Hunger Cue Confusion

angelinthepit23

LO is FF and I feed on demand. So tonight I gave him 3 oz. burped him and he was still acting hungry so I have him another ounce, burped him and he was still acting hungry so I have him another 1/2 ounce, burped him and he was still acting hungry so I did another 1/2 ounce and burped him. He was STILL throwing off hunger queues. I didn't want another spit up river so I have him a pacifier to see what would happen. He took it and immediately passed out asleep on my shoulder. I've been having a rough day and just feel like everything I'm doing is wrong. I've read you can't overfeed a baby and that babies don't feed for comfort (with the exception of reflux babies wanting cold formula to soothe them) so what the heck is going on?!!! Anyone else coming across this? He's 3 weeks, 1 day and I would assume he's pushing 8 lbs at this point.

itstheblackwidowbaby

A growth spurt maybe? I know over the course of the first month their stomachs get much bigger. I want to say I remember the diagram from my hospital saying they go from the size of a grape to an egg?

Ceridwen77

Sounds pretty normal to me. My LO is EBF so I don't really know how many ounces she takes in, but her habits have changed over time and even from feeding to feeding. Just give your LO what he/she wants because as you mentioned they won't be overfed.

Also cues not queues.

brownloveone

This. Mine is 2weeks four days and is hungry 24/7. I bf but it's so exhausting and painful cause his mouth is so small, that I started trying to ff once at night hoping he'll get full and sleep longer than an hour, but even when I give him formula, he's still so hungry and I've had to bf like 20 minutes later to stop all the crying and hand sucking. Now I'm fearing that his stomach is getting bigger because of the formula, which is why he's still hungry. The nurse at hospital told us that formula makes their stomachs stretch and get bigger than normal but breast milk goes through a lot faster and the stomach grows like it's supposed to.

angelinthepit23

I just hate giving him ounce after ounce only to know its going to end up with spit-up river. I would think he would stop when he's full. Last week he went from 2 oz to 3 oz and was sleeping like crazy so I thought that was his "2 week growth spurt." I guess I'll give him up to 4 oz and then try the pacifier and if that doesn't calm him I'll do another ounce and then pacifier again. Can't they just come with a full light?! Lol

@Ceridwen77 thanks for the catch! Can you tell I'm running low on sleep? I was texting DH about Netflix as I was typing this thread. Lordy, time for bed!

ColoradoHiker

DS is 4w, and he went through this last week. I EP and feed whenever he shows hunger cues as well, which is pretty much every time he wakes up from a nap. I did exactly what you did, gave him more, then tried the pacifier once it seemed to be way more than normal.

Was your baby crying at all? Mine has been having gas issues, and sometimes even when he was giving hunger cues after a lot of milk, it was really just a comfort thing, which is why I think the pacifier worked.

taykerslake

My LO nurses for comfort so I don't believe that babies don't do it. We had to start using a pacifier to soothe him and give my boobs a break.

angelinthepit23

@ColoradoHiker he did get fussy and cried before I started the 1/2 oz. because I did wait to see if he really wanted it. Then he started wimpering so I made it and that calmed him down immediately. He does get gassy, but hasn't had much trouble passing it. He doesn't do the typical bringing legs to chest when crying, or making fists so I didn't even think about gas. I also started giving him OTC gas drops earlier today to try to make burping him easier to reduce the spit-up river.

Also, he's been sleeping ever since that feed I mentioned above. He's been asleep for 6 hrs, which is a first. A little bit ago he was wiggling around and making some noise and smacking his lips but he never actually woke up. I ran to the bathroom because I figured he'd be up soon, by the time I got back DH got him to take a pacifier in his sleep and he settled down. Baby, why you no wake up to eat?!?

Hmmm, maybe he was eating for comfort for whatever reason then. I'll just have to start offering the pacifier and see what happens.

