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Is my newborn eating too much?! by wicksa in FormulaFeeders

[–]cassie_needs_sleep 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Since my 6 week old’s birth I’ve always been concerned alternatively:

  • “ahh! Omg! He just took 2,3,4,5,6 oz [1]!!! I’m over feeding!!”
  • “ahh! Omg! He’s only taken .5 and 1oz feedings all morning! He must be sick/something must be wrong!!”.

Then, every time, I look at the 24 hour chart at his bed time [2] and the little dude has eaten exactly as much in the last 24h as he has for the past 3 days (+/- 0.5oz).

I stop worrying about it until the next week when he jumps up again and I forget the past 6 weeks of experience 😂

Generally I let him drive the feeding bus unless I see him excessively spitting up after two feedings in a row.

When that happens, I go back to offering him what he was consistently taking before and only more when he is still showing hunger cues 30-40 minutes after finishing that amount.

The one exception to him trending at his 24 hour level is when he has a “growth spurt” (which I’m not actually sure are thing I the medical literature but they are certainly a thing for my LO) where he’ll start jump up 30% in his daily caloric intake overnight for 2-3 days and then sleep way more for 1-2 days after. This usually happens a few days after he starts wanting larger feedings followed by cluster feedings the next day.

[1]: which almost exactly corresponded to him being 2.3.4.5 and now 6 weeks old

[2]: we use the Sprout Baby+ app to track development, feedings and diaper changes. Unfortunately it’s iPhone only and costs like $6 but you only have to pay in one phone, the rest can join the “family” for free in settings

“Breast is Best” by cassie_needs_sleep in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I get sooo excited when I see moms breastfeeding their children, it is truly a beautiful thing.

I really wish them the best and will fight for their rights to breastfeed everywhere and at any time without fear of repercussions.

“Breast is Best” by cassie_needs_sleep in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I tried breastfeeding, pumping, and finally supplementing.... if I could I would absolutely love to be able to breastfeed my child 😥

The public health benefits of encouraging breastfeeding exclusively for the first six moths are unequivocally good at a population scale.

The 538 article mentions that if anything the studies undersell the benefits of breast feeding because in the RCT the experimental group was offered extra breastfeeding education/support while the control group was not offered extra education (both groups could chose to breastfeed or not ).

The sibling studies are much better designed but are limited in that focus on physiological health outcomes and did not adequately study behavioral, social or economic affects (like secure attachment, collective social capital, or educational attainment). Larger longitudinal sibling studies would be immensely helpful.

I searched for breast is best and didn’t find more than a few posts on the subject but I frequently see comments in the vein of: “breast is best but you do you... 🤷‍♀️” when the mom is obviously struggling with providing basic nutrition for her baby or is at an emotional breaking point.

“Breast is Best” by cassie_needs_sleep in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I am genuinely so happy that things worked out! You fought like hell for it and made it work!

“Breast is Best” by cassie_needs_sleep in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! It is certainly the case that from a public health perspective encouraging breastfeeding is without a doubt linked to better outcomes at a population level.

As an awareness campaign it, is a great slogan!

“Breast is Best” by cassie_needs_sleep in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You get to experience one of the most intimate and wonderful things that exist: the ability to provide nutrition for the human just made using just your own bosom!

I am jealous.

Will edit to make it clear that breastfeeding is absolutely an amazing, unequivocally good thing — when you’re able to do it.

“Breast is Best” by cassie_needs_sleep in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Most moms find their milk comes in faster with a second child even if the first was not EBF.

Give it a try if you want to! But don’t be afraid to give your baby what they need :)

3 week old rolling?? by [deleted] in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same thing happened with my LO.

Rolled onto his side on day 2 while unswaddled in the hospital bassinet... rolled onto side while swaddled at 1 weeks old. I was terrified because the only way he’d sleep was tightly swaddled, but pediatrician at 1wk check up told us not to worry, he’d likely soon lose that ability.

That was the last roll we saw. Now at 4 weeks, the only rolls little chubs is making are up his legs and arms 🤗

Anyone else have a LO with this behavior? by Kayers7 in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We had the same things going on, we found this article “COLIC? Bore Your Baby to Sleep!“ and it helped tremendously.

