6 week old bottle fed - how much is too much and water between feeds.

[Orchide]

hi, hope someone can offer some advice. my daughter is 6 weeks old and has been bottle fed from the start, but am a bit concerned about her weight gain and feeding habits.

she was smack on the 75th percentile when she was born and at the last weigh in was just above the 91 st.
HV suggesting that we offer her 7oz of formula. She will at times take more than 6oz, but more frequently only about 4+oz. For the frist few weeks she was a 4 hourly baby, so regualrly that you could almost set your watch by her feeds. but now ot seems more sporadic...quite often stretch t 5/6 hours during the night bu during the day she wants a feed more frequently. when she does feed during the day she doesnt take as much. does that sound like a good pattern?

I guess im concerned (probablly overly so!)with her wieght gain -(11lb 10 at 5+ weeks!) and the amount of feeds. the formula guidleines suggest 7oz feeds for a much older baby (4 months) and only 5 a day - she always has at least 6.

someone suggested giving her water between feeds, ie. at the 2/3 hour mark? is a water top up for formula fed babys a good plan?

[lilKelBel]

Hi
We must be psychically connected - was just going to post asking how much other FF 6wk old babies are having at a go!!

My girl takes 4-5 oz every 3-4 hours but at least once a day she messes with that and decides she's hungry 2 hours after her last feed or only takes 2oz etc.

She has at least 8 feeds a day. Offering 7oz at a time seems a bit much - but I guess the most important thing is to keep track of how much total she has a day and keeping that in line with 2.6oz per lb of body weight per day - do you keep a record of it?

btw that yours sleeps for 5/6 hours at night already. Hoping for that soon...

HTH

[lilKelBel]

oh and she gets 1-2oz or so water an hour or so after her midday feed each day.

[Orchide]

hi lilKelBel

i think the HV thinkking was to offer her more than she was finishing so that she never went hungry IFYWIM. so if she needed 6oz and a couple of gulps more then they were there for her rather than her left wantign more and demanding more feed ina couple of hours.
is she a v hungry baby...or greedy - can lil babies be greedy or do they just take what they need? she never sicks its up..... have heard tyhat is a sign of baby over feeding?

had not heard of 2.6oz pr lb of body weight

dont always get 5/6 hours at one go if that makes you feel any better! did last night ...ahem!

[katewilson13]

I bottle fed my DS and had the same worries. I followed the guidelines on the packaging about how much to make up - but like you had days when he seemed to drink less. 6 weeks is really really young and too young for her to have worked out a routine and she doesn't know how much she's supposed to be drinking! Babies do dip in weight don't they after birth? You sound as if you're doing everything brilliantly - if she's drinking, not hungry, weeing, and sleeping I don't know that you can do any more! Little and often is the key. Keep going and mention any concerns about weight gain to your Health visitor.

[Orchide]

did you also offer you DS water on a regular basis?

[EscapeFrom]

feed her the formula whenever she wants feeding - I was advised no more thab 2 oz of water at a time.

[lulumama]

IMO and IME , bottle fed babies, certainly at this age , do not need water, unless is it extremely hot....the formula provides food and drink, as it were......

6 weeks is way to early to expect a routine, and is often a time of a growth spurt

if baby is regularly finishing the bottle, add one more oz.

frequent feeding in the day can help them to go longer in the night

filling her tummy with water, when she might need more milk, is a bit pointless, as she might then want another smaller feed, sooner, than having just a bigger feed in the first place

try not to obsess about how many ounces ,each feed,each day...babies, like grown ups , can have days they want more food than others...as long as weeing and pooing, happy and alert, you can;t be going far wrong!

[bagsundereyes]

My dd is 4 months and has always had far more than is recommended on the tin! Her pattern was very similar to you dd's at 6 weeks. She still has 7 bottles over day-night.

When she was born she was on the 25th percentile. She has always been a greedy guts, and I was when she was checked at 6 weeks and on the 75th percentile! I panicked a little bit as some of the less helpful books fill your head with concerns about ff babies over feeding.

But her weight gain settled down, and has now settled around that 75th percentile. So I guess there's a good chance your dd's weight gain might stabilise too.

We don't offer water, but if she has gone less than 2 hours between feeds I offer the dummy, in case she is "sucky" rather than hungry. Sometimes it'll do. sometimes it won't!