Ugh I feel like I'll never understand what this kid wants!

gipfish

Someone told me that babies have growth spurts at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. I don't know if that's true, but my LO was constantly hungry at 3 weeks, 1 day for a couple days. She is 6 weeks today. We'll see if it happens again.

cdepperschmidt

KellyMom says babies have growth spurts at about 10 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months.

angelinthepit23

Yeah I'll have to see how this plays out tomorrow. His ears must have been burning because 10 min later he was up for a diaper change and bottle. Took his normal 3 oz and passed back out. We will see how long before he wakes me up for his next bottle. Doubt I'll get another long stretch of sleep! That last one was pretty nice!

sadyy131

Maybe I think like this because my LO has reflux, but cant babies spit up regardless of the amount of formula/ milk they drink? Sometimes I've fed LO for 5 minutes and she spits up. I know how much it sucks when you feed for a long time and it seems like they spit everything back up, but I would say to keep feeding if they want it. There's a possibility they won't spit it back up. Also the possibility for a growth spurt. I totally get how you feel OP because my baby will breastfeed for hours sometimes and I feel like its more for comfort but I'll still feed her whenever she wants it.

eamarat

So there was a night last week where he ate 5oz in less than an hour. 2oz then in 1oz increments after that and he acted like he could have eaten more but I knew his little stomach couldn't realistically hold that much. I was talking to my mom about it the next morning and she said that if hes uncomfortable or his tummy is hurting he may mistake it for being hungry. We've been adding gas drops to a couple of larger feedings during the day and it's seemed to help.

smnewby

I ebf but weigh baby before and after feeds. When she went through growth spurts she would consume up to 5oz. I was shocked. She would sometimes throw off hunger cues an hour or so after those massive feeds. That was so confusing!

My pediatrician said it was because she developed a stomach ache and a little more milk would temporarily sooth her. I was advised not to give her the breast at that point because it could start a viscious cycle of further tummy aches. It works well for me. After such large feeds I respond to cues after 2hrs.

Edit to add she is 6 weeks but those feeds began around 4weeks.

violetigerlily

OP have you tried swaddling your little one before or right after feedings? Our pediatrician suggested we do this to separate hunger cues from reflexive rooting. Basically if the baby touches or hits his face with his hands, he will reflexively start rooting and it will look like he's hungry again. I exclusively breastfeed and he was nursing for hours at a time before we started swaddling him. It really helped us and might be helpful for you.

angelinthepit23

I do swaddle him but I unswaddle him when he eats as it's easier to burp him. I'll have try that if it starts again.

kdoak2015

We went through this yesterday and what a disaster. DD is 3 weeks so went through a growth spurt but I must have been mistaking hunger ques for something else because she puked all day. I would feed her, she'd seem satisfied then puke and want more. This went on for hours. DH came home and got her to calm down but I was a mess and felt like a POS parent. It's hard when people are visiting and tell you they think your baby is constantly hungry when you know she's not but don't want to feel like a bad parent. She had such an upset stomach it took all night to calm her and she's slept most of the day today with no fussiness.

angelinthepit23

@kdoak2015 yes! We went through that when he hit 2 weeks. It was a viscous cycle that lasted all day long. I finally just had to try and wait out a 3 hr period to make sure his tummy was settled. I felt horrible denying him a bottle but it had to be done.

mommiewee

It took me a while to figure out the difference between "I'm still hungry" and "Can I have my paci please" because he makes the same face (lips pursed, poking tongue out, etc), but the key for us was how he reacts if he doesn't get anything- if he's still hungry he'll start to fuss & then cry, but if he wants his paci he doesn't get upset like that. Also, he will suckle at breast if he wants his paci, but if he's hungry & I give him his paci he spits it out and makes a face like "Seriously? That's Not what I want! Yuck!"
Also, he started a growth spurt at the end of 2 weeks old and went from eating every 2-3 hours to every hour during the day, and then he started cluster feeding, and then he had another growth spurt..Then at 4 weeks he developed reflux and would eat, spit up, cry, eat, cry, spit up, eat, all day until the reflux was diagnosed- I didn't take him to the pediatrician at first because he'd been growing & cluster feeding and I didn't realize at first that something was wrong because it seemed so similar to how he'd been eating.