really hungry every 2 hours?

[Stacie:Emma&Josh Mom]

This is gonna sound like a dumb question, but how can you tell if they're truly hungry?  Ds is feeding every 2 hours most of the morning and evening with only 1 or 2 three hour stretches.  At night he'll go 3 and sometimes 4 hours.  Is he really hungry every 2 hours or am I just feeding him to stop the crying?  First I thought it was gas, but often after eating he's calmer and hasn't passed gas, so then I was thinking he's really hungry.  Of course he's not napping great so he eats, is awake for awhile, sleeps for a short while and then wakes wanting to eat again.  I want to feed him if he's hungry, but don't want to get in the 2 hour habit if he's not hungry.  He does take a pacifier from time to time, but usually at that 2 hour mark, that's not what he wants.  Mylicon helps him sometimes, but again not really at the 2 hour mark.  My thought is that if he'd sleep longer, he'd space out the feeds more, but I can't get him to sleep longer either.  I read in Tracy's book that infants normally sleep 1 out of 3 hours and if he feeds for 30-45 minutes, then he'd be eating every 2 hours, yes?  Thoughts???

[deenz]

At that age I would think he definitely could be hungry every 2 hours.  Especially with what you're saying about not wanting to take the paci etc.  I know it's not easy for you though! 

I don't know for sure how you know they're hungry though - I think at that age they will root around even when tired (not hungry).  It's great for your milk supply for him to be feeding this regularly!  Do you feel like he takes a full feed each time?

If you try to get him back into bed a little earlier, does he sleep longer?  (like 45min after being up).  I know this is hard also with the feed times and having a toddler to tend to.

[momtoelise]

I remember wondering the same thing!!! I swear their hungry & tired cries sound the same!  I used to try the paci & anything else I could think of to soothe first if it had only been 2 hours.  If nothing worked, I'd feed - then see if she took a full feeding - if she did, I figured she must have been hungry!

It's hard when they don't sleep as long as they should, isn't it?  Really throws everything off, huh?! 

Hang in there - it sounds like you're doing a great job at trying to do the best for him! 

[daisymelan]

I know my son fed every two hours during the day for the first couple months.  Sounds exactly like your story, especially the bit about nghts going 3 or 4 hours.  The only difference is my lo wouldn't even think of taking a paci.  Sounds like your lo knows what they want and you are giving them it! 

Good luck.

Oh ya, ds stopped that around 10 weeks or so....  then he moved to a 3 hour EASY all on his own.

[Katet]

Both my boys had growth spurts around the 3 week mark, so my bet is it could be that.

[JacobMarksMummy]

Hi Stacie,

Just to agree with what everyone else has said and to add that my DS fed evey two hours until he was about 3.5 months. Desperatly as I tried to make him go longer nothing worked!  He gradually moved to three hour and then eventually four hour easy by hisself.

Keep up all the good work!

[anna and adam]

In my experience this is when you need to keep an eye on weight gain to make sure he is getting hindmilk, regardless of time spent feeding. Otherwise it is that counter-intuitive thing where trying to increase the time between feeds will result in a baby getting more calories and sleeping better, day and night. Is he falling asleep while feeding? For us the dramatic change in sleep followed when the very long (45 min or longer) semi-conscious feeds ended, but I know just how difficult it is to find that perfect balance!

[Stacie:Emma&Josh Mom]

Thanks ladies!  Yes, often he falls asleep feeding, but I'm trying to stay conscious of when he stops feeding and keeping him awake longer so I keep hearing him swallowing.  He was just doing 3 hour intervals the first 2 weeks so I thought maybe we had gone backwards, but maybe he just woke up a bit more and is hungry every 2 hours now that he's awake.  It's reassuring to know that this too will pass.  I just didn't want to feed him if he wasn't truly hungry though my gut said he was hungry (as nothing else was working).  I think he's getting an entire feed as he does sleep longer stretches at night and seems to swallow quite a bit when he's not sleeping.     Last night he actually did a 6 hour stretch which he hasn't done since week 2 when I didn't set my alarm so that's encouraging.  Though it then took an hour after he finished feeding to get him back down.  I think we're battling some tummy issues as well...here's to hoping he outgrows that soon.  Thanks again!

[anna and adam]

If you are getting 6 hour streches you are doing the right thing! And of course things will change for the better, soon.