New Mum wants advice on bottlefeeding

[NewMum24]

Hello everyone.
I am new to mumsnet and a new mother. I have a DS who is 10 weeks old.
I started breastfeeding but only lasted 3days (had probs latching and DS got frustratted.Didnt know who to ask for help so just started on bottles) am now on bottles.
Started on SMA gold but DS was feeding every 1-2 hours and taking 4-5ozs so HV advised to switch to WHITE to increase times between feeds (as it was getting hard through the nights) he been on it about 7 weeks now. Drinking 6oz every 3hours. Hes started going through the night without a feed (average about 6hours) I was wlondering whether to up to 70z as he does seem hungry still..crys when empty bottle took lout mouth and munches on his hands!
Also i make the feeds in the morning and put in fridge for the day.
Just wanted to know what you other mums think to what i am doing. Thank you in adavance

How's his weight?

Hi newmum -

You sound like you're doing fine. My son used to have his evening feed and want more so I would often go and make up another 3-4 oz or so. It sounds like he's showing you he wants more. When he's had enough he'll stop sucking on the teat.

And yes, providing the water you use for all the bottles for the day is boiled and you reheat them properly you will be fine.

Hi Newmum and welcome. You'll be fine now you've found us .

I always increased dd's bottles by an ounce when she started draining the bottle and appearing to want more. I think it it were me I'd be inclined to try him on 7oz.

I think the advice these days is to make up the feeds as you need them, but as dd is nearly 4 I shall leave that advice to someone more up to date.

i use cow and gate, never had any problems with that but remember every baby is different. i wouldn't make up the feeds and put them in the fridge, i make up the bottle as and when but again that just what i do, some may disagree.

Hi newmum, hope you are not feeling to tired! I never really counted ounces and just went with DD - if she wanted more (by doing the things your ds is doing, sounds like he is still hungary) I would give it and if she didn't then I wouldn't force the issue. After all, if you were bf you wouldn't know would you? That's how I saw it anyway. I am sure doing what you are doing with the milk is fine but I used to keep the boiled water in the bottles on the side then add the powder as and when I needed it. I just found it a bit easier that way. Good luck,

Thanks for your comments.
I am boiling the water fresh for feeds then adding formula and storng bottles in fridge. From reading other messages im gonna try making fresh feeds.
He was born 7 7 and half weighed 12 9 2 weeks ago. Goes tomorro to be weighed again.
I think i will up to 7oz as he does seem hungtry still.
He has a bottle about 10pm then normally sleeps till 5/6 am occasionally wakes at 2/3 aswell.

when he drains bottles, add another oz. so from 6 to 7, then if he regularly finishes 7 oz, up it to 8.

If you don't want to boil the water and wait for it to cool every time, put a few bottles of cooled water on the side and put the formula in as you go iyswim. I think that is in acceptable thing to do.

Hi Newmum,
I used to boil the water in the morning, let it cool and fll the bottles then keep them in the fridge until needed. Added the formula at the time of each feed. I think that 'made up' bottles should only be kept for an hour.

Agree with the others, try with 7oz now. What mummytosteven said, really.

Thanks for your help. Im going to up to 7oz. Hes doubled his birth weigt now so hes feeding well.

Hi, I'm new here too! have you had a look at any books? I found the Contented little baby book fantastic in the early days with my little boy, she gives loads of advice on how much to feed. Tracy Hogg is also quite good, although personally I found Gina's routines easier to follow.

Hi newmum24, you sound similar to me, my dd is now 6 months, but after 3 days in hospital and 2 wk trying, she wouldn't latch on so after mega stressing few days put her on bottle and she was fine! Can't remember ages etc but she was eventually having 9 floz / 260ml per feed (she eventually got into 8 / 12 / 4 / 7pm feed patern with nightfeed between 1 and 3 am which she still has!) I might make up one feed in advance but try to leave making them so only have one made up in advance if I know what sort of day i'm going to have, but in early weeks i know you tear your hair out trying to get any sort of roputine going. Basically, make a bit more in the bottle than the last feed if the bottle was prev drained. We put dd on cow gate normal, did try her on the hungry baby version but made her constipated, so i would recommend just making big normal feeds up, for the sake of wasting a couple of scoops of powder if your little one leaves some

Thanks for that. Ds poos are really hard sometimes which im told is common of bottle fed babies. I was told to give him plenty of water bewtween feeds to stop him getting constipated.
I made up a 7oz bottle for his breakfast which he drained! hes in a sort of pattern for feeding....dosnt go longer than 3hours between feeds except when hes asleep.
He tends to have 7 bottles in 24 hours.

I make all the bottles up in one batch and store them in the coldest part of the fridge, discarding any not used after 24 hours.

(Second time mummy applying the 'old' guidelines re bottles and storage as I simply can't be doing with making them up fresh each time.)

Hi NewMum24,
You sound like you are doing just fine - I too had difficulty breast feeding and DD (now 20 weeks) took the bottle from 5 days old, using SMA gold. Each time she got to a period where she was draining each bottle, I would up the feed by an ounce or 30ml, if you're working in metric.
I fill all the bottles with boiled water and put them to one side ready to be filled with formula when we are ready. DD prefers her drink at room temperature. This may be difficult when your LO is having more feeds than you've bottles, but you can just do it a couple of times a day. I know the advice is to make each feed fresh, but with a crying LO that is desperately hungry, who has the time to wait for the water to cool? I've had no problems yet.
Good Luck

Have you found those Avent Containers with the three compartments? I found mine incredibly useful, you can sterilise them with the bottles. They're designed to hold three feed's worth of powder until you need it so that you can make up your bottles with just water (if you do this you can microwave them for a few seconds to heat them up rather than wait for ages for them to heat in a bowl of water) and chuck the powder in at the last minute. Really handy when you're out and about as you don't have to worry about keeping the milk refrigerated as a sterile bottle of water will be fine for much longer. If you make a feed and keep it for too long you can give your baby oral thrush...which i did, not painful i don't think but not very nice.

almost forgot, the thing about microwaves is that some people think it reduces the nutritional content of the milk so heating water and then adding milk powder negates this... although a GP told me that she used them and the only thing to owrry about is uneven heating which doesn;t matter if you give them a good shake and leave them for a minute before you use them.

smallwhitecat I think ill stick with the white as hes been on it 6weeks now

mum07 my friend microwaves her milk which i was told by my HV to never do but shes done it with both her kids and said same as you shake well...id be to wary though

I thought bottle warmers were pointless and was happy with my pyrex jug and hot water but if you must treat yourself to make life easier get a bottle warmer if you're not sold on microwave warming bottles

newmum - don't be fooled with the whole hand munching thing as a sign of ready for weaning - it could be that he wants to suck. Sucking is a need for babies and those who are bottlefed get less f it because it doesn't take as long to get the milk - that's where dummies come in handy and eventually they may find their thumb or a finger.

I'd also say that you should just give them as much milk as they want to take at this stage - you cannot overfeed a baby.

wrt to making up bottles - we just overfill the kettle and pour enough water into the next bottle then add the milk powder when DS2 is hungry. We did the whole advance making up for DS1 but the way it is now is less faff IMO

Good luck, you're doing great so far!

X-posted with your most recent one - absolutely DO NOT microwave milk at this age, apart from the hot spot risk there are worries that microwaving affects the vitamins/amino acids etc etc that are found in the milk.

Hey liquid clocks ds has a dummy now as i thought he was actualy gonna eat his hands! He is calmer with it. I upped his milk to 7oz but hes sicking alot of it up now? But was draining 6oz. Im just giving him what he wants. Its just annoying being puked on all the time lol it stinks