[charlie999]

I also find my DD has more formula than expected. I am just about to put her feeds up to 6oz (she's 6 weeks old on Saturday) as she mostly drains a 5oz bottle. She was going 5-6 hours between feeds but must be on a growth spurt cos she's going 4 hourly atm.

I offer a little cooled boiled water and/or a dummy if its only been a couple of hours since feeding. She hates the water so only takes a couple of gulps! If she carries on screaming I feed her, and she often surprises me by taking it all!

I also find she feeds twice, sometimes 3 times in an evening (must be like cluster feeding in bf babies??) - stocking up as it were for night-time and can then go from 9pm till 5am (not sleeping unforunately, but between feeds).

HTH

[gegs73]

Glad that you started this post as I have a 6 week old and was wondering exactly the same thing. Some feeds he will drain a 5 oz bottle and others take only 4. I asked my HV for advice and in so many words she told me to 'look on the tin' This thread is much more helpful.

He is still waking every 3 hours or so in the night for milk though despite being over 12lbs so very of all of those of you actually getting some sleep.

[Orchide]

gegs73 - glad someone else has a 6 week old who is also a 12lber!!! Went to get weighed today and she is 12lb on the dot.... should i not tell u she slept from 8pm till gone 4 am last night?!?


Also expressed my concerns over her formula intake and HV said offer up to 8oz and ignore what it says on the tin!!!! When she is regulalrly finishing 8oz then we will think abotu changing to hungry baby formula but unil then she will take what she needs. water is only nec when its v hot or she is constipated. also said v. similar to lulumama...if hses happy, weeinog and pooing then its ok.

[lilKelBel]

I guess we give water because we fail the Lulumama test - she is not happy or pooing happily!!!

So so of your lo's who sleep for more than 3 hours at night...(sigh).

[gegs73]

I am posting again as I am ecstatic For the first time ever last night DS2 went 5 hours between feeds from 10pm until 3am then 3am until 7am. I can't believe it must have been me being of the Mums on here with sleeping babies. Lets just hope its not a one off and happens again tonight.

[lilKelBel]

wow gegs!!! what's your secret then??

[gegs73]

Pure luck I think He did however yesterday drink more at each feed than he ever has done before and finished a couple of 6oz bottles, so maybe he just had more milk inside him. We will see if the same happens tonight!

[lilKelBel]

wow gegs that's great. I really wish I could get DD to drink that much at a time!! Did you do anything to encourage that or did it just happen?

Fingers crossed for you tonight

We've fed DD every two hours leading up to bedtime ("tanking up") I hope this strategy works as she doesn't seem able to take more milk via the big feeds route...

sorry for hijacking the thread and turning it into a 'sleep is for the weak' one

[gegs73]

Ha ha I was thinking the same thing It just happened so hope it will for you too, he just seems to be really hungry and taking more the last couple of days. Thinking about it though, if he stopped feeding after 4 ounces or so I would have stopped but last couple of days have kept trying and he has started again and ended up taking 5 or more.

[gegs73]

Hope your tanking up works!!!!

[lilQuidditchKel]

sigh.

well she went from her last 'cluser feed' at 8 till nearly midnight. Then 3:30. Then 5:30. Then 7. Gahhhhh

[lulumama]

sorry your LO is not happy or pooing well.. must be a worry

if she is feeding more, it might be a growth spurt , they are fairly frequent the first few months

[nappyaddict]

7 oz at 6 weeks my ds was having about 4 oz at this point!

[nappyaddict]

the recommended amount is 2 - 2.7 oz per pound of weight.

[lilQuidditchKel]

lulu - but surely not every night...?

[lulumama]

if she is 6 weeks old, lilkel.....her age alone is the reason she is feeding frequently , day and night.....babies require lots of feeding, some more than others though....my DD was having lots of little feeds day and night for a while, and even when sleeping through, still fed little and often throughout the day

not every baby does go 3 - 4 hours , it might be that your baby does require lots of feeding, simply because that is how she is made iFYSWIM

1 or 2 night feeds at 6 weeks old is normal, and pretty much to be expected , i would have thought

[lilQuidditchKel]

thx lulu
she's 7+1 now...
still feeds at 4/6/8pm, 11, 2, 5, 7am...
really wish she'd take more than 2-3oz most of the time!!