BIG eaters (babies)

[jl770567]

and i dont mean omg, my kid jus ate 7oz in a growth spurt.
anyone else have this problem? my son (who is now on formula due to his eating habits:() was prescibed to be on rice cereal at 3 weeks old. he is now 7 weeks old and eats 50+oz of formula + 3x2tbls (dry) feedings of wheat & rice cereal. is there anything else finacially i can do to cut down on what he is eating? i cant put him on 'real' food yet because it is too hard to digest, but what he is eating is not satifying him:( he is up every 1-2 hours for 6-8oz of formula, and even after his cereal he still eats the same amount. he is not gaining a significant amount of weight for what he is eating either, he is actually in the normal curve. i don't know what else i can do! neone with ne advice, please share!!
$ are gettin short, i need HELP!!!!

[Edamommy]

:sweat:

[hazardbliss]

I don't have any advise concerning the eating, but if you're having trouble financially you can always look into applying for WIC (women, infants, and children). If you're eligible they'll give you vouchers for free formula, cereal, and other good stuff.

Here's a link:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/

[frenchie]

I will echo what hazardbliss posted. If you need assistance, try WIC. Growing baby's will eat what they require. My son nursed every 30-60 minutes for the first 5 weeks, and then he leveled out to every 2 hours at about 6 weeks. He was a chunky monkey! Once he started walking he slimmed down real fast. Baby's go through spurts. I'm sure soon your baby's appetite will level out.

[jl770567]

don't qualify for WIC:(---I live in Canada. i know that his appitite will slow down eventually, but hes been eating a lot since he was born. im down to selling off some of my baby supplies--nothing i absolutly need mind you, just everything else. sold the bassinette and have someone coming over within the next week to see one of the (5) spare strollers (i use them all for different things, i walk everywhere so i have a stroller for anything i could need while away from home). i just hate getting rid of so many useful things just because my full-time job and my brothers full time job cant support his appitite. does anyone know if there is a Canadian version of WIC?

[Edamommy]

don't qualify for WIC:(---I live in Canada. i know that his appitite will slow down eventually, but hes been eating a lot since he was born. im down to selling off some of my baby supplies--nothing i absolutly need mind you, just everything else. sold the bassinette and have someone coming over within the next week to see one of the (5) spare strollers (i use them all for different things, i walk everywhere so i have a stroller for anything i could need while away from home). i just hate getting rid of so many useful things just because my full-time job and my brothers full time job cant support his appitite. does anyone know if there is a Canadian version of WIC?

**I just cannot stop myself......

breastfeeding is free! :)

[jl770567]

as i said in my first post though, breastfeeding is not a possibility:( i would def like to, but there is no way to keep up with his demands, there hasnt been any way to since he was born:(

[Edamommy]

as i said in my first post though, breastfeeding is not a possibility:( i would def like to, but there is no way to keep up with his demands, there hasnt been any way to since he was born:(

**I'm sorry you didn't have a better nursing support system around you. It is nat'l for a mother's body to keep up w/ her babies feeding needs... regardless of how much your baby needs- your body WILL keep up unless there's something physically wrong with you. A perfect example is a friend of mine had a 7lb baby. That little boy grew 1 1/2 lbs per week (pretty much) until he was 36lbs at 1 year---- he was ONLY breastfed until he was 9months old. Just so you know, a LLL sponser or the likes could have counseled you thru your own proper nutrition to keep up with your sons demands. Do you know that formula and starting cereal early has been linked to obesity in later life? :angel:
Also, if you think it's $$ now, wait until he's eating real food!!!!

[smedley]

**I just cannot stop myself......

breastfeeding is free! :)
it ended up costing me more.

i wouldnt trust a doc that is saying to supplement with cereal that early. perhaps your baby just needs extra sucking? i am not an expert but i would look into someone elses opinion regarding his intake, weight gain, etc.

[Lisa]

i wouldnt trust a doc that is saying to supplement with cereal that early.

I agree with this. Rice and especially wheat cereal (wheat is a potential allergen) really shouldn't be given to babies under 6 months. Doctors don't necessarily know everything about infant feeding. At my son's 3 month well baby checkup the doctor actually "boo"ed me when I told him we were nursing every two hours (instead of every four with water supplements as the doctor suggested).

If your babe is hungry, he needs more formula (sorry!), not solid food.

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

I worked for WIC for 2 years - finally couldn't handle what I felt amounted to government support of the Big Bucks Formula companies encouraging Mom's to suppliment unnaturally.

THERE: That said, I have to agree with the last few posters - Doctors do NOT know everything about infant nutrition. Wheat is actually dangerous in very young infants because it can trigger allergies and can cause anyphalactic shock even after using it for a while...

I am very suprised any Pediatrician would reccommend that. Pediatricians want to make Mommys happy so they often offer "quick-fix" techniques that are worse in the long run.

There is truely less than one Mom in a thousand who can't 'keep up' with a baby's demands - even if it seems like you're nursing 'round the clock. (Been there, did that - each of my kids had two or three day long "non-stop-nursing" jags during growth spurts.) I imagine this is the same with your child, a growth spurt sort of thing.

