Overfeeding baby?

Hi, I have a 6week old son who's been a dream from birth. Very content, just a little windy and spilly. Nothing unusual for a newborn. However as he's getting older and drinking more, his spilling just seems to be getting worse, to the point that I now wonder if he could just be overeating cos he likes sucking (I'm anti dummies though, so can't offer him that instead). It's the hardest thing with BFing, not knowing the volume your baby's actually drinking.

My plunket nurse said "you definitely cant overfeed a breastfed baby" which i have heard. But what actually IS the difference between breastfeeding and bottle-feeding in terms of the baby's ability to overfeed themselves???

I'm just starting to look for some ideas, as my son has projectile vomitted on me today, 3 times Not good! ANy thoughts much appreciated.

I have also been given the advice that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby and that they will regulate their feeds themselves. I think that's good advice for the majority of babies.

However in my PERSONAL opinion, and for MY baby I have found that he DOES eat too much. Not all the time, not every feed but he did go through a phase when it was almost every feed but worse in the morning and before bed - mostly because I would just let him feed and feed and feed thinking he would stop when he was ready. The fact is, he's a sucky baby and he's a piglet. Plus I have a really fast letdown so he would just guzzle it all back and then puke everywhere and then gripe and moan and cry for an hour after a feed Against my lactation consultant's advice, I tried limiting the worst feeds to 10 minutes on each side. It helped immediately! He's still gaining weight at an amazing pace and thriving so that approach has worked for us.

That's just what happened here and what worked for us. I still feed D when he's hungry I just don't let him suck for comfort because the milk keeps coming and FAST so it upsets his tummy. If I know he's full I take him off the boob and if it's bedtime I will let him have a dummy and a cuddle.

Just out of interest, how come you're against using a dummy?

You can definitely overfeed a baby. My DD2 was a reluxy baby, quite power-chucky and unsettled a lot of the time. Of course, being a young mum and wanting to help soothe the baby, I offered more and more feed and she just got worse. What I learned was:

- The first part of milk is watery and more likely to make them spilly than the hind milk. If they don't finish feeding on one side, offer that side first next time to help them get good feed and not just foremilk all the time.

- Lying on a 30 degree angle helps them a lot. Tilt the cot mattress by putting a rolled up towel under the head end of the mattress. Spilly/unsettled babies seem to enjoy sleeping in carseats, bassinettes and strollers better than flat. This is because there is less stress on the esophagus when it is not pulled straight. An older baby with unsettled tummy often will roll over and happily sleep on his tummy for the same reason - less stress on the esophagus.

- I didn't really like the idea of dummies either but some babies seem to find their thumb/fingers and others don't. It's not bad for their teeth and can help a particularly suckly baby settle.

- If baby seems to be wanting a feed, put your finger/knuckle in their mouth for a bit and you'll be able to tell if they just want something to suckle on or if they're hungry. If they're hungry, they'll try it for a bit and then cry loudly!

I had the same worry with my wee fattie, who was 4.05kg at birth. She is now a little lighter than most of her buddies, so their weight does even out

What I found was, three hourly feeding is better for them for a few reasons. It stopped her from over feeding. Babies who drink more often are more likely to have issues with wind and spilling - stretching her out fixed this - she was on losec til I did this
It gives a better routine to build sleep times around.
My girl is still very sucky - now 6 months and would love to feed to sleep but this stops her from falling to sleep by herself as she thinks she needs me to sleep - so it helps form better habits too

I think its hard to figure out what your baby needs and the first thought, especially with booby babies, is feed her. Three hourly takes out the guess work. I found if my baby was tired she would want to feed , as this was her sleep association.
Its hard when your a first time Mum, but as this is my second I found it hard to not think I well this is what worked for Milla, definately dosent always work for Portia, they are just so different.

I do on occasions use a dummy, if she is very tired and wont settle , and that sucking action ususally drops her off to sleep. We dont use the dummy any other time, and it stays in her room
Dummys are great (IMO) as babies have the urge to suck most of the time, Id rather not be a human pacifier, it is also said to lessen the risks of SIDS. I didnt want one with my big girl either, but the nurses at the hospital gave it her when I wasnt around and it helped her develop a good sucking action, when she couldnt feed due to surgery etc.

Obviuosly I am generalising. But maybe this helps some of you

Congrats on your little guy Luckystar - love the name Henry!
I guess its harder when they are little as you have to consider growth spurts and increasing your supply etc, but somehow also stop snacking , Maybe you could try a bit of infacol before a feed to make sure he has no wind and its not little pockets of air causing him to throw up.


Edited by Raspberryjam

Not much help but they can have reflux where they just spill a lot and it doesn't bother them? Could be something like that rather than overfeeding

My DD was exactly the same and she was exclusively b/f. She was an extremely spilly baby but a perfectly content happy baby with it. I would have to change both her clothes and mine atleast 3 to 4 times per day because of power chucking. She eventually grew out of it, so I just went with the flow as it wasn't bothering her at all.

I figured if she was still gaining weight she was keeping enough milk down!

Thanks everyone for all the replies! Great to hear that so many other people have had my very same question.

Kalimirella - I like your explanation about the boob vs bottle thing. It makes total sense that a baby could wolf down too much formula quickly, before realising they are full.

kiwisj - I'm personally anti dummies because i have a dentist and an oral surgeon in the family, who are both very adamant that dummies do affect the development within the mouth. So even tough some people dispute that theory, I'm not willing to risk it. Also, I've watched supernanny and seen one too many bratty toddlers with dummy adictions. Guess I also just don't like the idea of them really. For me, I would prefer my babies learn to find peace and contentment in themselves at an early age. Obviously sucking is VERY comforting for them, but i would rather meet that need by BFing or using my pinky finger atm. But this is just me

mummytooboys - Henry didnt seem to be in pain at all. Just sat there looking a bit put out by the experience. I was worried about him having a pyloric stenosis, so talked about that with the doctor today at the 6wk check. She reckons he's not projectile vomiting enough to indicate that (yet), but to keep an eye on how things develop from here. He has been putting on weight over the last week still, so thats also reassuring that we're not dealing with a pyloric stenosis.

SO I think we're ok for now, and will just keep on doing what we're doing, as his vomits have stopped again today. So perhaps it was just a tummy bug or an especially greedy day yesterday! Would make sense if he was having a growth spurt i guess.

Cheers all!

Edited by luckystar