4 month old FF routine

[pag2020]

Hi everyone

Just after some advice. My son is 16 weeks and I am struggling to find the best way to get his bottles into him during the day.

He sleeps 7.30pm to 6.30am straight through so has completely cut out any night time bottles (not complaining one bit) but that means having to get all his milk into him in the day which is proving a bit challenging.

He is not a big eater and since he was about 3 months old, I have struggled to read his hunger cues, they are almost non existent, so feeding on demand has gone out the window. I have tried giving him 2 hr gaps, not hungry enough. 3hr gaps, sometimes hungry sometimes not. 4hrs i feel is too long of a gap for his age but he does take a good 6-7oz after 4hrs but that means I can only fit 4 bottles in during the day.

I usually get him to roughly 25-30oz a day which is on the low side for his weight (according to guidelines anyway!).

Could anyone share how they feed their 4 month old? Particularly ones with smaller appetites? I'm struggling to find a happy medium with gaps between his feeds!

Thanks

[Fallagain]

Don’t focus on how much milk he has. Get him weighed regularly and focus on making sure he follows his centile.

[pag2020]

@Fallagain well that's the problem, he's dropped a centile. He was born 50th, dropped to 25th and is slowly approaching the next lower one. I go to my HV every 2 weeks to get him weighed

[Fallagain]

Which bottles are you using? Is it time to move up a teat size? Are you using regular first stage formula?

[pag2020]

@Fallagain he is on dr browns size 2 teat with SMA first milk. He can drink around 5oz in 10 mins so don't think they're too slow

[Fallagain]

If he goes 3 1/2 or 4 hours does he have more milk than if you tried feeding him every 2 and half hours? I would try both ways for a good few days and see in which way he takes the most.

[Vicky1989x]

Would he take a dreamfeed around 10/11pm? That means you can get an extra bottle into him.

[pag2020]

@Vicky1989x well we have tried dreamfeeds and he either won't take anything when still asleep or he wakes up fully take about 70ml then go back to sleep 😅 so I'd rather not disturb his sleep if that's what he wants

[shouldistop]

25-30oz sounds about right. I wouldn't worry what the exact guidelines say. Ds2 is breastfed and I've no idea how much milk he has, he's almost 1 and hasn't been weighed since 6 weeks as no clinics open where I am. You learn to look at the baby; are they peeing and pooing normally, meeting milestones, alert when awake, not distressed etc?
I believe weight is only an issue if they cross 2 centile lines.