FF - advice on how much to give

[MrsSnaplegs]

DS is 13 weeks today and we are just making the move from BF to FF as I have to return to work in 3 weeks and cannot continue to BF once back at work (job incompatible, nowhere to express etc etc) decision made so my question is - do we follow the guide on the packs for his age or his weight?

If we go on age he should have 30 oz a day if we go on weight (16lb 6 last week) we should be aiming for 35 oz a day.

He is a big baby (only 7lb 7 at birth but as you can tell gained rapidly )
and is currently in age 6-9 month clothes as he is also very long (61cm+)

He doesnt seem to want BF anymore
either as he will spend most of his time faffing around with the breast but then if you try him with a bottle of FF will guzzle it down (doesn't do the same for expressed in a bottle)

He is well developed and normally very settled, good routine and sleep pattern. Had been going through from 11-6 overnight but has now recently started waking at 0400 for a feed again.

Not sure what guidelines we should be following so any advice would be appreicated.

How much does he want each day?

Well have been bf until now with a 6oz bottle in the evening so difficult to assess. Charted input yesterday and he had 32oz as follows
0430 4oz plus breast
0630 4oz
1200 6oz
1400 3oz
1700 4 oz
1900 6oz
2359 6 oz

Today so far
0420 4oz
0700 6oz
1200 6 oz
1300 3oz
Currently asleep since 1400 and will probably wake at 1700 for a feed - plan to give 4oz then 6 oz at 1900 before bed. Depending on how Settled may give another at 2300 or wait and see when he wakes.

Bump

mrsS my dd is 9 weeks and weighs 11LB 1oz. she usually takes on average 30oz in 24 hours but over the last few days has been taking closer to 37oz.

speaking to the health visitor today she thinks it best to go by the weight rather than age guidelines.

thank you mumatron he's now had another 7 oz at 1700 and 4 oz now so that already takes him to 30 oz so far - will see how long he settles for

good luck with it.

The charts are only a very rough guide mrssnap, and I always found them way out for ds. I would go with whatever he wants for a while and then he will probably settle into a pattern.
Looking at your chart there he took 6 oz at 1200 then another 3oz an hour later, I would say he was still hungry at that 12 feed, but thats only my personal experience and I am by no means an expert. Did he drain the 1200 bottle?
DS settled into a pattern after a few weeks and I roughly knew what he would take at each feed after that, I worked on the guide (from HV and friends, family etc) that if he drained a bottle then I would offer another ounce at that bottle the next time and that was normally enough for him for another couple of weeks until he drained that amount, then i offered another ounce etc etc.
Good luck.

Thanks happylittlebear - he ended up having 37 oz in total yesterday but 7oz was ex bm in a bottle which looked really watery so not sure how "nutritious" it was it looked like watered down skimmed milk. That was all I had produced in 12 hours as well.
He did manage to pretty much sleep through - went down at 1900 woke at midnight and had 6 oz then went through to 0530 then went back to sleep till 0730.
Will go with what he seems to want as you say.

I read on Babycentre that you should aim for 2.5oz per pound of the baby's weight, per day. DS is 17 weeks, weighs 19lbs and is taking approx 38oz per day, which is less than the 2.5oz per pound. He usually feeds every 3-4 hours during the day, dreamfeeds at 2300 then next feed at 7am.

Hope that helps?

Definitely go on weight not age, but also what the baby wants as a guide.

I would go for what your baby wants - this is what you would do with BF, so it would be reasonable to do this for FF. Perhaps if your DS drains 8oz bottles 8 times a day then you would not demand feed, as it would clearly be too much. But otherwise you will just end up with a hungry baby or one that has been fed so much that it throws up.