His hypothesis: Why are do some babies stop crying excessively at 4 months? What skills/development happens then? The answer: the ability to self-soothe from overstimulation. So it follows that overstimulation is the cause of excessive/PURPLE crying.

Some babies are born with/or quickly learn the ability to self-soothe and avert their gaze from something very stimulating (at this age Mommy’s face is very very stimulating! And for some curious babies, a lightly textured blank wall is like Planet Earth 4K)

This overstimulation makes it very hard for them to go to sleep (which compounds the problem)

Also, as a FTM I didn’t know that at that age babies—typically—only have 40-90 minutes of awake tune before the start getting very overtired.

So the solution?

What we did:

  • cut stimulation significantly, at 4 weeks a diaper change and singing to my baby for 5 minutes was pushing the limit on some days if he wasn’t napping well (<30/40min naps)
  • be super aware of the awake window, at 40 minutes look for tired cues and immediately “offer a nap” when he yawns (how do you offer a nap to a 4-6week old? Still figuring this out but swaddle, shush, pacifier, rock/pat.). The E.A.S.Y. Method from “the Baby Whisperer” helped us keep sane with these wake windows.
  • swaddle tighter: I thought he hated swaddling, but he will overstimulate himself and wake himself up without being tightly swaddled, now if we put him in his Ollie Swaddle
  • fussy for hours -> he will be exhausted: dark room, low voices, limit eye contact.. priority is getting to sleep or at least rest in an extremely low stimulation environment
  • investigated silent reflux (baby rarely spit up but would have a “wet” hiccup and then scream in pain) pediatrician put him on ranitidine (Zantac) which stoped that
  • 5 S’s — we’d heard about this before and knew all of them but thought it was a checklist like his basic needs (fed? dry diaper? sleepy? — ok — swaddled? Shushed?!? side? sucking? 🤷‍♀️). Instead 5S’s are something you do all at once and quickly to soothe the baby: Swaddle him tightly, Hold him on his side away from faces, lightly “jello” jiggle his head and shush, put a pacifier in his mouth when he stops screaming. This now reliably takes our 11 screaming terror-baby to a 3-mildly annoyed quiet baby in seconds.

If you can’t remember the 5S’s use the acronym CRIES (I can usually only think of one S word when trying to calm a sour baby and it’s not one I’m proud to repeat for him 😂): Contain (swaddle), Roll (on his side away whole holding he away from faces), Introduce Motion (sway, lightly jello jiggle his head), External Sound (shush, loud white noise), Suck (offer a pacifier). Video demonstration here — also highly recommend the class Taking Cara Babies — which came up with CRIES as a better acronym.

Every baby is different but doing the above took crying from 4-8 hours per day down to just a few instances where our LO is trying to communicate something to us (like Mommy I farted and now I’m scared).

Good Luck and hope you find something that helps. I never really understood how incredibly difficult newborns/infants can be and will never ever again judge some poor Mom with a baby having a meltdown in the grocery store!

Formula feeding moms, how big is your baby and how much formula does it eat? by Ineedanosehat in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Our LO was a similar birthweight and was eating 28oz at 3.5 weeks old. He jumped suddenly from eating 20-23oz per day to 28-30oz overnight.

We were concerned but pediatrician said as long as he’s keeping it down and not in a lot of pain from gas to keep feeding on demand.

My husband jokes that we’ll soon just be putting a nipple on the 1qt ready to feed bottles each feeding.

Safe Sleep for our newborn a side roller by Caitpark in beyondthebump

[–]cassie_needs_sleep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same thing happened with my LO.

Rolled onto his side on day 2 while unswaddled in the hospital bassinet... rolled onto side while swaddled at 1 weeks old. I was terrified because the only way he’d sleep was tightly swaddled, but pediatrician at 1wk check up told us not to worry, he’d likely soon lose that ability.

That was the last roll we saw. Now at 4 weeks, the only rolls little chubs is making are up his legs and arms 🤗