Infantreflux.org | How to tell when reflux baby is hungry

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September 24, 2007 at 3:10 pm #43212

Anonymous
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My daughter is 4 weeks old and she cries a lot with her silent reflux. My question is how can you tell when she is hungry and not just in pain when she is crying. I don’t want to be underfeeding her (I breastfeed), but it is hard to tell when she is getting enough or not when she will most likely cry after eating anyways. Any suggestions?

September 24, 2007 at 5:27 pm #43230

Anonymous
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Sorry I don’t have any suggestions. I couldn’t figure it out with my refluxer either… it seems that she cried a lot, but never seemed to be hungry. I’d say just to offer whenever you suspect that she’s hungry. For example, if she just had a good feed (and hopefully some of the BF experts can give you more pointers on how to figure that one out), and then she’s crying half an hour later, she’s probably not hungry. Sorry that’s not too helpful… as they get older, it’s easier to distinguish their cries. Good luck.

September 24, 2007 at 7:47 pm #43239

Anonymous
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Kendra never complain of hunger either. I just offered her the B every 3 hours. With a bottle it was esier as i knew how much she ate ( i pumped after breastfeeding didn’t go well b/c of reflux)

kendramom2007-09-24 19:47:29

September 24, 2007 at 10:04 pm #43247

Anonymous
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That is SO hard to tell when they’re that little and crying so much. I definitely had that problem with both my sons. With my older son, I didn’t even know he had reflux for the longest time, so I fed him (or tried to) just about every time he cried. But really it made things worse (the more in the tummy, the more to reflux).

With my second son, I was more careful and tried not to overfeed. That being said, they often really are hungry every 2 hours or so at that age, maybe even more. My advice would be to try to get in a good feeding (where your daughter empties at least one breast) and then wait at least an hour and a half before feeding her again. That really cut down on my frustration with my first son when I finally stopped feeding him constantly. Maybe try other ways to soothe her cries in the meantime. Is she on any meds for the reflux pain yet?

I really hope this helps. Good luck!!

September 25, 2007 at 6:52 am #43257

Anonymous
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I think at that age I was feeding every 2hrs at least, sometimes more often, maybe got 3hrs during the night, you will probably feed 10-12 times/day at this age b/c their tummies are so small and bm is digested quicker than formula.

September 25, 2007 at 2:31 pm #43280

Anonymous
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My refluxers rarely wanted to eat. I just fed them on a schedule, usually every three hours, but my babies also had DGE so that may be why they ate so little. I would say that every two hours would be a good starting point for a nursing newborn. I think you said that she’s on Zegerid. Hopefully it will start working soon and a lot of that crying will stop so it won’t be so confusing trying to figure out if she’s hungry or not.

September 25, 2007 at 3:00 pm #43296

Anonymous
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Yea, we had the same problem, and the only way I knew how to combat it was to feed on a loose schedule.. about every 2 1/2-3 hrs. or so.. and I would really work at it to be sure that he emptied one side. Hang in there..

September 25, 2007 at 8:41 pm #43331

hellbennt
Keymaster

for me: when in doubt, offer the breast

no seriously, if baby ate then I let him…

he was a comfort feeder, though & got better once his meds were better…

I learned with jonah, from the lactation consultant, how to know when he was eating and when he was just using me as a human pacifier…

when baby eats it’s suck suck swallow…rest…suck suck swallow- like that. It’s hard to see this, you might need someone else to look at baby’s neck to see actual swallowing and to also look at ears moving…when baby slows down, then I: take finger (middle or pointer) and lightly tap/jiggle underside of boob, just once. baby will eat again. then I do it 2 times. when you can do this 3 times and baby doesn’t stir, then push baby into boob for one last suck and then unlatch…(to unlatch: take pointer finger, with your nail side up (top of nail is facing the ceiling) and stick it in the corner of baby’s mouth)…otherwise you might wind up with baby on your boobie for hours…not that it’s a bad thing, but…

September 25, 2007 at 10:22 pm #43340

Anonymous
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They often times will eat when they aren’t hungry because it can soothe their throats from the pain. I could never tell either when mine was hungry and when he was just in pain. I would say, at that age, if you know for sure she had a good feeding, wait at least an hour and a half before giving it to her again. Also, like someone else mentioned, make sure you finish the one side before offering the other boob because you want to make sure they are getting the hindmilk. If they get too much foremilk, it can actually make their reflux worse.

Good luck.
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