Confused about feeding schedule

[malotkins]

Hi everyone,

My LO is 4 months old and is formula feed. We feed him approx every four hours and he is currently having 7 ozs. I'm really confused though and need some advice. The times we feed him are based upon what time his previous feed was and what time, if any, he woke up for a feed at night. He was having a bottle at about 8pm and then going to bed and my husband would dreamfeed him before he went to bed at about midnight or before if my LO woke. For a couple of weeks he would then sleep through to about 7.30am and I would feed him at 8am, 12, 4 and 8pm plus the midnight feed. However, if I can't feed him at the exact 4 hours mark or he wakes at about 5am the schedule goes to pot. Take today, for example, he woke at 5am and I fed him and then fed him at 9am, 1pm and 5pm. I have just bathed him and put hm to bed. Do I wake him at 9pm and then feed him again about 1am or just leave it for him to wake up? He often doesn't seem hungry at the 4 hour mark so should I push it out to 5 hours and up it to 8ozs or just when he indicates he is hungry so he can find his own routine? What do you think? Hope that makes sense! Thanks.

 

[mrsbeano]

When my LO wakes in the night for a feed I will try to just do a small feed and then feed at the usual time. I also try to do 8, 12, 4, 8.

In saying that we have got a little off routine the past couple of days so I'm dreamfeeding at 10 tonight with the hope that he goes until the morning. You never know.

 

[mommy0629]

Just adjust a bit before bed time when that happens. My lo still eats every 3 hours during the day and at night she'll go 5 hours then 4 more. So, she eats around 7,10,1,4,7 and 9:30.
So, say she doesn't take her full nap in the morning and wants to eat at 9 AM instead of 10, I still give her the next feeding at 1:00 anyway instead of waiting until 2:00. She may not take the whole feeding (she'll usually take about 1 ounce less when this happens) but at least it gets her back on track for the rest of the day. I hope that makes sense.

I wouldn't push it to 5 hours in between, that's too long and you'll end up having an issue where he'll want to be making up for it during the night. Even when babies are on solids they don't go 5 hours without eating something or having a bottle. Plus I would imagine that will throw off his naps?

What does he do that you say he doesn't seem hungry? The only time my lo seems really hungry is after that 5 hour stretch at night. The rest of the time she eats well and will for sure let you know she's hungry if she's not fed on time, but it's not like she's ravenous. That's just a sign of a well fed baby.

I'd stick with the schedule you have and just adjust when you have to, I'd suggest doing a smaller feeding an hour earlier like I do instead of waiting an hour longer though. So, what happened last night, I would have fed him again at 8PM like usual before putting him to bed even though it was an hour early.

 

[malotkins]

Just adjust a bit before bed time when that happens. My lo still eats every 3 hours during the day and at night she'll go 5 hours then 4 more. So, she eats around 7,10,1,4,7 and 9:30.
So, say she doesn't take her full nap in the morning and wants to eat at 9 AM instead of 10, I still give her the next feeding at 1:00 anyway instead of waiting until 2:00. She may not take the whole feeding (she'll usually take about 1 ounce less when this happens) but at least it gets her back on track for the rest of the day. I hope that makes sense.

I wouldn't push it to 5 hours in between, that's too long and you'll end up having an issue where he'll want to be making up for it during the night. Even when babies are on solids they don't go 5 hours without eating something or having a bottle. Plus I would imagine that will throw off his naps?

What does he do that you say he doesn't seem hungry? The only time my lo seems really hungry is after that 5 hour stretch at night. The rest of the time she eats well and will for sure let you know she's hungry if she's not fed on time, but it's not like she's ravenous. That's just a sign of a well fed baby.

I'd stick with the schedule you have and just adjust when you have to, I'd suggest doing a smaller feeding an hour earlier like I do instead of waiting an hour longer though. So, what happened last night, I would have fed him again at 8PM like usual before putting him to bed even though it was an hour early.

He doesn't really have set nap times and this is something I need to look at too. The reason I don't think he is hungry is because most of the time I just feed him rather than waiting for hin to cry. He does take it all so I suppose he must be. Last night we dreamfed him at 11.30pm and he then woke at 3.30am and I gave him 4ozs although he didn't cry. He was just wide awake and singing away to himself in his basket! I will do as you suggest and keep his schedule on track by giving him a bit less if he fed a bit later the previous feed and then at least his bedtime routine can start taking shape properly. My real concern is that we are overfeeding him. He has been on the 95th percentile and this has gone up slightly recently. It's all so confusing!

 

[mommy0629]

Just adjust a bit before bed time when that happens. My lo still eats every 3 hours during the day and at night she'll go 5 hours then 4 more. So, she eats around 7,10,1,4,7 and 9:30.
So, say she doesn't take her full nap in the morning and wants to eat at 9 AM instead of 10, I still give her the next feeding at 1:00 anyway instead of waiting until 2:00. She may not take the whole feeding (she'll usually take about 1 ounce less when this happens) but at least it gets her back on track for the rest of the day. I hope that makes sense.

I wouldn't push it to 5 hours in between, that's too long and you'll end up having an issue where he'll want to be making up for it during the night. Even when babies are on solids they don't go 5 hours without eating something or having a bottle. Plus I would imagine that will throw off his naps?

What does he do that you say he doesn't seem hungry? The only time my lo seems really hungry is after that 5 hour stretch at night. The rest of the time she eats well and will for sure let you know she's hungry if she's not fed on time, but it's not like she's ravenous. That's just a sign of a well fed baby.

I'd stick with the schedule you have and just adjust when you have to, I'd suggest doing a smaller feeding an hour earlier like I do instead of waiting an hour longer though. So, what happened last night, I would have fed him again at 8PM like usual before putting him to bed even though it was an hour early.

He doesn't really have set nap times and this is something I need to look at too. The reason I don't think he is hungry is because most of the time I just feed him rather than waiting for hin to cry. He does take it all so I suppose he must be. Last night we dreamfed him at 11.30pm and he then woke at 3.30am and I gave him 4ozs although he didn't cry. He was just wide awake and singing away to himself in his basket! I will do as you suggest and keep his schedule on track by giving him a bit less if he fed a bit later the previous feed and then at least his bedtime routine can start taking shape properly. My real concern is that we are overfeeding him. He has been on the 95th percentile and this has gone up slightly recently. It's all so confusing!

Getting them on set nap times at this age can be hard. I tried and failed LOL and it just stressed me out. The only nap schedule I go by is that I try not to let her be awake for longer than 2 hours otherwise she gets overtired and cranky and it'll be really hard to get her down for the nap. They're not at exact times though.

It's fine that you're feeding him by the clock instead of waiting for him to cry, that's how you establish a schedule and it's also why babies (and mom's) like being on one, they have comfort in the fact that they know what's coming next and they don't really need to cry to let you know what they need, you just know.

Don't worry about overfeeding him, it's pretty much impossible when they're on only formula or bm, if they take in too much they just spit up the excess. Don't worry about the percentile either, what doctors are looking for with those is that their height and weight are in the same range, not where they are on the line.

Did he go right back to sleep at 3:30 after you fed him last night? Since he only took half his typical amount, maybe he just needed a little cuddle to settle back to sleep and he's ready to drop the middle of the night feeding.

It sounds like you just have a mellow baby I think your feeding schedule for him is fine, just keep going with it.