Formula Feeding: How much and how often?

[Willsmum79]

My DS is 7 weeks lod now. He is in a routine at night time and will wake either midnight and 4am for a feed OR just 2:30am depending on his bedtime (7:30am - 9pm) but we can't get him into a daytime routine.

He weighs 10lb now and used to have 4/5oz most of the time of formula 6-8 times a day when he was 4/5 weeks old. Now he prefers 2/3oz and 8-10 times a day but there are no set times.

He is fractious from 4pm onwards and will graze and we often find that he wastes bottles because we don't know how much he is wanting. We can make 4/5oz only for him to take 1/2oz or we make 2/3oz only for him to drain the bottles and want more.

HELP! What do I do???

Hey Willsmum, My son was exactly the same at that age. I think, with hindsight my son did not really get into a feeding routine until maybe 10 weeks, so I wish I had just gone with the flow instead of trying to force this issue with him. He didn't care but it would have made me less stressed.

I think we cracked it around the 3 month mark! I remember thinking we wasting so much formula but I think it is just the way it has to be, they are so unpredictable, sometimes wolfing down milk then other times they just sip.

Probably not much help but just know that it is probably normal and he seems to be a healthy weight so you must be doing something right. Keep your chin up!

I agree with alex my dd is 11 weeks and still doesn't take consistent amounts. I batch make too so its hard as all her bottles are 5oz so she sometimes wastes lots. I will say tho one thing we realised soon on is that the one hour rule of formula is kind of balls. It's put on there for health and safety but is long as the bottle was sterile and you scorched the powder it's fine for a good 2 hours. So I guess my point is don't worry about daytime routine as its rare for babies to be regular feeders in the day, none of my friends dds are, and don't panic too much about bottles not being finished straight away x

Hi Willsmum79 - As the ladies above say, it can take a while to feel that you've "cracked" this one (and then the little darlings move the goalposts AGAIN!).

My DS is eight months old now and it was hard to work out what he wanted at first. The HV told me to "demand" feed him, but this is a bit difficult with formula. We used a lot of pre-made cartons around the start, so we didn't have to keep him waiting.

He eventually fell into a routine of feeding around every four hours. I found noting down the times he was feeding and how much he was taking enabled me to see a pattern developing and to "drop" any feeds that he was less inclined to take.

It's also worth remembering that the quantity guidelines on the side of the formula box are jut that - guidelines. If your child wants larger/smaller amounts more/less frequently, well that is perfectly alright. DS liked big feeds, further apart. Another friend found her DD wanted small feeds closer together.

My DS is my first and I've found that all the things that I have been concerned about (oh, the list is LONG!) all sort themselves out - and usually quicker than you'd imagine. A routine really didn't start to take shape until he was about 12 weeks old.

Hope that helps!