Did you say 2 WEEKS old? It’s okay for him to eat every 2 hours for a while now. Feed him whenever he is hungry, even if you are exhausted. He will stretch out the time between feedings in a few months. And don’t start him on cereal! Not until he is at least 4 months (more and more doctors are starting to recommend just waiting until 6 months). If your doctor/nurse is recommending starting cereal now, or not feeding your baby when he is hungry, I would start looking for a new doctor.
Congratulations! You clearly know what’s best for your baby. This nurse should be fired. Please be sure to mention her “advice” to your doctor. She is wrong! Hang in there, feed your baby and enjoy your family!
At two weeks old let him eat when he wants! I am not sure if you are nursing or bottle feeding? If you are nursing definately feed him, it’s all about supply and demand, the baby is ensuring an adequate supply! At this age I beleive they double their birth weight in the first six weeks or so so they need to eat alot! Three hours is a lifetime for a two week old! That mean nurse! When my kids were this age sometimes they would eat every 60 minutes!
I think that the nurse who told you to let him scream is a sadistic witch! You are right not to do that. I would say to continue to feed him when he is hungry, I always nursed my babies whenever they were hungry without even looking at the clock because the clock has no idea if your baby is hungry! And my babies did not grow up to be spoiled or fat, in fact my younger daughter who is now 3 1/2 is a bit underweight. But as far as cereal, I would hold off. The latest medical advice is to wait until your baby is 6 months old before starting solid food of any kind, it used to be 4-6 months but now researchers are saying to wait the whole 6 months. It is just a myth that feeding your baby cereal will help them sleep through the night, studies have shown that it does not work. Good luck with your new baby!
I just read you update and I wanted to add that maybe the reason he is not gaining weight is that he is not adsorbing nutrients properly. If the weight loss continues or he does nto gain weight well you may want to take him to a specialist. Or maybe he needs a different formula, I hear that the kind that is pre-digested is the best. I hope that your little guy starts to gain weight!
I thought all newborns nursed every 1-2 hours…amybe that was just my kids. Seriously though, I was always told that newborns were to eat 8-12 times a day. Sounds like your little guy is within the ranges of normal appetite to me.
That sounds normal to me. Both of my kids were big eaters and ate every two hours for the first three month! Then they finally stretch to 3-4. My 8 month old still likes to eat every 3 hours though. I feed them when they are hungry. And sometimes… at night, when they are gearing up, they eat one time and then eat only an hour later, again. My kids aren’t huge either. One is actually pretty skinny. So that’s my style. Feed them when they are hungry. Sounds like you are doing great!
I wouldn’t let him scream. I say, if he is hungry, go ahead and feed him. Eventually, things will even out and he won’t have to eat so much.
Good luck!
My daughter is now 6 weeks old and when she was first born she ate all the time, almost evry hour it seemes especially in the evenings, like your son. I think a lot of it was biulding up my milk supply. I felt like a cow. I just nursed and nursed. NOw that she is a bit older she still eats every two to two and a half hours about./ Sometimes she goes three or four hours, but only if she is napping. A book that I read, that my sister in law swears by, called “On becoming Babywise” says that infants are supposed to eat every two and a half to three hours. THey suggest that you get your child on a schedule of every 21/2 to 3 hours even if it means waking them up from a nap. But they say to be flexible becasue chidren go through growth spurts. they say to first assess why your child is crying. Sometimes moms just automatically offer the breast when that is not the real problem. They suggest if your child is crying and its not their time to eat try some other things but if they really are hungry then feed them. So I don’t believe you should just let him scream until three hours is up. It’s not healthy for him and its not healthy for you to have to go through that. I found that my daughter is such a big gulper that she takes in so much air. If I make sure that during our feeding sesions I take time to burp her and then maybe feed her a little more, she lasts longer becasue her tummy actually gets full of food and not just air. Sometimes this takes a while becasue it can take her up to 20 minutes to get all her air bubbles out. But that seems to help her. As she is getting older she is getting faster at burping. Also we realized that becasue of her gas and air bubbles she wanted to suck more often becasue she just knows, tummy hurts, that means eat. So we started giving her a pacifier when she cried sometimes if its not her time to eat yet. If she is really not hungry she takes the pacifier. If she really is hungry she lets us know in about ten minutes or less, and then I feed her. Also my daughter has some acid reflux so sometimes she wants to suck becasue it hurts and if she goes too long without eating it can make it worse. I am still working on getting her on a consistent schedule, but she is happy and thriving. I don’t know how long you nurse tour son for at one time, but maybe if he’s not nursing long enough on one side than he is not getting the hind milk. Don’t worry about nursing equally on both sides. Nurse on one side until its empty then offer the other. If he doesn’t empty that one just start on that side the next time. I would say don’t just let him scream for excessive amounts of time, obviously some crying is necessary, and don’t just automatically do cereal. if if he’s growing and having lots of bowel movements and wet diapers than he is probably getting enough food. Only supplement if you can’t stand the nursing schedule, but i would wait it out and see if it changes and try talking to a lactation consultant first before doing rice cereal. If you do supplement, I would suggest getting one of those tubing systems where you put it by your breast while he’s nursing so you don’t lose any milk production. sorry this may not be the most coherent advice (I’m in a hurry - gotta go nurse), But I hope it helps. good luck.
