5 Reasons Your Newborn Is Constantly Hungry and Crying

Is your newborn constantly hungry and crying, despite frequent feedings? Learn 5 reasons this happens and tips to soothe your little one.

I knew babies ate often, but this much?

My baby would scream and act hungry as if I hadn’t just fed him moments ago. Offering the pacifier didn’t help—he just spat it back out and kept crying. I was either feeding him or putting him to sleep in my arms, because not doing either would incite even more tears.

The short bouts of time he was awake and content seemed few and far between.

As I learned more about why babies eat so often, I also discovered several tactics that helped. We can’t expect our newborns to take three square meals a day and follow a strict schedule, but we can certainly observe, adjust, and meet their needs along the way.

Take a look at these five reasons your newborn is constantly hungry and crying (and what to do about each one):

Table of Contents

1. Your baby is overtired

You’d think that when a baby got tired, he’d simply fall asleep right on the spot. But I learned that he can feel overtired from being awake too long. And an overtired baby won’t stop crying just because he needs the sleep.

Since feeding is such a comforting experience, he wants to nurse or feed to settle himself down—even if he has just eaten.

If you suspect that your baby is overtired, help him reset and catch up on lost sleep. The constant crying is exhausting for him as well, so try to get him to settle down and sleep quickly. For instance, you could:

Bundle him in a swaddle and rock him to sleep
Hold him “skin to skin,” with his skin in direct contact with yours
Put him in the swing for a nap
Go for a car ride or stroller walk if he tends to sleep that way

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2. Your baby isn’t actually eating

Does your baby still act like she’s hungry, even though you just fed her 30 minutes ago? Does she begin to root around or act fussy until the next meal?

But she just ate! you think to yourself.

Or… did she?

If she’s constantly hungry for more, it might be because she’s actually not eating.

Now, this might not apply so much if she’s taking the bottle, especially when you can measure how many ounces she drank. But if she’s breastfeeding, you can’t exactly see how much she consumed. Figuring out how to tell if a baby is hungry or wants comfort gets more difficult.

Try to keep her awake while she feeds to ensure that she’s drinking enough milk and not sucking for comfort. You could…

Burp during the feeding
Switch positions often
Tickle her
Unbutton or remove some clothes
Talk to her

Expert tip

How can you tell if she’s eating (instead of sucking)? Look at her throat. If she were truly swallowing, her throat would also move as the milk makes its way down. And listen for a swallowing sound, another telltale sign that she’s drinking.

How to Tell If Baby Is Hungry or Wants Comfort

3. Your baby has gas

Another reason causing your baby’s discomfort—and therefore the need to comfort feed—is gas. Babies have immature digestive systems, causing them to trap gas or struggle with pushing food through their bodies.

Even though he may not be hungry, your baby feels comforted with feeding (even when he’s not eating).

Check with your pediatrician to rule out any significant causes of gas. If you suspect that gas is the culprit of his constant hunger and cries, help him relieve these discomforts. You can:

Burp him often with a few baby burping tricks
Put a warm washcloth on his tummy for a few minutes
Massage his belly gently
Give gas drops
Feed him after waking up from naps, not before

4. Your baby is overstimulated

At many family parties I’ve attended, it wasn’t unusual to see a baby being passed around from one person to the next. And sometimes, the baby was fussy and crying, overwhelmed with all the new people and sights he was seeing.

We forget how easily stimulated babies can get, and not just at rowdy family parties. You might have run an errand in a loud, new place or played with him for long stretches of time.

To keep him from being overstimulated, watch his sleep cues or even the clock so you can put him down for a nap when he’s sleepy. You might want to go into a dark room at the first sign of a yawn or turn white noise on to muffle sudden sounds.

Keep things subdued, from what he sees and hears to how much you engage with him.

5. Your baby is going through a growth spurt

I would dart dagger eyes at anyone who suggested that my baby was hungry every time he cried. As the only one who could feed him, I resented the idea of constantly nursing him every time he cried.

I would later learn that feeding on demand is part of the game, and more importantly, a temporary one. For instance, just because your newborn is cluster feeding all night, that doesn’t mean he’ll always have an appetite like that.

Follow his lead, especially if you’ve confirmed that he’s eating during those feedings. They might seem excessive, but this could be his way of increasing your milk supply to meet his growing needs.

Because, at the end of the day, the reason he could be eating so often is simply that he’s hungry.

Conclusion

It’s never easy when your newborn is constantly hungry, especially when you’re not exactly sure why. Hopefully, you’ve now seen a few common causes as well as possible solutions to help.

No matter the reason, rest assured that this isn’t permanent. Yes, he eats often, but soon he can fall into a more predictable pattern of eating—and hopefully in stretches that are longer than 30 minutes.

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