Amount of formula to give

[CherryBlossom27]

My DS is 13 weeks old and weighs 15lb 8oz.

I've been feeding him 4 hourly and he's completely finishing 9oz / 260mls of milk. He was sleeping through the night, so having 5 bottles in every 24 hours but he's still hungry I think as he's waking up earlier and earlier and he still wants more after each bottle.

I was thinking if I change to feeding him 3 hourly, then I can fit in 6 bottles in every 24 hours.

How much should a baby of this age/ weight be having as a guide, does anyone know?

My HV is very unhelpful as she seems to be very pro- breast feeding and it didn't work out and whenever I've asked her about formula feeding she never manages to answer a single question.

Does it not say on the side of the formula box? (I'm not much help because dd hated her milk!). I think changing to three hourly feeds is a good idea, it could also be that he is having a growth spurt.

Hi, my feeding advisor - a midwife - said a baby should have 150ml of formula per kg of weight. Do that sum and then divide by the number of feeds per day that you give. This is for an average baby, so some will want more, others less, plus they have growth spurts.

My HV was slightly more helpful when I asked her about this - although I was asking because I was worried dd wasn't drinking enough formula. She said the amount on the formula box is just a guide, and babies vary so much in the amounts they need. If your baby drains the bottle every feed then it probably means they want more, so maybe you should try and feed more frequently.

Hi all thanks for your replies,

SpottyTeacakes the formula box says:
2 months approx weight of baby 11lbs = 5 x 6oz feeds in 24 hours
4 months approx weight of baby 14.5lbs = 5 x 7oz feeds in 24 hours
The box isn't really much help as DS has always been having much more than the guidelines on there, I was so worried I was over feeding him at one point, but he's only been sick twice since birth apart from the odd dribble of milk!

keziahhopes thanks for this, I'll check out his weight in kg and try that formula :)

hazelnutlatte thanks, there doesn't seem to be a textbook baby does there? I'll try 3 hourly feeds today and see how it goes!

I did try feeding on demand, but it was awful, DS was having totally random amounts of milk at completely weird times and waking up frequently in the night so I think he does better with a routine (as do I!).

Cherry is he long too? It might be worth getting him measured as having huge amounts of milk isn't much of an issue if he is in proportion. My DN drank a huge amount of formula, she ended up on the 91th centile for weight but was on the 99th for length so was, and still is at 7 in proportion. She can still eat twice as much as my DS but is a year younger and towers over him.

Hi JiltedJohnsJulie, yes he's as long as the 7/8 month old babies, but not as chunky if that makes sense! I'm not sure how long he is, but I'll ask the HV next time I get him weighed if they can measure him too. He's definitely not fat or particularly chubby, just long and hungry!

Eek! Feeding DS 3 hourly definitely didn't agree with him :(

He feed at 04.15am, 09.45am, 13.00pm, 16.00pm, 19.30pm, 12.30am. He projectile vomited the entire feed at 16.00pm, I've never seen anything like it :( he looked quite shocked afterwards, poor little thing!

I'm going to go back to 4 hourly feeds and if he needs a sixth bottle in the night I'll do it that way instead.

Only 3 more weeks and he will be 17 weeks and I'll be introducing some baby rice I think. It's horrible ignoring my instincts that are telling me he is hungry, but I'll wait til 17 weeks and I don't think I will wait much longer than that tbh.

All this liquid is making him wee constantly, in the daytime I am having to change a wet nappy every hour. Luckily he hasn't developed nappy rash yet!!

My mum is horrified that we haven't introduced solids yet as she did with me and my brother at 14 weeks and we were both less than 7lbs at birth.

Very un-pc!

Well Cherry if your instincts are telling you he is hungry I'd delay solids for as long as possible. Baby rice in particular has very little nutritional value and has far fewer calories than his milk. If he is hungry you'd just be filling him up with something that could make the situation worse not better, and I speak from experience. We also had a lot of pressure to wean early, particulary from my Mum. Things have changed alot from when we were little and there has lots more research on the subject.

I think if he is as long and as slim as you say I'd just carry on giving the bottles of formula as you were. He sounds fine and all babies are different.

If you are thinking of trying baby rice have a read of this before you decide.

