Another baby feeding/sleeping schedule question (3 months) pls read?

Question

ok my baby will be 3 months in a week and i feel like he is soo hungry all the time. we wake up between 7 and 8, he'll eat 4-5 ounces go back to sleep around 9, wakes up again around 12 and eats every 2 hours, 4-5 ounces. on my days off i'll bathe/feed him around 10:30 and put him to bed and when i have to work i'll feed him when i get home around 11 or 11:30 and put him to bed either way he'll sleep for 3 hours at first and be up every 2 hours eating until morning.....the only way he will sleep longer than 3 hours is if i feed him some rice cereal with formula mixed in before his bottles during the day...should i start feeding him his cereal at night also and what else can i do to help him sleep longer and be fuller so he wont wake up to eat so often because after he eats he goes right back to sleep at night he just wakes up hungry.

Answer 1

Why not just increase his amount of formula? Putting cereal in the bottle is never a good idea. I know you might get an extra hour of sleep, but it's better for you baby not to put cereal in there.  

Answer 2

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&a...

I’m much more concerned about a subtler issue. Babies are born with a wonderful mechanism for knowing how much food they need. During the early months, they take their cues from the volume of what they drink. Adding cereal derails this mechanism. It forces them to take in deceptively large amounts of calories. It teaches them to overeat.

By starting with a spoon, resting between bites, and stopping when your child lets you know he’s full, you will be laying an excellent foundation for good eating habits throughout his life.

A major study looking for the causes of obesity found that short-circuiting young children’s self-regulation of how much they eat is a major cause of later obesity.1 Cereal in the bottle does just that.

Babies that are fed this way may appear to be unaffected – but those few weeks of added convenience may result in a lifetime of struggles with weight. This common practice may have contributed to our being the most obese generation in history.

http://www.babycareadvice.com/babycare/g...

For many babies the urge to suck is strong during these early months and your baby's need to suck may extend beyond his need for nourishment. For a bottle fed baby there is an increased risk of overfeeding if his sucking urge is misinterpreted as a sign of hunger

http://www.babycareadvice.com/babycare/g...

Overfeeding is a common problem for bottle fed babies because many young babies cannot control the flow of milk though an artificial nipple and/or cannot indicate when they have had enough. A baby's digestive system can become overloaded when it receives excessive amounts of milk from large volume feeds or frequent feeding patterns. The larger the volume of milk, the quicker it passes through the digestive tract. Large volumes of milk may pass through a baby's small intestine too quickly for all of the lactose to be digested.

http://ncane.com/vo5

It is easy for a new parent to say that they won’t break these feeding rules; however, the reality is that the temptation to quickly quiet a crying baby in the middle of the night so that the parents can garner more sleep can overcome even the most diligent of parents. Even with the determination to never do it again, parents may turn to that late night bottle more and more simply because it works and allows the parent to go back to bed quicker. During the day when the parent may be too busy to take time out to calm the infant, the parent may give the infant a bottle, figuring that the child is hungry. To some, food is the quickest and easiest solution to quiet tears and screams.

While the effects may not show right away, they can have an effect on the infant later on in life. Children who are overfed as infants have a greater chance of becoming obese as teenagers and adults. With the rising rate of obesity in children on the rise, it is best to try and curb this possibility when the child is very young. By prolonging the introduction of solids or any foods beyond formula until about six months, the parents have the best chance at keeping their child off the obese path at a young age. After the child is eating solids, it is best to keep away sugary foods. Young children do not need these empty calories as a part of their daily nutritional intake. Obesity, however, is the main concern for the future of the infant. Overfeeding can cause the infant to rely on food more constantly than the average child, thus increasing his or her food intake. If unnecessary, sugary foods are added to an infant’s diet, this too can add to the obesity factor.

http://www.drspock.com/faq/0,1511,3764,0...

ANSWER

August 3, 2001

Dear Dad,

Yes, it is possible to overfeed a four-week-old infant since it's easy to misinterpret a baby's hunger and satiety (fullness) signals. When full, babies will stop sucking, turn their heads or push the nipple out of their mouths as a signal. Babies who are overfed often are uncomfortable and irritable. More importantly, they sometimes loose the ability to recognize when they are hungry. Parents will want to start out from the beginning to allow their baby to signal hunger and have it responded to appropriately.

http://www.lpch.org/HealthLibrary/Parent...

# The maximal amount of formula recommended per day is 32 ounces (1 liter).

# Overfeeding can cause vomiting, diarrhea or excessive weight gain.

[...]

