Those of you who do a bedtime bottle feed for little ones, how much do you give?

[1978andallthat]

Ds (mix fed) is really hungry evenings. He's 7wks. Rather than give 120ml then bf for ages then end up giving another bf and another bottle and again sometimes as many as three bottles between 5pm and 10pm with loads of bf in between, I am thinking of a bigger bottle about 7pm followed by trying to put him to bed as he is also clearly knackered during this time. Wondered how much you give yours if you do an evening bottle feed.

Is a question about bottle feeding so please no bf suggestions however kindly meant.

[thompson369]

DD is also 7 week, I offer one bottle as a "final" top up last thing before bed. I only make a 4oz bottle and she rarely takes more than 2-3 oz. it does seem to settle her and on the nights when I haven't offered it she has woken for more feeds during the night. I basically let her bf all evening and then as I say offer this small bottle last. Hope that helps.

[ticklebug74]

I did the same, a final top up after all night cluster feeding and she normally took about 3oz. We introduced a full bottle feed at 13 weeks at 11pm where she took between 5-7oz - but it made no difference to night time sleeping!! Now at 18 weeks she has a 7pm bottle also and again takes between 5-7oz.

If you are mainly breastfeeding then the volume they take changes each day and each feed so be guided by your baby. Offer the recommended amount per feed for age/weight and see how much he takes. It will probably change each day.

Good luck - mixed feeding works very well for me - dd is my third and haves mixed fed all of mine at some point :-)

[1978andallthat]

He is my second but dd also mix fed was never this hungry. He has 120ml at about 5pm then a breastfeed their and off for two hours then another 120 ml then bf on and off for couple of hours then another 60-90ml then sleep. I am wondering if I do bigger bottle about 7 whether he'll then just have bf again before I go to sleep

[ticklebug74]

Give it a go, he will take what he wants and if it's too much you'll soon know. I still feel like a novice third time around and all three of mine have been completely different in terms of feeding and sleeping. But I did notice that dc3 settled into a bit more of a regular pattern with longer gaps between feeds at around 12 weeks so don't be disappointed if the 7pm doesn't work straight away - keep it up with a bedtime routine and he will eventually get there.

[thompson369]

Completely agree with above, I'm also on DC3 and they've all been different. The other thing is you may try something which seems to work one night only for the next night to be completely different! I'd be tempted to try the larger bottle as you suggest and just see what happens. Let us know how you get on.

[1978andallthat]

Am I right in thinking he can't have too much? As in if I give him too much he'll throw up? He's never yet thrown up or refused a bottle. (He is gaining weight - I'm not starving him!). I'm worried about stretching/overloading his tummy.

[1978andallthat]

Hmm we'll he started bf at 4.30pm (having had bf then bottle at 1pm) then had massive bf and 120ml bottle then a bath and play then another big bf then another 150ml at 7pm (hitch he had slowly but finished with the hour). Then was awake and playful for an hour and dropped of just after 9. Except he'll wake up now when I bring him up and probably have nappy change and bf then sleep.

So only change was rather than have him scream at me for ages then succumb to giving him bottle I just constantly had food available to him so he had more or less same amount of food (well 30ml more than usual in second bottle) and much less crying.