I just agree with the others. Your baby is only 2 weeks old. He is hungry and growth spurts happen. I would listen to your gut as well. You can still put your baby on a schedule if you want just listen to his clues. Is he burping well? I thought some other comments about wanting to suck could be possible but at 2 weeks old they are still developing a lot. My sons where both premature and these babies are growing non stop and expand energy and need to be nurtured. You are doing what you feel is right and that is all that of us moms can do. Take care,Meta
I am a firm believer that babies eat when they are hungry whether it is every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs, or 2 hours, or 4 hours apart. If your baby is not spitting anything up, and is still hungry every hour to two hours, I would definitely feed him!
at 2 weeks old, “let him scream” is bad advice. I would demand feed him until he’s AT LEAST a month old, then try to stretch him and get him more scheduled. He might just be an every 2 hours baby. I tried everything I could to get my daughter from a 2 hour to a 3 hours schedule when she was brand new and NOTHING worked. She was just a 2 hour schedule kind of baby until she was about 8 weeks old. So we let her be a 2 hours baby. Go with the flow… you’ve done this before so do what feels right to you. Mom knows best. =)
Is your baby average size? I’m guessing they aren’t encouraging you to feed him every hour or two because they don’t want him to gain too much weight. Also, some studies have come out in the past year saying that giving kids cereal too early may cause food allergies. I think it would be really hard to let my baby scream knowing he was hungry. Why don’t you see if you can get in to see the doctor, rather than talking to the nurse. Maybe he or she could do a better job explaining why to feed him a certain way or time. Maybe the doc would want you to try giving him water at the between feedings. I’m not an expert, but just wanted to put a couple ideas out there. Good luck!
Brenda,
I would try 4 oz. of water to see if that will work.. It won’t hurt!
Suzanne
Babies eat more during growth spurts. All of my babies had a growth spurt at 2 weeks.
DO NOT give plain water to your baby without a doctor’s consent. It messes up their electrolytes.
Just feed him more. His schedule will calm down soon.
The nurse you have is promoting a fairly common theory with feeding young babies. Most parents and doctors don’t agree it is a good technique and adhere to the feed on demand approach. You should feed your baby when he is hungry and give him as much as he wants. Babies are not all the same. Some need to be fed more often and greater quantities than others. There is no reason to make your baby scream in hunger for an hour just because the nurse said so. If the schedule you have now is keeping you and your baby happy then stick to it.
I have never heard of a doctor putting babies on cereal at two weeks, that is completely against the current recommendation of 4-6 months. Unless there is some major medical reason for putting him on cereal right now don’t do it. He will get better nutrition from formula or breast milk at this age.
Hi Brenda!
Sometimes I really hate doctors & nurses! My daughter was a breastfeed baby (only) and she would nurse every 2-3 hours. I never put her on a schedule like some docors suggest or other moms suggested. My daughter fed on damand, yes there were times when it was difficult for me, but her feeding on demand worked really well for us. My daughter tended to eat more during growth spurts which happended around 2-4 weeks 2 months 4 months and now at 7 months she is eating solids and nursing less, but still loves to eat. I didn’t start her on ceral until she was 4 months old. I hope this helps.
Congrates on your new little one. I’m not an expert, but I really like the book 12 hours of sleep by 12 weeks. It has other tips like eating in the book as well. The books advice is to push them 15 minutes at a time. Feed him when he is hungry, then next feeding help him wait 15 minutes by using pacifiers, playtime, holding him, or whatever it takes. My daughter ate ever 2 1/2 hours until she was 8 weeks old (doctor’s orders) but as soon as he gave me the go-ahead she was eating every 3 1/2 hours within a few days. good luck with everything!!
This is only MY personal opinion but when a child of that age is hungry you feed them. My second baby ate every hour or so when he was that age and i switched to formula at 6 weeks due to medical reasons and it filled him up longer he started eating every 2-4 hours. He is a healthy baby and i dont regret stopping. Speak to HIS doctor personally and find out what is best for you and your baby. Again MY personal opinion but a 2 week old baby should not “cry it out” if he is hungry feed him. Good luck let me know how things go.
That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard before in my life…EVER! If your son is eating, then he is hungry and needs the nutrition. You will find that there are days when it seems like all he does is eat. And keep in mind that he is 2 weeks old. I would seriously consider getting another dr. and/or nurse. Rice cereal at 2 weeks is WAY to early…he can’t digest it yet and you will be creating serious nutritional problems with him later on. Is there some genetic disorder that is affecting weight in your family? If not, let your son guide you in what he needs. Pretty soon you will be frustrated that he has gone long periods of time without eating and you’ll worry about him not getting ENOUGH. Barring any other types of medical problems, this is the way it is, and letting your kid scream when he is an infant and hungry is unbelievably cruel.
I hope you don’t take my response as critical towards you…I absolutely agree with you that you think it’s wrong to leave your baby screaming. I just get very frustrated with “medical professionals” who sound like they don’t even have common sense, let alone a degree.
Hi Brenda. Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding? If you are breastfeeding, I went through the exact same thing. My daughter just ate a lot and she really thrived. Plus my milk supply was really well established because I let her nurse on demand. She weighed 20 pounds when she was 6 months old! Babies digest breastmilk very fast, too. If you are bottle feeding, I would maybe point you to make sure he is digesting his formula OK. Maybe trying a different one, with your doctor’s guidance. I, too, think denying babies food is wrong and would say he might just be growing fast and needing to eat a lot. I think just letting him cry wouldn’t solve anything. You would just have an unhappy baby all the time. Plus, babies have tiny tummies.
Good luck! That is a really tough one.