Is this "normal"? 2oz every 2 hours

[xZoeyx]

Cutting a VERY long story short..

I have a very fussy baby who has had a Terribly erratic feeding schedule since day one but currently he is asking for a feed almost constant but i would say most of the time he's asking every 2 hours.
I've been making him wait 3 hours because this is my first baby and I was lead to believe by my friends, family and health visitor that the "norm" for a baby of his age is every 3 hours. I now feel cruel as I can clearly see he is hungry way before 3 hours, and as a result I have an hour of screaming that is inconsolable.

I would much rather feed him 1-2oz every 2 hours if that's what satisfies him but would this mean I'm over feeding him? I'm at the end of my tether because his inconsolable crying is getting too much

He doesn't wind either which makes feeding difficult as I often wonder if he is still hungry from having wind and that could be why sometimes just an hour later he wants more?


Anyway my main question is: can I feed him 2oz every 2 hours safely?

 

[chathamlady]

I feed on demand there tummies are so small a newborn will not over eat if he takes 2oz every two hours I would give it. my little one is 16 weeks and eats 3-4 oz every 3-4 hours normally but somedays will take 2oz every 2 hours(I was breastfeeding but had supply issues so had to switch i look at it as breastfed babies are fed on demand so why should she be fed differently because she now gets formula)

 

[Equreuil]

I did 2 oz every 2 hours, at first with mine. Newborns have tiny stomachs that can't hold a lot. As your LO grows, he'll start taking more and spacing his feedings out more. That's what happened with mine.

I'm sure there are some that do take more each feeding and can wait a while longer, right from the start, but not all babies are the same. And you can't really overfeed them. If they aren't hungry, they won't eat - at least that's how mine is.

 

[MrsTT]

I think if ur sure ur LO is hungry , then u should just feed him. I thought babies fed roughly every 2 hours in the first month anyways? Coz their stomach is so small.

Ur LO might be going thru a growth spurt and need to feed more anyways. I don't really think you can over feed a baby.

My LO is 16 weeks and I feed her around 4oz every 3 hours during the day.

 

[moomin_troll]

I don't think a baby should be made to wait 3 hours, to me that's ridicules. When you're hunger you're hungry.
2oz isn't a lot at all, especially with waiting 2/3 hours. But as others have said they only have small stomachs and formula can be quite heavy.
With my first if he became fussy and wanted to feed more often I would up the milk by an oz and see if that helped.

 

[xZoeyx]

His feeds are 4oz but he never drinks it... I'm not purposely starving him!!

 

[pinklizzy]

Our boys are almost the same age and although he's combi fed at the moment and will want feeding sooner if he's had more breastmilk than formula in a feed, sometimes he'll go three hours and other times he's starving after 2-2.5. I just feed him when he seems hungry hun. We've also been giving him infacol before his feeds for about a week now which has helped him with bringing up wind.

 

[tublet]

You should just feed him when he is hungry end of, mine was just the same at that age even now it varies between a 2-4 hours it is totally normal.

If he is hungry he is not being over fed just satisfied.

Take him weekly to be weighed by the HV to put your mind at rest for the time being, it's what they are there for.

 

[Whitesoxfan41]

My LO is almost 3 months and still eats every 2-3 hours. She started only taking 2-3. . .now she takes 4-6. . .sounds normal/okay to me! She's also a fairly crabby/colicky/refluxy baby so I would rather feed her small amounts more often.

 

[xZoeyx]

Sometimes I can't get more than 1oz down him though and that's after managing to wind him?? It can be a real fight too get 2oz down him.

And sometimes he's asking for a feed after an hour! If he was breastfed then I could understand but he's solely on formula.

I just want too make sure I'm doing the right thing for him.

 

[moomin_troll]

A babies instinct is to nurse like they are breastfeeding. All they are programmed to do is nurse constantly the first few weeks.
Wasting milk can be an annoyance, but it's perfectly natural behaviour, I wouldn't worry about that

 

[Popples1]

My LO is a bit of a grazer too - he's combi fed so it's hard to tell exactly how much is in him as he always gets booby first. He'll rarely drink more then 2-3 oz of formula though and will be hungry 2-3 hrs later. He's 8 weeks.

 

[xZoeyx]

Thing is my boy normally only drinks an ounce every 2 hours, it's a real fight to grt a second ounce down but if I don't then he asks for a feed like an hour later and I'm sorry if any of you disagree with this but hourly feeds don't work for me, as he then starts trying that throughout the night. A tired mummy is an unhappy mummy!! I know he has enough room and my being over fed when I force 2 oz because he doesn't throw it up. He used to take 3oz every 2.5/3 hours, there was grizzlies for 45 minutes or so before a feed was due where he was hungry tho. In hospital when first born he ate really well, and it's all gone down hill from there!

 

[MindUtopia]

If you're feeding him when he's hungry, then yes, you're doing the absolute right thing for him. Formula fed babies need to be fed as often as any other baby (that would be, whenever they're hungry) and it's a big fat myth that formula fed babies should be going 3-4 hours between feeds when they're little. Some may, yes, but most shouldn't (though I think a lot do more by force than naturally or because people use hungry baby milks from the start because they don't want to feed them often). At 6 months, yes, babies should be going more than 2 hours between feeds if they are being fed the proper amount, but at only a few weeks old, just feed as much or as little as he wants whenever he wants it. He knows what he needs. You just need to trust him to let you know that. A bottle will last 2 hours once it's made up, so just keep it with you until it gets too old and you can feed him whenever he's hungry. At that age, babies like to be held constantly anyway, so if you've got him in your arms, feeding a little extra is easy as long as you don't need to make up a new bottle.

 

[anrugg]

My second little one is 2.5 weeks and she takes 2oz every 2-3 hours, which is the same as how we started out with our older daughter. According to our pediatrician, 2-3 oz every 2-3 hrs is normal. If what he's taking doesn't seem to satisfy him for the full 2-3 hrs you can start to gradually increase to 3 oz. Main thing is to just listen to your little one and feed on demand. He'll take what he needs when he needs it. Good luck.