactose passes into the bowel undigested where it draws in extra fluid into the bowel. Here the normal bacteria in the bowel cause the undigested lactose to ferment. Together this results in excess gas, bloating and frequent watery stools.
This causes the baby discomfort and he then appears hungry because he seeks additional feeding in a bid to relieve this discomfort (which it does but only temporarily). The extra feeding further adds to the vicious cycle of lactose overload and symptoms.
Unfortunately, lactose overload is often mistakenly diagnosed as lactose intolerance or food or milk allergy or intolerance (to dairy foods in the mother's diet) and the baby is either weaned or the mother feels compelled to make dietary restrictions. Both of which are unnecessary and unhelpful in this situation.
Breast feeding should be continued as symptoms can be greatly improved by establishing a flexible feeding and sleep routine. Most often without changes to a mother's diet.
-
Feeding patterns
Babies can often fall into a pattern of frequent feeding or 'snack' feeding. Although, this will cause him no harm, provided he gets enough milk in total over a 24 hour period, it can become very exhausting for you trying to keep up.
-
Thirst
A baby will also want to be fed because he's thirsty. If he's breast fed, offer the breast whether you think he's hungry or thirsty. If he's formula fed and is already drinking good amounts of formula for his age and weight, a little extra water offered between regular formula feeds may be helpful.
-
Tiredness
Babies frequently want to feed when they're tired. A common sleep association for babies can be feeding to sleep (breast or bottle). If your baby has learned to associate feeding with sleeping, he will also want to feed when he's tired because he's learned that "this is the way I go to sleep".
Babies display signs of tiredness differently than we expect. Tired signs for a young baby are displayed as clenched fists, waving arm and leg movements, facial grimaces, fussing and grumbling then crying. These signs are often misinterpreted as boredom or hunger.
-
Big babies need feeding more frequently.
FALSE: A bigger baby needs slightly more milk than a smaller baby BUT there's no reason why a bigger baby would to need to be fed more often than a smaller baby of the same age.
Although some babies are born big, babies can become bigger still because of frequent feeding patterns RATHER THAN their size being the need for a frequent feeding.
-
You may not have enough (breast) milk.
TRUE & FALSE: If your baby's NOT gaining enough weight, your supply may not be sufficient. However, if your baby IS gaining enough weight, you have enough milk.
Sadly, many breast feeding mothers wean their babies to formula in the hope that it will be more satisfying. Unfortunately this rarely helps and the pattern of behavior most often continues on formula as well.
(See our article on How to tell when your baby is getting enough breast milk).
-
Your (breast) milk may not be strong enough.
FALSE: Breast milk provides the same amount of calories per ounce as formula. Studies comparing breast milk among hundreds of different women have shown that the "strength" of breast milk remained consistent.
Don't be confused by the color of breast milk, which looks very different to cow's milk. Breast milk may look watery, but it provides the right amount of calories, vitamins and nutrients for your healthy growing baby.
-
Bigger babies need stronger milk.
DEFINITELY FALSE: If your baby is thriving, yet wants to feed more regularly than would be expected for his age and weight, the problem does not lie with the actual milk but is due to other reasons. A bigger baby may need a little more milk than a smaller baby but he NEVER needs stronger milk.
-
Switching formula helps.
RARELY: There's very little difference between formulas. Except for specialty formulas designed for premature babies and babies with cardiac or other specific conditions, all formulas have the same amount of energy (calories) per ounce.
Cow's milk formulas are classified as whey dominant or casein (curd) dominant, describing the main protein type in the formula. Although providing the same amount of calories per ounce, casein dominant formula is digested more slowly than whey dominant formula. Some babies find a casein dominant formula more satisfying.
-
Big babies need to start on solids sooner.
FALSE: It can be very tempting to start solids at an earlier age than recommended OR for an older baby, to try to "fill him up" with large amounts of solid foods. However, this rarely helps and if solids given too early (or too much) it can create additional problems.
A bigger baby doesn't need to start solids sooner than a small baby, he just needs more milk. If he's already drinking more than would be considered normal for his age and weight, then there may be other reasons for him to appear hungry.
-
A baby needs to be fed more often if he has reflux.
FALSE: If he's gaining good amounts of weight, there's no need for him to feed more frequently. Babies with a frequent feeding pattern can often over-feed and experience reflux (gastro-esophageal reflux) because it's common for them to spit up some of the excess milk. In other words, frequent feeding may be causing him to reflux RATHER THAN his reflux causing him to become hungry sooner.
-
A pacifier
Sucking is not only a means of obtaining nutrition, it also has a pleasurable calming effect on infants. There'll be times when your baby may be comforted by a pacifier rather than feeding. Don't worry, if he's hungry he'll soon let you know because he won't be content to suck on a pacifier for long if it's a feed he's wanting.
-
Water
For a formula fed baby who's already drinking acceptable amounts of formula for his age and weight, it can be helpful to offer 1 or 2 ounces of cooled boiled water once or twice a day between regular formula feeds, when you feel your baby may be thirsty.
Breast fed babies don't need additional water for hydration, you would breast feed your baby whether you thought he was hungry or thirsty.
-
Offering expressed breast milk following evening feeds
Provided your baby's breast fed of course! Pump (express) after morning breast feeds, when your milk supply is often at its best, and offer this AFTER evening breast feeds, only if your baby remains unsettled following the breast feed.
-
Establishing a flexible feeding and sleep routine
You have no doubt tried advice like "stretch out feeding to 3 hourly" without much success. To encourage a better feeding routine you need to also look at establishing a better sleep pattern at the same time, otherwise your attempts are likely to fail.
We all understand a baby will not sleep for long if he's hungry but few people realise just how much sleep (or lack of) can affect feeding patterns and behavior. If a baby's tired he's likely to not feed well OR he may look for more frequent feeds for comfort.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU to satisfy your hungry baby.
See also:
Crying baby
Colic
Sleep associations
For a Printer friendly version
|
