in February 2025 Babies 🇬🇧

Hunger cues ?! (BF baby).

My son is nearly 11 weeks and i have no idea what his hunger cues are any more! He recently learned how to chew his hands, so now i don’t know if it’s a hunger cue or just him practicing chewing them (he will do so even after a feed - so i know he does it even when he isn’t hungry). I am currently just feeding him every 2hrs roughly because that’s how often he used to feed as a newborn, but I’m not sure if he’s needing it more/less often. I don’t want to offer it only when he cries for it because i’ve missed the signs, but equally don’t want to offer it too early if it’s not what he wants. (I highly doubt he would refuse it if i gave it early, he has never refused my boob 🤣🙈)

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Same boat with my 9 week old, following eagerly... 👀 🤣

Yep I’m struggling too. My little boy is formula fed and 11 weeks and I never know when to feed him anymore 😂 I just feed him every 2-3 hours. A lot of the time I miss the cues and he ends up screaming before I can get the bottle done x

I usually touch the sides of his mouth. If he turns his head to my finger, I take it as a yes 😂

With my first and now this one, after the rooting/hands in mouth phase passed, it was just offering regularly and then experimenting a bit with timings. So offering a feed each time they wake up (unless a super short cat nap) then maybe wait a little longer. I think the in the day the goal is for them to get in as many calories as possible so happy to just offer in the hope they can do longer stretches at night (hit & miss). I think another good sign is whether they are snacking or taking a full feed. If every 2 hours you may find they aren’t taking a full feed or 2 sides (not that they have to do 2 sides) but if you went 3 hours it may mean they take a nice big feed. As wake windows get longer I tended to offer a ‘top up’ feed before nap too so they could still get a long nap without worrying about feed times. They will definitely let you know if they are too hungry but at 2 hours they probably aren’t building up a huge appetite so not needing to show you.

I also felt moving to a routine helped but then still feeding on demand if they requested. This period is hard to navigate and the next tough phase is the ‘distracted’ phase where getting them to actually feed is so hard because they just want to look at everything. Did lots of standing/rocking feeds to keep them relaxed. You probably don’t realise you are falling into a semi routine, maybe not set times but like a sequence wake, feed, play, top up feed, nap. So would go with that but definitely think you could get to 3 hourly feeds and then maybe they good full ones (or on demand if asking sooner).

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