Why does my baby always seem hungry?

The two questions we asked in one breath

Ari is constantly hungry. And then: if she's eating and not burping and still wants food, do I keep feeding her? And then, straight after: does that mean I'm underfeeding her?

That third question is the one doing the damage. It's the fear underneath the other two.

If she's producing plenty of heavy wet nappies and gaining weight over the weeks, she is not being underfed. Whatever the crying suggests.

That's worth holding onto, because a baby who screams for food an hour after a full feed is extremely convincing. Ours screamed for food like a mad person, in our exact words, and we asked whether that was normal when she'd just eaten.

It was. And she was gaining well throughout.

What else looks like hunger

Trapped air. This was the big one for us. A baby with trapped air feels uncomfortable, and sucking can briefly soothe her, so she asks for more and then feels worse. Burping partway through and again afterwards often changed the picture more than adding milk did.

Tiredness. An overtired baby is hard to distinguish from a hungry one, and the answer to one is not the answer to the other.

Wanting to be close. Sucking is comforting, and sometimes the request is for contact rather than calories.

And genuine growth spurts, where appetite really does jump for a few days and then settles.

So do you keep feeding?

Not indefinitely, and not automatically.

What worked for us: burp her properly. Then try holding, movement or a change of scene for a few minutes. If she settles, it wasn't hunger. If she's still asking and rooting properly after that, offer more.

What we never did, and what's worth being firm about: never dilute or stretch formula to make it go further. That's dangerous, not economical.

And if the pattern is constant, with poor weight gain or fewer wet nappies, that's a conversation with a doctor rather than a puzzle to solve at 3am.