5 Week Old Wanting to Eat Every Two Hours

She's probably going through the 5 week old growth spurt. Both my boys would suddenly want feeding every 1-2 hours during each growth spurt until about 6 months! As far as formula goes, Enfamil is really hard on the baby's tummy after breast milk. Similac Advance is supposed to be not so hard on them. I used Enfamil Nutramigen which is expensive (Babies R US actually has the best price-that was a year ago though so check around), but I only used it for a couple of months. It's pre digested, so it is easier on the tummy. I have heard that Carnation Good Start is also easy on the tummy. By the time my boys were 3 months, I had them back on Enfamil.

If the gas turns out to be colic and not the formula, Hylands does a great colic tablet. It worked better than anything the Ped prescribed. It's all natural. I took the bottle to the Ped. for him to check the ingredients and he said it was fine. You can find it at Whole Foods and Sprouts. Walmart carries their teething tablets (which are also great-no tylenol needed!!) but I have not seen the colic tablets anywhere else.

Good luck
N.

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Like the other responces I am sure that this is only a growth spurt. Formula will noramlly keep a child fuller than breast milk, so I would image it is a spurt. My daughter had 1 tsp per ounce of cereal added to her bottle since she was 2 weeks old for acid reflux, so I am sure that she would be fine. I would wait on that for now though. Just hang in there for now, I am sure that the feeding will return back to normal.

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Try the Dr. Brown bottles. They worked great with my formula fed first child. He almost never had gas. Good Luck

I have a 3 year old and a 5 month old, so we have gone through this recently, and more than once. I breastfed my first till she was a year and never used formula. However, with my second, we do use formula, though I still breastfeed a couple times a day.

Its completely normal for your baby to want to eat every 2 hours! Your baby is still a newborn, and the most important thing is for her to know that her Mommy is there. My pediatrician always told me that schedules will come later, an to feed on demand while they are so little. In my experience, babies will settle into more of a schedule at about 3 months.

As far as gas/ fussiness goes...when a baby is used to breastmilk and has to go through a switch at such a young age, their tummies will react. Also, keep in mind that at 5-6 weeks, babies that go through Colic will start having tummy problems. That, in combination with the switch might be a little much for her. If it were me, I'd pump and stay on breastmilk till the end of the Colic stage (3 months). But, Gentlease by Enfamil is probably the best formula if you choose to stay on that.

Good luck!!!!

Sounds like a growth spurt. If gas is a problem, I'd try the Good Start formula. The proteins are hydrolyzed so they're easier to digest.

As far as the amount she's eating, try burping her after every ounce or so to make sure a gas bubble isn't causing her to quit eating. Otherwise, just let it be and she'll work her way back into a routine. In my experience, force feeding an extra ounce only meant that I'd be wearing it a few minutes later.

Of course, at her age, just when she seems to be in a good routine, it will change :-). Once she's 12 weeks you'll see a lot more consistency. Hang in there!

Sorry to be a bummer, but I think she is too young to expect four hours from her. Her tummy is still too tiny. To get back to three hours, you might just wait five extra minutes each time she requests to eat and distract her as best you can. Also, when you feed her make sure to burp her and give her another chance or two at the bottle. Don't force...just offer. Oh, and also, make sure to give her plenty of snuggles between feedings. She may be missing the physical closeness from the nursing, if you were nursing previously. May the force be with you.

I had the same experience with my DD (who is now almost 9 months). When I swtiched her completely to formula (at about 2 1/2 months). She wanted to eat more frequently. 2 to 2 1/2 hours and not taking as much. At my doctors approval, I started adding a tbsp of rice cereal to her bottles (at least half of them each day). That seemed to fill her up and the new flavors got her interested. The rice cereal should also help keep her full, longer. Good luck. Feel free to PM if you need to.

I wouldn't add cereal just yet. Introducing solid foods before 6 months of age greatly increases the chances of allergies. If the formula is giving her gas and not filling her up, you could try a different formula. It is also possible she is going through a growth spurt. Those tend to happen at 4-6 weeks.

My dd would eat a lot more than usual when she hits a growth spurt, so it may just be coinceidence that she eating more now that she's off the breast. Also if you'r baby is really gassy, you might want to try soy formula, my dd was like that and our ped gave us samples to try, so at her next visit mention this and he'll probably has come sample(the smaller containers). Good Luck!

Hi C.!

I have a six week old baby boy - and he was on formula from day one. With my first we used Similac Advance with Iron - after a few months because he was breastfed at first, but this one had a hard time digesting it (LOTS of tummy noises, gas constantly, and he just seemed to be uncomfortable all the time) so we switched to Enfamil Gentlease and it has helped tremendously. I think it just depends on the baby as to what formula is best - I tried Gentlease because it is not completely lactose-free, is still iron-fortified, and wasn't nearly as expensive as the Nutramogin (which my pediatrician's office recommended). I'm planning on using it until he is three months old and then trying a regular iron fortified formula to see if he'll be able to handle it better. Our doctor said the babies' tummies are more able to digest after three months and they may tolerate regular formula better. But, with formula being so new for your baby, it may just take a little while for her to get into a routine more like the one she was doing while on breastmilk.

Good luck and let us know how it works out! If you'd like, I'd love for you to PM me to let me know how things are going. I would love to have another mom who has a baby around the same age to compare notes and chat with!

C.