The NHS and MN both have some very good information on weaning. Perhaps if you're Mum mentions early weaning again you could get her to read them?

I too would stick with milk as long as possible - it's far more calorific per unit IYKWIM? Weaning is about introducing solids, not satisfying their appetite. Quite apart from that, it's a hell of a faff!

My DS is under paeds for reflux and they say that 120-180ml per kg is the best measure. That way hungrier babies are catered for as well as less hungry babies.

I don't know what that means for your ds.

Yes I agree that the milk is the main source of 'food' and the solids aren't a replacement for milk, but an addition. It's really difficult as he is able to hold his head up very well and he can roll over etc, I think that with all the additional physical things he is doing which other babies the same age can't do is also adding to his need for extra calories.

It sounds a bit mad, but is it normal for him to have a completely wet nappy every hour?

I was thinking baby rice would be good if I do wean DS early as it seems least likely to cause any bad reactions. I'm planning when he's older to introduce all of the 'yellow' vegetables like carrots, butternut squash, swede etc and fruits like pears, bananas and apples.

I think I would feel a lot more confident either way if I had a half decent health visitor who would actually talk to me rather than making me feel rubbish for not breast feeding and quoting ''milk only for at least 6 months" when I'm asking for help with the amounts of formula milk DS is having. I wish they would actually talk to me as a person rather than sounding as if they are quoting from a script repeating the same thing and not discussing anything.

Thank you for the formula buttonmoon, it works out that DS should be having 846mls to 1269mls per day, he's having on average between 1260 - 1300mls per day at the moment...very hungry baby!

I will see if the health visitor will measure him next week and attempt a conversation about his appetite. Last time I dared mention it she told me he was constipated...just her assumption/generalisation because he is on formula feed, so I told her no, I don't think so as he poos at least twice a day - is that constipated?!

He's not having an awful lot more than the recommended amount then is he Cherry.

What's bothering you about it exactly. If you give him that amount of milk and he sleeps through then surely he's not hungry?

Getting him measured does sound like a good idea.

I agree. That's only just outside 'average'. It's such an arbitrary amount I wouldn't be concerned in the slightest that he's having a tiny bit over!

I agree - leave him for a bit. Some babies like to keep you on your toes and change the 'routine' frequently. DS (8mo) has always liked to start the day with a bottle. In the last week he looks at me like I'm trying to poison him unless I give him his readybrek first! But I can guarantee that once I get my head round that he'll change back again.

If I were you I'd keep posting questions here - I'm very lucky that I've got a great HV team but I know that it's not so for everyone, and even then I take a lot of advice from here. Wherever you are, whatever the problem, someone's been there before.

I hope that when you get him measured you feel a bit more reassured. FWIW, my ds is on the 91st for both weight and height. All the HCPs assume he's consuming loads and loads of milk/food but some days he barely gets through the 'minimum' recommended amount. He's just a chunkster.

Sorry - meant to say I agree that if he's sleeping through and generally content then don't force the 6 bottle issue! Doh.

Thanks for the advice it does help! I'm leaving him to wake up as and when in the night, so if he wakes up at 3am and just needs a nappy change, I'll do that and pop him back to sleep, but if he's hungry as well I'll give him a feed. I've been leaving him to wake up of his own accord in the night, and I wait until there's an actual cry rather than a grumble as I've found he does go back to sleep sometimes.

I think the thing that's bothering me is that DS will drain the full bottle in 10 minutes and he's still wanting more afterwards and I can't put any more milk in the bottle. I've tried slowing him down with a break for burping, but when he's very hungry he will scream the house down until the bottle is back in, so I figure that's more likely to give him wind and just let him carry on.

My plan is to stick it out until 17 weeks and see what the situation is like then. To be honest if it weren't for the guidelines from the NHS I would have been giving him solids already, but I don't want him to have any health issues through something I have done wrong, so I am holding off.

I'm going to be so happy once he has hit the magical 24 weeks and I can let him go for more or less anything! I know it'll be messy, but I really think its going to be fun once we can get going properly without guilt!

Just a quick update....

So I was feeding DS every 4 hours during the day and he was sleeping through the night, so he had 5 bottles in every 24 hours.