Do you "know" for sure it's hunger? Babies suck for many reasons besides hunger - comfort, to put themselves to sleep, to calm themselves, to avoid overstimulation. Have you tried other techniques to calm him when he acts hungry? 7 Weeks isn't really old enough to have established a routine yet, so he may not be hungry but just be trying to figure out ways to get to sleep, self-calm, relax or whatever.

Hang in there, it'll get better.

[colorful]

My brother-in-law's babies were both like that. They would drink huge quantities of formula, and they finally begged their doctor to let them start rice cereal at 2 months old, for both of them! However, unlike your baby, both of their boys ended up being quite chunky. Their first was 22 lbs by 6 months old! Their second is only 3 months old and already weighs 17 lbs! It makes me wonder whether they might have been over-feeding them.

Have you tried binkies? Or encouraging thumb sucking? I know when I was breastfeeding my son he went through a stage where he would nurse for an hour at a time, every two hours. I felt like he was constantly nursing. If I had been formula-feeding he would have drank so much, but I think what he really needed was the sucking and the extra cuddles.

I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about other ways to soothe your baby other than with food. And even get a second opinion. It sounds iffy to me that your doc is recommending cereal at such a young age. I've heard of it in cases of acid reflux, but never just for a hungry baby.

Good luck! I know we all just want what's best for our babies, and it's hard to know what the right thing to do is sometimes!

[colorful]

I worked for WIC for 2 years - finally couldn't handle what I felt amounted to government support of the Big Bucks Formula companies encouraging Mom's to suppliment unnaturally.

Just want to mention that when I was on WIC, they were very supportive of my breastfeeding. They had all kinds of pro-breastfeeding posters on their walls, and gave me lots of pro-breastfeeding literature. Maybe some WIC offices are just more conscientious than others.

[Coney]

What about oats or oat bran cereal? You can buy that stuff in bulk, pretty cheap. I can get oats at 99¢ a pound, and oat bran is about the same. Just cook the oats and then put them in a blender.

What about a bulk warehouse sort of place? Like Costco, or Sam's Club? They have cases of formula stuff there. Might save you some $$.

I agree with Tofu-n-sprouts, maybe try to give him a pacifyer or some other distraction to keep the feeding a little more spread out. You could add a bit of purified water to the formula to cut down on his intake a little. Maybe he's used to his stomach being really full, so perhaps one day you could give him a bit less to shrink his stomach some so he can't pack that much in there.

I may be all wrong, babies will eat what they can/want until they feel satisfied, I'm sure. But those are my suggestions.

[hazardbliss]

I agree Colorful.

When I was on WIC they were very passionate about breastfeeding, and were really pleased when I told them that I planned on toddler led weaning. After I gave birth a WIC counselor even came to my home to help me when I had kind of a rocky start with nursing.

They also gave me TONS of "breast is best" type literature, had pro breastfeeding posters everywhere, and were very vocal about how healthy it is to breastfeed. So much so in fact, that for a long time I (wrongly) considered formula to be some kind of scary poison that I could never feed to my child.

[jl770567]

My brother-in-law's babies were both like that. They would drink huge quantities of formula, and they finally begged their doctor to let them start rice cereal at 2 months old, for both of them! However, unlike your baby, both of their boys ended up being quite chunky. Their first was 22 lbs by 6 months old! Their second is only 3 months old and already weighs 17 lbs! It makes me wonder whether they might have been over-feeding them.

Have you tried binkies? Or encouraging thumb sucking? I know when I was breastfeeding my son he went through a stage where he would nurse for an hour at a time, every two hours. I felt like he was constantly nursing. If I had been formula-feeding he would have drank so much, but I think what he really needed was the sucking and the extra cuddles.

I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about other ways to soothe your baby other than with food. And even get a second opinion. It sounds iffy to me that your doc is recommending cereal at such a young age. I've heard of it in cases of acid reflux, but never just for a hungry baby.

Good luck! I know we all just want what's best for our babies, and it's hard to know what the right thing to do is sometimes!

well, we've tried soothers and that works every once in a while, not often though. we've also tried cuddle time, which really seems to piss him off. as for the cereal, in his case the doctor said that he probably wouldnt have recommended it for just the acid reflux (which he and his brother both have, doc wouldve used meds instead), but where he is such a large eater he said that that was our best bet all around.

btw, by we i mean my support system and myself, no SO here, so finacially, im doing this alone (the hours at work are killing me:()

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

I agree about some WIC offices being more supportive than others - ours certainly had the posters up too, but when Mom's came in frustrated with nursing "not working" or whatever, most (not all) of the Nutrition Counselors immediately suggested "supplimenting with just a little formula" which we all know eventually sabatoges the nursing relationship between Mom and Baby.

Our office got tons of "freebie" promotional items from the formula reps that hounded us constantly... I still feel they were very unethical about it all..

I do know some offices ARE better though ...