Question about increasing ounces with age

[Lara310809]

They advise to give newborns 3oz 6 times a day, 2-4 week olds 4oz 5 times a day, and 4-8 week olds now 5oz 5 times a day.

Chloe will be 4 weeks tomorrow, but I'm reluctant to go up to a 5oz bottle because I don't think she's even hungry enough to have 4oz in one go, let alone 5oz

When we give her 4oz, she seems to only finish about 60% of her bottles, and we often end up putting the remaining 1oz in the fridge for the next feed Trouble is, feeding 5 times a day suggests you should give a bottle every 4.5 hours, but she starts rooting about 2.5 hours later, and starts crying for food about 3 hours later, so getting to 4.5 hours is almost impossible. We end up giving her the remaining 1oz at this point, but that screws up her feeding schedule.

I was wondering if it was okay to give the same amount of formula (so if you are advised to give 5oz five times, that's 25oz per day), but spread into more frequent feeds (e.g. spreading the 25oz into 6 or 7 feeds instead of the suggested 5), because I don't think there's any chance of her eating 5oz in one go from tomorrow, when she still has issues eating 4.

I am happy to feed her a smaller amount six times a day, but I'm wondering if this then makes it harder in the future to get her to eat only three times a day (when we introduce structured meal times). Chloe's still putting on weight as she should be, so it's not like she's not eating it. She eats it in smaller doses, just not in the doses the pack recommends. Any advice?

 

[TattiesMum]

Personally I'm a great believer in demand feeding (which is what you are really talking about here ) ... so yes, spreading the total amount she 'should' have into smaller but more frequent feeds is fine

One thing that we do is to ... for example .... make up 4 x 3oz bottles and feed one - if Kaylum drains that bottle and is looking for more straight away, then we simply decant one ounce from one of the 3oz bottles in the fridge into the empty bottle that he has just finished and feed him that.... if he is still looking for more when he has finished that then we repeat: It saves making up bottles with tiny amounts or wasting milk from larger bottles because they have been heated and can't then be kept.

Once he is full, then we leave him and, at his next feed, either give him the bottle which we have part used (which has been refrigerated all of the time) or one of the other 3oz bottles - depending on how long it is since his last feed.

 

[ellie27]

Keep doing what you are doing

Thats great your little one taking 25oz a day at just 4 weeks old!!

My Anna is taking around 27oz a day and she is over 4 months!! I worried a little at beginning but I take her to get weighed once a month and she is gaining weight exactly as she should. According to the Aptamil tub she should be on 35oz a day but no way! She has always took under the recommended on the tub.

Your Chloe is still young so do feed little and often. Anna done so too but then she started taking more and spreading out the feeds on her own.

Good stuff

 

[babybliss]

I also demand feed Carmen and it can be hard at times as she likes to eat different amounts at different times and it can be very wasteful at times. I usually make her 4oz bottle and if she drains all of them I will up her bottles to 5 oz. I also have one sterilised bottle in the fridge to top up if she didn't get enough from the previous bottle. if she leaves 1-2 oz I take it down to 4 oz. Main thing is that she is happy after meal.
I only feed her when she asks food. By her age and weight she should drain 5oz bottles and I was really worried at the time but now I'm not that bothered She looks healthy and happy. And I personally would not use the bottles that she hasn't finished.

 

[xbabybumpx]

charlotte is just 16 days old and she drinks 4oz between 3 to 4 hours. She has put on 1lb 2oz since she was born! X

 

[blondeNklutzi]

I wouldn't worry too much about recommended amounts. Some babies have bigger appetites than others. At 2 weeks, Mika was struggling to get down 2 oz, but by 2 months, was routinely downing 8. Now he pretty consistently eats six ounces. I would just feed her what she will take and then wait until she is hungry again (demand feed).

As far as putting formula back in fridge--recommendations are to throw a bottle out once baby has drunk from it so that bacteria can't build up in it. Having said that, we save leftover feeds, and Mika is just fine! Just wanted to let you know.

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

My LO seems to feed how ever she pleases. I gave her the recommended 3oz but she was still hungry so I started to give her 4oz and she seems quite happy with that. Although if I make a 4oz bottle she might only take 3 or 3.5oz but the "extra ounce" is there if she want's it. My MW told me to just give her what she ask's for when she ask's for it aslong as she's not going more than 6 hours without anything

 

[Alias]

I think it should really be more about the size of your baby than the age. My 6 week old is only taking 2-3 oz every 3 hours, but she was 5 weeks early and is just under 8lbs at the moment. As long as baby is happy and gaining weight, I'd forget about what 'they' say!

 

[Vici]

Def ignore ageand go with what's right for you. o long as shes happy and gaining weight then it doesn't matter x

 

[JellyBaby1]

The thing to remember is they are only guidelines they give you. Every baby is different and so all have different feeding patterns. As long as shes gaining weight i wouldn't worry. Baby knows what baby wants

 

[Mynx]

As the other girls have said! Evie has always been demand fed.. she demands, I feed If she drains a couple of bottles a day, then I know it's time to move up an ounce

Dont worry about increasing amount with age, you're better off increasing amount with appetite

 

[Lauraxamy]

My LO is a month old and on 5oz I was worried about putting her on 5 because of what the tin says tbh most the time she won't take the full 5oz in one go and will sometimes have a half hour or even an hour break and have the rest sometimes she doesn't though like at night but I make up 5 just incase she does want more after and on 4oz she was just finding it not enough.

 

[WW1]

As the other girls have said! Evie has always been demand fed.. she demands, I feed If she drains a couple of bottles a day, then I know it's time to move up an ounce

Dont worry about increasing amount with age, you're better off increasing amount with appetite

I totally agree with this. I do the same with Rebecca. She has never taken the "official" amounts but then she is small for her age and takes the recommended amount for her weight.

Rebecca has also never been one to drink a full bottle in one go. She will usually have 4 oz, then about an hour later have another couple of oz. By the end of the day she's had the amounts she should but in a snacking sort of way! It's harder work as it feels like she's constantly being fed but as long as she's getting what she needs and it works for her I'm not bothered!

Once she drains the bottles a couple of times (after her 2 stage feed) then I up it by an oz.

Just to say that I don't put any leftover feed back in the fridge as it's not recommended. I make fresh each time (but of course it's up to you).

Happy feeding

 

[Lara310809]

Just to say that I don't put any leftover feed back in the fridge as it's not recommended. I make fresh each time (but of course it's up to you)

Really? I was under the impression as long as it was freshly made for that feed, if she didn't finish it you could stick it in the fridge? Whoops...

 

[WW1]

Just to say that I don't put any leftover feed back in the fridge as it's not recommended. I make fresh each time (but of course it's up to you)

Really? I was under the impression as long as it was freshly made for that feed, if she didn't finish it you could stick it in the fridge? Whoops...

I've been told that once the baby has been sucking on the bottle then the likelihood of bacteria multiplying increases - to be honest, it could be an old wives tale but I've not done it just in case.