# The average amount of formula (in ounces) that babies take per feeding usually equals the baby's weight (in pounds) divided in half (or equal to the weight in kg).

# The average ounces of formula the baby takes in 24 hours is the baby's weight in pounds multiplied by 2 (or kg multiplied by 4).

# A baby's appetite varies throughout the day. If the infant stops feeding or loses interest, the feeding should be stopped.

http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/he...

Both Drs. Rome and Rogers say nature and nurture are driving the childhood obesity epidemic. If parents are obese, the chances of their children becoming obese are about 90 percent, says Dr. Rogers. Not only is the genetic potential greater, children are more likely to be raised in an environment that contributes to obesity. For instance, overfeeding is a problem. The practice often begins in infancy when parents (and grandparents), out of love or ignorance, overfeed with formula, fruit juice and baby food.

Dr. Rome believes that even if parents are obese, they can help prevent their kids from becoming similarly endowed if intervention begins early. For instance with newborns and babies, parents should learn through trial and error to discern between cries that signal hunger versus those that signal discomfort (e.g., from wet diapers).

Parents should consult with a pediatrician to make sure infants receive proper portions of formula and at appropriate intervals, because unlike with breastfeeding, babies do not self regulate intake of formula. Once they are off breast milk or formula, children should drink whole milk until age 2; after that, they can switch to 2 percent milk. Fruit juice, which is notorious for high caloric counts, should be restricted to four ounces a day in a baby and less than 12 ounces from toddlerhood through age 5.

Answer 3

at age 3 months, it's still fairly typical that a baby doesn't sleep for longer than maybe 4 or 5 hours then wants to eat immediately. it's not for another month (if you're lucky) that a baby will start sleeping through the night. besides, it's true that every baby is different. my oldest was an amazing sleeper and would just pig out before bedtime and be done til morning. my youngest would be up every few hours, play, eat, then go back to sleep.

also bear in mind that in about a month or so, babies who are used to you running to their side and feeding them every few hours, will continue doing that unless you wean them off of those 2 am feedings.

all in all, you really ought to consult your baby's doctor. they would be able to give you the right information for your baby better than any of us here would.

Answer 4

I am going through the same thing with my son.  He is 3 1/2 months old and wants to eat constantly.  My doctor told me that I could give him rice cereal twice a day.  Once in the morning and once before bed.  After he eats his cereal I will offer him a bottle, and sometimes he eats it and other times he wont.  During the day he usually has a couple 4-6 oz bottles.  This seems to be working, an he has even slept through the night 2 or 3 times in the last 2 weeks.  Good luck with your baby.

p.s.-do what you think is right for your baby.  i know you wouldn't do something to hurt it.  if you have any other questions just give the babies dr. a call and see what they say.

Answer 5

we had to add cereal to our sons to fill him up bc he ate all the time, the only thing you can do is try, the cereal does nothing except what you want it to, fill up his tummy, as long as you dont cut the form intake down, its fine to use, nothing bad happens my sons a yr old now eating like a horse, and has been in the 75 percent tile since he was born, we also started our son on baby food stage 1 at three months. it helped in the day time and he loved it.

Answer 6

It is very normal for newborns - up to 6 months (and sometimes longer) to wake up every 2-3 hours for a feeding. Their tummies are tiny, and can't handle more than 4-5 oz. at a time. and as soon as that's all digested (depending on their metabolism rate) anywhere between 2-4 hours after the last feeding (or sometimes, if your lucky, every hour on the hour esp. if you're nursing). feeding your baby extra food (such as adding cereal to his formula) so that he won't wake up hungry in the middle of the night is not really beneficial to your child's metabolism in the long run. Babies are supposed to wake up just to eat and go straight back to sleep. Don't overload his tiny tummy, because that plan may backfire.  

Answer 7

My little girl also will be three months in a week and she sleeps for 10-12 hours everynight. I give her a bath around 7-8 feed her cereal in her bottle (which my doctor said to do) then she is alseep around 9. And she wakes up around 6-8 to eat and sleeps till 9-10. I know that people these days are saying not to feed your baby cereal in there bottle but our parents did it and and so did theres and we are all fine. Being over weight has nothing to do with being a baby its what your parents feed you when you are older and when your child grows up. Feed the baby cereal if that gets your more sleep. You work and need all the sleep you can get. Also I would let me little girl lay there when she woke up at night untill she cried alot and now if she wakes up and goes right back to sleep. I know that all babies are different and so are all parents so do what is best for your child and dont feel bad about it.