Baby eating too often

Right off the bat, I want to say that I searched, but didn’t really find much information. Secondly, I’m not too concerned, since I’m sure it’s very normal, and baby is due for his first shots next week anyway.

With those disclaimers, I ask for any useful advice you might have to have a baby go longer between meals. Currently, our boy is a few days short of two months old, and drinks formula. Occasionally mom mixes in some breast milk via a pump, but since she is back to working full-time, she can’t do this all the time.

Currently he is at 4.5 ounces or so per feeding, which is usually every 3-4 hours or so (usually around 3 hours though except at night…at night he has gone as long as 5.5 hours between feedings, but it is usually in the 3-3.5 hour range.) Again, I know this is normal, but I’m just wondering if there are some tricks to make him go longer between feedings. He has been at the 3-3.5 hour range since birth. The baby book I have suggests water, but we have not tried that yet.

If there are any other questions, I will be happy to answer them.

Vis

He shouldn’t be going any longer than that between feedings. Two-month-olds need to eat frequently, especially during growth spurts.

I find it very weird that your book recommends giving water to a young infant. The last thing you want to do is kill their appetite for formula or breastmilk. IIRC, it can actually be dangerous to give water to infants. I forget the medical term for drinking too much water, but little babies are much more vulnerable to it.

I’d say stick to breastmilk or formula and feed him on demand. He will naturally eat more and be able to go longer as he gets bigger.

Your baby’s feeding schedule seems normal to me. I know you are probably tired, but it won’t last long (18-20 years- ha!). I recall both my kids having growth spurts at around 6 and 12 weeks where they are more frequently.

One weekend, I had to attend a convention and left my husband in charge with some formula. He called to complain that he was feeding the baby every 1 1/2 hours instead of her regular three hours.

Yes, he was watering down the ready-to-feed formula.

Do you have a nice grandma nearby that can give you a good nights rest, perhaps?

Eating a baby even once is too often. I might have misunderstood the question.

I totally echo Cher3!

Feed the critter when it says it’s hungry. Most infants don’t carry enough mental baggage yet to eat due to depression or stress. And since y’all have gone to the bottle I’d wager nursing for comfort’s sake is likewise less likely.

Dude, any literature that suggests limiting a baby’s calories in any way (we’re talking milk here, so don’t nobody pipe in with 'well, chocolate’s not good for 'em!) should be left in the bathrom until it’s all used up. The baby’s got a metabolism like you wouldn’t believe and it’s got to work on making things like brains, guts & bones. Unlike on a construction site, the baby’s builders don’t just sit down and wait for the supply truck to come when building materials are exhausted–they go after more! I had 3 fat FAT babies. The youngest is now 4, and she’s not fat. Not big boned. Normal kid. Same with the others. Fat baby is generally a healthy baby. Feed your critter. The more breast milk the better.

There. I think the horse is dead now.

I’ll 2nd or 3rd or whatever everyone else has said in that your baby’s schedule sounds normal. As for what you can do to increase the time between feedings? Wait for him to get older is about it.

Then you can worry about a whole NEW set of things. :slight_smile:

-jk1245 (parent of an 18 month old who has just discovered how fun it is to climb on the coffee table and WALK OFF THE EDGE)

The book merely suggests an occasional water bottle if he seems to want to eat more frequently, though they might mean at a little later time (older). As for the grandma suggestion, none live within 500 miles, infact neither of us have any family here, so that sucks for us. We’re moving out-of-state at the end of the month, and the wife is off all summer (schoolteacher), so I suspect it should get a bit easier in a few weeks.

Thanks for the reassurances.

Vis

Water has no calories and this baby’s feeding schedule seems appropriate. Is this baby voiding and stooling adequately? >8-10 wet diapers a day?
Cyn, RN, who works postpartum.

There is one thing that you could possibly do that wouldn’t be dangerous to the baby: feed him until he’s full, until he refuses the bottle, rather than feeding him X ounces. If the baby isn’t full, then the feeding won’t last as long, and the baby’s the only one who knows when he’s full.

-lv

"Dude, any literature that suggests (fill in the blank) should be left in the bathroom until it’s all used up. "

Oh… good one! Saving that for later.

Don’t give in to the temptation to give cereal early. I believe there’s been additional research to support what was already believed: giving cereal earlier than four months is generally not a good thing.

The first 8 weeks are brutal. There is no way around it. Actually, the first 14 weeks are all pretty deadly. It’s rough going.

Concerning water and babies, sure they shouldn’t get it often, but my brother was a baby over a San Antonio summer. On occasion if we were out and about, he’d get a little water, on the theory that if we were thirsty, he probably was too. No harm done.

My first thought was to give him a bigger bottle and feed him until he refuses any more, that might buy a little time. Or it might not, if the feedings he’s getting are as much as he’d want anyway. Breasts do not come with ounce markers on them, after all, so it’s up to the baby how much they eat. I don’t see why you couldn’t do the same thing with bottles, though there you could track the numbers if you wanted to.

I am not a mother, but I am eight years older than my brother, so I have some real-life baby experience, even though it was quite a few years ago.

I have been reading that feeding infants cereal under 4 months of age may lead to diabetes later in life. Interestingly enough, if you wait too long to start feeding (6 months+) the same problem occurs.

A really good book I have read about baby care is called baby411. I found it to be most helpful. One of the things it mentioned is that, as stated above, babies need a LOT of calories to sustain their growth. Breastmilk and formula are high in calories and nutritional value. Cereal, IIRC, has bout 20 calories. Feeding cereal (which a baby that young won’t be able to digest fully) will only fill up his tummy with ‘nothing’ pretty much.

As others said, your baby is very normal. It’s all about waiting it out. My baby is 4 1/2 months. The first three months seemed like all I was doing was feeding her. It has gotten easier, at long last!

best of luck to you!

My baby book also recommends giving formula-fed babies 4 to 8 ounces of water a day, but not in any way related to making them sleep longer. They say it’s because formula is more concentrated than breast milk, therefore formula-fed babies need a little extra water, whereas breastfed babies don’t. (The Baby Book, by Sears). My seven week old son drinks about the same amount at about the same intervals as the OP’s baby. I think there is nothing really to do but wait it out.

Darn you, AskNott, you beat me to it!

Everybody says the cereal thing is not good before four months. Why? What harm can it do? Especially if its really watered down?

I don’t exactly remember when I started the cereal on my boy, but it was early. He was starving. He hasn’t stopped eating since, either (going on 28 years).

Nevermind. Baboon answered it. Thanks.

Never heard that.

My kids are four and five now, and in addition to this being normal now - its going to continue to be normal.

This is their daycare day schedule

My kids get up at 6:30 and have some milk
They have breakfast at 8:00
They have a midmorning snack around 10:00
Lunch around 11:30
Snack again around 2:30 or 3:00
They are starving when I pick them up at 5:00. Because I can’t feed them in five minutes, a small snack
Dinner at 6:00
Bedtime snack at 8:00

On weekends its less structured, but they eat as often.

Don’t feed them this often and they are prone to low blood sugar emotional problems (particularly my daughter).