Help with bottle routine!

[Shanx19]

Hello everyone

My little boy will be 19 weeks on sunday and weighs around 18lb.

He has an insatiable appetite! At the moment he eats (around these times)

8am 7oz
12pm 7oz
4pm 7oz
8pm 7oz

and then wakes in the night between 3am and 4am for another 7oz.

He absolutely drains his 7oz bottles.

Our doctor told us to introduce a bit of baby rice or porridge to his diet once a day which we have been doing at his 4pm feed. He has 4 spoonfuls of porridge made up with milk from his bottle which he also easily devours.
He tried carrot yesterday and wolfed all that too.

The problem is, he is now struggling to go 4 hours between bottles. I can just about get him to 3.5 hours but by the time he eats he's really upset.
He has never slept through and has only recently started sleeping from 2130 to around 0400. More often than not he will wake between then too.

I dont know what to do. Do i give him 7oz every 3.5 hrs and hope he sleeps longer so he don't need a 6th bottle? Do i give him 42oz milk a day?
Do i introduce another solid feed? He is on Aptamil 1.

He also only sleeps about 11 hours in any 24 hour period.

All advice very welcome!!

Is he over or underweight?

Assuming he isn't I'd just give 8oz bottles and some puree at 1700 ish so he gets his full milk feed and the food is more an extra rather than a replacement.

(They should have 150 - 200 ml per kilo of weight.)

Just feed him when he's hungry, don't wait 4 hours!

Sorry, but adults don't wait 4 hours between every meal/snack/drink so why do people expect babies with tiny stomachs to manage? Why is 4 hours the magic number?

It just seems like making it hard for yourself if he's upset before the time you have set for feeds.

I manged to get DS onto a 4 hourly routine, but at around 16/17 weeks I remember it all went to pot! Personally I'd introduce another day time bottle and see how he goes feeding 3 hourly. Better to do an extra feed in the day than in the night IMO! Once DS was on solids I found it much easier as he wasn't frantic for milk!

Thank you :) I have upped his bottles to 8oz yesterday and i have them ready earlier if he wants them. Will see how we go :)

My ds is same age and equally hungry. Hv advised me to change to aptamil 2- hungry milk. Is no more calories but curd rather than whey based and keeps them fuller longer in theory. Mine is fed every 3h though during the day not 4. The hungry milk has helped him sleep better at night definitely- sleeps longer and is less hungry and grouchy when he does wake. I am also introducing porridge etc ...

I never understood the people who aimed to get babies onto a 4 hour routine. In my head, the more DS ate in the day, the less he would wake for at night. So I always offered at least 3 hourly, and if he was hungry before that then fine. More milk would be much better for his system than early weaning.

Rereading, he definitely sounds hungry! If he drains the bottle, why not offer him more? Babies are pretty good at knowing how much then need. You will probably find he'll sleep better if he's full.

I commented on your other thread but just wanted to add that when my DS started going 3 hourly instead of 4 hourly it coincided with him cutting out night feeds. I know it feels like you're constantly making bottles but it is worth it for a more settled baby and possibly a few more hours sleep at night.

My dd is 18wks and has 5 x 7oz every 3hrs 8.30am-8.30pm, sometimes still wakes for one at 5am. A couple of weeks ago it was still every 2.5hrs! Although 6oz rather than 7.
My advice would be Forget what it says on the packet and stretching him to 4hrs. 5 bottles a day is not too much, even 6, just give him what he asks for when he asks for it. Babies have no other motive behind asking for food other than they are hungry.