I need help. My daughter will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. She is getting both breast milk and formula. She’s gets 4oz of breast milk or 3oz of formula. But we’ve come to this issue. After she has ate 3oz of formula she’s still hungry. I gave her 3.5oz to see if it would fill her up. It ended up being to much for her belly and made her spit up. What can I do to help her get full without her getting sick. I don’t make enough breast milk to exclusively breastfeed. I’m at a loss and it breaks my heart hearing her cry knowing she’s still hungry but giving her more just makes it worse.
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Babies cry for many reasons. Her spitting up is a sign that she is not hungry. She may be uncomfortable from being too full. Hold her up skin to skin. Pacing the bottle helps too. If she is gulping away and finishes in less than 10 minutes it’s too fast for her to feel comfy and satisfied. Hold the bottle horizontal, give her breaks, and follow her cues. It should take her at least 15-20 minutes to feed. Baby is going through a lot of changes. Hang in there!
Try burping her more even when you think she’s good, burp her a little more and sit her in an upright position when you hold her sometimes. Also one more tip even tho you’re not giving her a bath everyday… you should run her head/hair under warm water every evening. I feel like it makes a big difference you should try it 
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That’s a lot of ounces for a 3 week old. You need to be burping her. They usually take in about 1-3 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours and 20-30 minutes on the breast so about 8 feedings in 24 hours.
Baby needs to be burped while feeding because if baby doesn’t get burped it can cause a gas bubble which can cause spit up or discomfort.
So try burping every 5 minutes while breastfeeding and every ounce of formula.
Some babies just cry without being hungry too because they like to suck on the nipple on the breast or bottle.
You’ll learn eventually the different cries it does take time though.
Maybe her cry isn’t hungry, but reflux?
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Give her 4 oz of formula, burp her halfway thru.
Are you putting her on the breast or are you exclusively pumping? If you are putting her on the breast, after feeding on each side try pumping for 10-15 minutes. It signals your body to produce more. Are you drinking staying really well hydrated? Make sure you’re getting enough fluid intake. Body Armours are amazing to increase milk production. At 3 weeks old the stomach is only about the size of an egg so you may be overfeeding or as someone else suggested she may have some reflux. Burp frequently and try leave baby upright for about 45 minutes after feeding.
The best way to increase breast milk supply is to feed on demand. It’s a supply and demand relationship, and baby stimulates supply the more they are latched, so topping up with formula will actually decrease your milk supply.
When seemingly done on one boob, burp well and offer the other boob.
In terms of crying and seeming to still be hungry, try burp more or do the I Love U massage to release any trapped winds. Reflux and cramping could be causing discomfort.
At the worst, when all needs appear to be met (fed, clean bum etc) try water or air i.e. lay baby in warm bath/run warm water over head, or take baby out for some fresh air.
I’d talk to your babies pediatrician. They can offer you advice. Explain what’s normal & what isn’t for your particular situation.
Our Dr recommended topping off with formula rather than bouncing back & forth between the 2. I think going from breastmilk to formula abruptly hurts their tummies! I have been giving mine both together for almost 3 months now. At 1 month he was getting 2-3 oz of breastmilk with 1-2 oz of formula added into it every 3 hours. Also, burping every couple of oz will help as well!
If it continues to hurt your babies tummy you may need to change to a different formula!
How do you know you’re not making enough milk to breastfeed??? Measuring breast milk is not an indicator of how much you produce. Breastfeeding is supply and demand. If you want your baby to have breast milk, make sure you’re still latching her to your breast and doing skin to skin. Get on a pumping schedule, I would feed her from the breast and then an hour later, pump. I’ve exclusively breastfed all my babies because pumping was too much work. Also, you’re going to regulate soon so you definitely won’t be as full in the breasts anymore but that is no indication that you’re losing breast milk.
Also if your breastfeeding not pumping it very well could be a self soothe thing not hunger. Very similar to a baby wanting a pacifier they’ll want the boob to self soothe not for hunger.
I would bring this up to the pediatrician and stop feeding after every ounce and burp. It may very well take 20+minutes to get a burp but it’s needed. Id also look more into hunger cues like fist in the mouth so you can better tell the difference between hunger and discomfort and I don’t mean this negatively. Is there a reason that you think 3oz isn’t enough?
Try the formula first than breastfeeding. Breastmilk is usually less heavy for them. Make sure she’s burping inbetween
Rule of thumb when our kids were babies. Burp every 2 ounces.
They cluster feed at this age. So they aren’t exactly hungry, pacefeeding bottles will help as well.
That is waaaay too much to be feeding a young baby. Their bellies are too small for all that. Breastmilk should always be fed first. The rule of thumb is 1-1.5oz per hour and that doesn’t increase as baby gets older because the nutrients themselves change. If necessary, top off with a couple of ounces of formula, but definitely not another full bottle like that.
Definitely look into pace feeding and possibly trying a different nipple flow. If babe is eating too fast, their brain doesn’t have time to catch up to their belly to tell them they are full. Then it becomes an issue of overeating and sore belly.
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Maybe a different brand /type of formula?