Hello! New to FF and have a few questions!

[Babylady]

Hi ladies! My little girl is 8 months next week and I'm starting to switch from breastfeeding to formula feeding and have lots of questions!

I've been using SMA and she has no probs with drinking from a bottle (quite the opposite, she's a complete guzzler!) but I'm a bit stumped as to how much she should be drinking and in how many sessions...? The back of the tin suggests 3 x 210ml bottles in 24 hours - is that generally right?

Sorry if these are really dumb questions but if you could share your experiences/routines/anything else which may help me then I would be very grateful!

 

[Lady_Bee]

Actually in my experience the back of the tin is almost always wrong... lol.

My LO would no way be happy with 3 bottles a day! He only takes 4-6 oz at a time (usually 5) so I fill them to 6 oz. He needs a bottle every 3 hours still! He has 6 bottles a day. I think most babies his age have bigger bottles than that though, like 7 or 8 oz. My baby just likes to eat little and often I guess.

Honestly, just feed her when she's hungry. Follow her cues. :] You judge how much to give her by watching how much she typically wants to drink. At 8 months she is probably pretty clear in her signals. You'll get the hang of it. How much have you been putting in her bottles so far?

If your LO drinks the whole bottle and doesn't bring a lot back up (possibly indicating she's had too much), she might actually want more than that so try offering 1 extra oz at the next feed and see how she does with that. If she's leaving an oz or less in the bottom of the bottle that's about a perfect feed size IMO.

 

[Babylady]

Thanks for your reply Ladybee! I have been putting 210ml in her bottles which I think works out at just over 7oz... She drinks the whole lot, sometimes more, at bedtime but during the day she seems to only drinking 4-6oz at a time too so maybe she's like your LO! It is great being able to see how much she is drinking as I've spent the last 8 months worrying she's not getting enough breastmilk - but now I have a whole new set of worries I think I will start a 'diary' on how much she's drinking and when, and hopefully a pattern will emerge...
Thanks again x x

 

[Ktothema]

At 8 months dd was having 3 or 4 bottles of 5-6oz. When weaning babies are meant to get 500ml of milk which will include any dairy they're getting in their solids. Ignore the box. Almost always ignore the box!