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Variable feeds

9 replies

Poppet1710 · 01/12/2019 13:22

Need advice again from you lovely people. My 6 week old baby is being bottle fed a mixture of breast milk and formula and has been for a week now. (We can’t directly feed from the breast despite lots of support and intervention so for our well being we switched to bottles.) He has breast milk during the day and formula overnight. There just seems to be no pattern to how much and when he eats. I’m not expecting a routine but just wondered if it is normal for him to graze in this way. For example in the last 24 hours he has fed 10 times:
1pm 110ml expressed, 4pm 130ml expressed, 18.30 90ml formula, 21.30 90ml formula, 23.45 60ml formula, 3.30 90ml formula, 06.30 50ml expressed, 08.45 70ml expressed, 11.00 20ml expressed, 12.30 50ml expressed. We are offering a soother at he takes it at times but others not. He was 4.45kg on Thursday and is taking between 650 and 800ml a day since we switched to bottles. I don’t know whether it would be better to alternate feeds between breast milk and formula rather than the day night thing we are kind of doing at the moment. Any suggestions welcome.

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Poppet1710 · 01/12/2019 18:55

Bump

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Selfsettling3 · 02/12/2019 12:54

Breast feed babies feed between 8 and 12 times a day on average and more when they cluster feed so it sounds about right.

Sorry I don’t know about expressed breast milk but well done on the expressing. Expressing is not easy.

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Bluebelltulip · 02/12/2019 17:20

Frequent feeds not at a schedule are normal for 6 weeks so don't worry about that. I don't know if alternating feeds is beneficial so can't help with that. With expressing it is important to do it day and night though as if you are only expressing in the day you are likely to find your supply drops.

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hodgepodge21 · 02/12/2019 21:39

My DS was exactly the same at 6 weeks, and in fact has only just started getting into some semblance of a routine in the last couple of weeks (and is 16 weeks old on Wednesday!) i wouldn't worry too much, it will start to balance out and get into a routine over the coming weeks! Just a pain in the meantime having to constantly sterilise and make up bottles!

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Poppet1710 · 03/12/2019 01:50

Thanks everyone. Just wanted to be sure he is getting enough as it is hard to know with mixing formula and expressed milk. As much as I would love to give him only expressed milk/continue doing the way we are I am having to reduce the expressing as it is very time consuming and when it is only me and him difficult to manage. Particularly when expressing overnight- I do all the night feeds so my husband gets a full night sleep so by the time I do a feed, express I don’t get much sleep and I’m reserves are going. He tried to give me a break at the weekend but as I get up to express I end up having to settle the LO as he finds it challenging.

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hodgepodge21 · 03/12/2019 09:02

You sound in a very similar situation to me! At 6 weeks I was attempting to breast feed, express and mix in formula where needed and it became a nightmare. A couple of weeks later I decided to switch completely to formula. It was such a difficult decision at the time, but I am so glad I made that decision now.

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horse4course · 03/12/2019 10:09

I'd go by weight gain not how much he feeds.

If he was feeding direct from the breast, you wouldn't know how much he was getting, you'd have to go by weight and nappies. (Not that there's anything wrong with opting for combo feeding!)

He's not a machine, how much he needs will depend on growth spurts, weather, if he's ill or teething - it's his food and drink. Sometimes you want a series of snacks in a day, sometimes you want big meals and lots of big drinks. I'd just relax unless his weight is a concern.

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horse4course · 03/12/2019 10:18

And btw I think recording precise numbers might increase anxiety - I'd go by 'he had most of that bottle, give him another when he's hungry or in x hours'

Watch the baby not the numbers!

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Poppet1710 · 03/12/2019 10:57

@horse4course Thanks. I’m trying to switch my brain out of when we were on a feeding plan due to weight loss. Had to wake him every 3 hours and ensure he had x amount of formula on top of a breast feed. He would gulp that down and still not be satisfied. This alongside other things made us switch to the bottle- he is so much happier. I just need to relax now- I’m an anxious person normally so with everything we have been through with his birth and first weeks of his life it has heightened my anxieties. I am trying to relax more with it.