How much formula at 8 weeks?

[HarryHarry]

I initially posted this in Parenting but then found this board:

I'm a FTM with an 8 week old baby boy. For medical reasons, he is not allowed breast milk so we've been feeding him special formula since he got out of the NICU. Last week we were given the go-ahead to give him normal formula. He started off drinking about 125ml every 3 hours (a lot more than the recommended amount for his age according to the formula brand website). However, in the past few days he has started wanting even more. The problem is that he never shows any signs of hunger until he is offered a bottle, at which point he goes crazy and practically grabs it out of our hands in a panic, meaning that we never have any warning. (We have to feed him on a 3 hour schedule rather than on demand as otherwise he won't show us when he's hungry until it's too late and he's screaming his head off ). While drinking, he refuses to let himself be burped because he just can't wait to get back to drinking. Then as soon as the bottle is empty, he will scream for more. At first I was reluctant to give it to him because I was afraid of overfeeding him but yesterday the nurse told me he should be allowed to drink until he can't take any more. Well, I tried it and he drank 225ml and STILL wanted more! I feel like if I kept offering more he would carry on drinking forever as he just doesn't seem to know when to stop. Based on what I've read on MN and elsewhere, I really don't think he should be having so much but what can I do?! Does anyone else have any experience of this? If so, what did you do to resolve it? I should add that he's gaining weight at a steady pace and is now over 11 pounds.

I had the same issue with my son, he was tube fed then once he got the hang of a bottle would gorge himself, midwives and HV said not to worry and you can't overfeed a baby. He was on 3 hour feeds then once I was able to go to demand feeds he would feed more often but small amounts. Now he's 7 weeks he's adjusted and spaced his feeding out better and drinks the normal amount. I did find a dummy helped as a lot of it was comfort drinking. I didn't want to give one in case he was hungry but HV said if he's truly hungry he'll spit it out. I wouldn't worry too much he may level himself out or just be a hungry baby

I agree with PP above that he will probably level out after a few bigger feeds.

It’s good that you’ve found the Infant Feeding Board but you’ve already had a few replies to your other thread OP. It’s probably best to stick to just the one thread

We do 5oz every 3 - 4 hours

@Drchinnery - that's good advice, thank you. I did wonder if it might be comfort feeding rather than actual hunger.

@JiltedJohnsJulie - I don't see how it concerns you if I repost my query here? What difference does it make?

Hi OP.
My 2 were both on 180ml by 8 weeks. I used aptimal and that was the recommended amount for this age. My second hated being interrupted to be burped too. And, like yours, they would both drink every bottle dry regardless of how much was in there.
I've just had a look online and it seems that each brand of formula has different recommendations as to the amount of formula per feed at each age range. I would say to try an extra 30ml at each feed and see how it goes. Once he's got used to a slightly bigger bottle at every feed you might even find that he's happy to go 4 hours in between - my first did, but my youngest kept at 3 hours until he stated on solids. He did sleep more at night though and maybe that because he was used to getting more food in the day.

I think mine might end up being the same as your youngest :)