Aptimil hungry baby milk?

[candymycandy]

Hi ladies, looking for a bit of advice from those of you that have tried aprimil hungry baby milk/similar.

My little boy is nearly 7wks and was 9lbs 6oz when he was born and is nearly 13lbs now. We've had a problem for ages where he rarely finishes a bottle. In my mind this is to blame for him feeding so frequently (sometimes every hour -90 mins on a bad day). This is manageable in the day albeit frustrating but obviously awful at night!

I asked the health visitor and she concurred that hungry milk may be worth a try. But my DH has suggested that surely if it sits heavier in his tum he'll eat even less of it and we'll be in same boat?? Also ive read on other forums that It made babies constipated and isn't ideal for combo feeding (which I'm doing) as the hungry milk is harder to digest than Bm so switching imesses with their tummies too much?

All help/suggestions much appreciated! Xx

 

[littlemonkey]

Hungry baby is designed more for babies who are eating a lot frequently. So I agree with your OH it's probably not the answer.

You said you're combination feeding at the moment, how many bottles is he having and how often is he on the breast? To be honest, an hour and a half sounds pretty normal between feeds for breastfeeding that young. Even normal formula is harder for them to digest than bm, so this could be why he's not finishing feeds, as he's fuller quicker.

The other thing to consider if he'd only having a little bit at a time, he might be feeding for comfort and you could try a dummy for this

I hate to say it if he seems generally happy and content, he could just be a grazer and it's a matter of riding it out.

 

[candymycandy]

Well that's the thing he's often unsettled and we have him under the colic umbrella! Most of the combo feeding is expressed bm so mostly all bottle fed really. The dummy does work sometimes though. He has more formula than bm at mo. But I'm sure bm doesn't fill him up as much.

No idea what to do but what you say of riding it out does make sense though, thanks xx

 

[littlemonkey]

If he's unsettled it could be something like reflux. My LO was really unsettled when he was younger and eventually got to a point where he would only have a few ounces at a time. We found out he had reflux which was why he would only have little and often because he was in pain. Maybe discuss this with the HV.

 

[candymycandy]

Yeah that's a good point. Was he unsettled generally or just after feeds? The hv was alluding to it only being feeding based issues if he was upset after feeds but my LO is often getnrally unsettled and not specifically after feeds. We can't really put our finger on a pattern x

 

[TTT]

Does he get really windy? It sounds like he may have trapped wind and cant/doesnt want to get full for gas. My boy is 8 weeks old and is breast fed with the occasional bottle of formula every few days (just so he can take to bottle feeding if we need to). He feeds every hour and a half in the day and every two and a half hours at night with the occasional comfort feed. He was very windy and upset, and grazed, in the first couple of weeks and I started to sit him upright to feed, and worked on a better latch, and it solved it for us

 

[Mummybexee]

Feeding based issues after feeds is a pile of poo - ignore your HV.

Hungry baby milk doesn't really have any evidence if aids hunger. Have you tried tilting his mattress so he's not flat on his back? Sometimes they do have abit of acid reflux and that can cause them I feed to sooth. Silent is harder than sickness. My sons still on orescribed meds for reflux - but his feedingn cycle at 7 weeks was constant and sicky. It lead me to anti reflux formula at 8 weeks and jacked in BF as my milk was too think causing extreme sickness. Not that you have that but have a google of silent reflux and see if any key symtoms match your LO

 

[Mackmummy]

We had loads of issues with Oscar when he was younger and tired all sorts! Hungry milk made no difference to him, he ate just as much. I also combi fed bf and ff. Breast milk digests a lot quicker than formula, I found Id almost have to give OScar double breast milk than formula for it to have the same effect (I expressed). Eventually it turned out OScar was lactose intolerant which a lot of babies are as lactose is hard even for adults to digest. We switched him to lactose free SMA and he was a different baby! Ate the lot and slept much better. The symptoms he had were he was very restless sleeping. And groaned a lot and did stomach crunches almost! I had to give him more eds just to settle him but then of course that caused him to be restless again, no win! I also found aptamil to be the worst for giving him trapped wind! So I steered clear of that! He's now on both lactose free and normal hip organic milk as well as solids as I'm trying to ween him off the lactose free. Some times you need to try a whole host of things to find the right one! I know we did!

 

[littlemonkey]

I don't particularly remember him having issues after feeds. I mainly remember he would scream the place down if laid flat, especially in the position I fed him in. And like I said he would hardly have any milk. I just remember him being a baby that cried a lot! He's two now so a lot of those early months feel like a lifetime ago!

I agree with Mackmummy it's a matter of trial and error, and going back to the doctors etc to get something that helps. It wasn't until we saw a different doctor to our usual one that they made the connection about reflux. I'm also convinced he was worse on aptamil. We were given medication in the end which LO was on until about 9 months old. We also found keeping him as upright as possible helped, especially for feeds and we also weaned early which helped lots. When he was unsettled a dummy was also a great help.

It does get easier I promise! Like I said in the early days he just cried lots and I sat there feeling like a crap mum not knowing what to do!

 

[kumber]

It could also be that Aptamil just doesn't agree with your LO. My ds had horrendous colic on Aptamil, part of it was related to bm, oversupply and too much lactose, and the Aptamil just aided with that. We switched him onto Hipp on the advice of another mummy and it made a HUGE difference, he became a new baby overnight!

 

[candymycandy]

Thanks for all your advice ladies, maybe a switch could be a good idea then (although DH doesn't agree!). He actually seems to have settled down a bit the past couple of days so maybe just a (very long) phase? He still isn't sleeping really in the day, and if he does it's with a lot of coercion (patting, rocking etc). Maybe he could just be a tricky baby?! At a bit of a loss as to what to do as DH doesn't agree with anything i suggest. Mackmummy i found the symptoms of lactose intolerance if which Joel has quite a few but DH again does not agree so bit of a losing battle. I guess i should ride it out another few weeks and see what happens as he gets a bit older? X

 

[kumber]

I personally wouldn't hold out if your LO is getting upset a lot. Babies don't cry for no reason and you should go on your instinct as to what to do for the best.