FF on demand?

[CasGirl]

I know its not really possible to overfeed a baby as long as you watch for their cues, but do you have to keep to a schedule? I know lots of people bf on demand, but can/should you ff on demand? Thanks for your help, I'm completely lost!

[SpeakNoWords]

Yes, current NHS advice is to feed on demand if formula feeding. I assume it works the same as breastfeeding, so you'd look for early hunger cues and prepare a bottle at that point. Then let them have as much or as little of that as they want without trying to encourage them to drink more if they stop before finishing the amount offered. Similarly you'd offer a bit more if they drain the bottle.

[frikadela01]

I ff my 19 week on demand. He had fallen into his own routine of every 4ish hours during the day. I can see how getting into a routine can work for some but doing it this way works for us.

[BareBum]

I FF whenever my DD seemed hungry and it seemed to work fine. She would spit out the teat when she'd had enough.

[CasGirl]

Thank you so much for your advice, I tried researching it myself and generally just ended up spinning in circles and landing back at the traditional 'breast is best' advice.

[BertieBotts]

Yes you can. Just remember that once your baby has started drinking a bottle you can only keep it for one hour because they will have introduced bacteria from their mouth into the milk. Of course you'll learn how much he usually takes, and it's best to make a little bit more so that you end up discarding the last bit of milk.

You might be interested in "paced bottle feeding" which is a way of mimicking the process of breastfeeding but with a bottle and (in theory) is supposed to help the baby recognise their own feelings of hunger/fullness. I have no idea if it's tested or not and it might be too faffy to work in practice, but here you go.
www.mamanatural.com/paced-bottle-feeding/

[BertieBotts]

The article is a bit breast-is-best preachy but it does have actual info in it as well, sorry - it was the best one I could find, but fair warning.

[Babney]

Out of curiosity, if you FF on demand, what if baby takes more(a lot more) ounces than what is recommended on the box?
Is it really not possible to overfeed baby on formula?
Have been driving myself demented worrying that I'm feeding him too more than what is recommended.

[DuggeeSchmuggee]

Both my DS were FF on demand. They were hungry boys, and were 75centile for weight. Anything they didn't want they threw up! Don't worry, you can't overfeed them.

[Heirhelp]

The box is just a guideline. Just get your lo weighed regularly.

[Babney]

Thanks, I was driving myself crazy counting how many ounces he was taking.