I increased the milk by reintroducing the night time feed which he was waking up for anyway, so 6 bottles in every 24 hours.

DS is now feeding every 3 hours during the day time now and having a bottle in the night, so 7 bottles in every 24 hours.

It's working out as 12am, 4am, 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm. He's now having on average 1400mls.

Thankfully DS has stopped draining every bottle, so this should buy us some time before needing to introduce solids :)

I will be interested to see what he weighs in a couple of weeks when we go to the clinic...

Your Ds sounds like both of mine! They are now 3 and 6. They were hungry from the day they were born and could drain a bottle quicker than any other baby I knew and still want more after! I started weaning at about 21 weeks. I did not drop the amount of milk I gave them though as this is what they need most.the solids where in addition to the milk. I whizzed up a few batches of veg and spoon fed these. When they were 6 months I started letting them fed themselves with pieces of fruit, veg meat etc as well as spoon feeding (so a mixture of blw and traditional weaning) the good thing about weaning a baby with a bigappetite is that weaning is so much fun-they eat anything and really enjoy it! My dc still eat loads and eat very healthily. I would suggest you do what your gut instinct tells you.leave it as long as possible, but personally, I wouldn't be afraid of starting a little before the 26wk mark. Obviously, if you do start early, you are restricted on.what you can feed him though.

"I will be interested to see what he weighs in a couple of weeks when we go to the clinic..."

Did you get him measured Cherry

Why does he need to feed a set amount at set times though?

Can't you give him what he wants, when he wants it ?

Adults don't usually eat the same amount at the same time of day

the guidance has changed now, but when my DD was little weaning was recommended as 16 weeks (although the new 6mth stuff was starting to be talked about). she was a very hungry (and sucky) baby and at 9 weeks the HV(!) suggested i might need to think about introducing baby rice, and i was very stressed by it all but at 14-15 weeks she suddenly settled right down again and although i did wean her at 17wks i think i could have waited longer at that point.

looking back i wish i'd tried a different milk. she was getting aptamil which was very thin. i mixed fed DS and used Hipp with him which was heavier and definitely seemed to fill him up better.

Glad to know I'm not the only one with a hungry baby morecoffee I almost wish he was smaller to save all these worries about solids and not so hungry, but I wouldn't change him for the world! I'm sure he'll be eating us out of house and home in a few years lol!

JiltedJohnsJulie we had him weighed on the 26 th March, but my HV told me to only get him weighed once a month, so I'll ask about his length when we next go. I met a lady the other week at a baby group who'd been told by the same HV not to keep getting him weighed every week and apparently the HV laughed at her and she ended up in tears when she got outside as she felt like an idiot....and she's a mum of 3!

Finallygotaroundtoit do you mind me asking if you formula fed? He needs some sort of routine otherwise I'd be trying to feed him so frequently and he'd be "snacking" this wouldn't really work as although the carton says the milk can be used within 2 hours, I prefer to chuck any unused milk after an hour as I really don't want to risk a tummy upset. I'd end up chained to my kitchen sterilising bottles and boiling the kettle! Also I'm taking my cue from DS as I wait for him to wake up in the night, and during the day I watch for when he gets hungry and at the moment it's roughly 3 hourly. If I'm on a rough schedule I can get the milk ready for him before he gets upset. I don't wait until exactly 1 pm for example to feed him, if he's hungry earlier or later I'll feed him then, but at least I know roughly when to feed him, especially if I'm going out on the bus or going to the shops etc, I would prefer to feed him first, then I know he'll be settled.

skrumie I think I read on another thread here that cow and gate and aptamil are made by the same company? I'm using cow and gate at the moment, do you think there would be a big difference if it's made by the same company? Do you mind me asking why you wish you'd waiting longer to wean as well?

Thanks everyone...good to have a bit of hand holding!

Another update... Finally spoke to a HV who was sympathetic and offered suggestions and advice on the formula feeding! Relief!

We've made a plan and are going to try it out for two weeks...

Make up smaller feeds of 210mls, and feed three hourly during the daytime at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm, and he will then have plenty of milk for his weight during the daytime. HV advised me not to feed him at night time unless absolutely necessary as he should be getting enough in the day and should be sleeping through (he's regressed to newborn mode!).

So far so good! :)