Formula feeding advice for almost 4 week old

[Jvx01]

I am a first time mum and my DS will be 4 weeks old on Thursday and exclusively formula fed. He is a great feeder (possibly too good, pretty much downs it) and sleeps pretty well, can go around 4 hours between feeds at least some of the time. The issue I have is that he always, always wants more formula once he has finished his bottle. It stresses me out as his awake time seems to be spent constantly rooting and looking for more food :( My husband is keen for us not to over feed him as he’s already having the max recommended amount in a 24 hour period for his age. Sometimes I can placate him with a dummy but other times it doesn’t work and I feel terrible thinking he might still be hungry.....That said, he doesn’t wake up after going to sleep until after 3-4 hours which suggests he is getting enough food!

Any advice from more experienced mums?? Should I feed him some more or is he looking for more food but not actually hungry?

If it makes any odds I’m using Mam slow flow bottles/tests and giving him Aptamil Profutura.

TIA!

What weight is he? Normally recommended to feed to appetite rather than what is on the box. Rule of thumb is 2.5-2.7 oz per lb of body weight but it's just a guide. How much is in each bottle? 4 hours is a long time between feeds, would he takes a smaller amount more often?

Just feed him You can’t overfeed a little baby really - they’ll just puke the excess back up. My rule was, there should always be a little bit left in the bottle.

Also, DS ate like a champ but he’s a right skinny malinky now. Perfect size imo!

Hi have you looked at the hungry milk versions? I've never used aptimal but we used HiPP Organic - May help keep him fuller?

No, please don't give a 4 week old hungry milk. It is harder to digest and can cause constipation.

Just add an extra ounce to his bottle and see how he goes. I formula fed three children and never looked at how much they should be having, I just had what they needed.

Yeah agree with op, no need for hungry baby milk. Just give him an extra ounce!

My 9 week old DD is consuming enough for a 4 month old according to the recommendations on the side of the formula tub! She was 99th centile from birth and has maintained weight above the 90th centile. All HCPs are happy with her weight, she's not fat, just a big baby. Feed your baby whatever he needs, the feeding guidelines won't be relevant for all babies.

At 4 weeks, DD used to take anywhere between 4 to 6oz per feed and could usually go for up to 4 hours between feeds during the day (more at night). By 5 weeks, she was consistently having 6oz. By week 6 she moved to 7oz. Some babies are just hungrier than others and DD has always loved (and still loves) her food. She has also consistently tracked the 95h percentile curve.

I really would not worry about overfeeding during early days. There are too many growth spurts throughout the newborn phase and trying to limit the milk intake is usually not a good idea.

Thank you all so much for your replies. The midwives and NCT freaked me out a bit with all their ‘it’s really easy to overfeed a formula fed baby so you have to be really careful but you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby’ stuff. They also said if you give them too much they’re more likely to get colic (I don’t know if that’s true or not).

My DS is only 25th percentile for weight, he weighed 7lb 5oz at birth, but he definitely wants more than what the guidelines say he’s supposed to be having. He’s also quite a long baby (DH’s family all very tall) so maybe he’s trying to pack some weight into his long frame!? Whatever it is, I’m going to try giving him more and see how we go....I’m trying to do everything exactly as you’re supposed to so as not to get anything wrong hence trying to adhere to the ‘official’ guidelines.

This motherhood malarkey is definitely a steep learning curve!!

Remember guideline aren’t rules!

I was always advised that a baby shouldn't ever finish a bottle and that if they are,to make up your next bottle with an extra ounce. If they are finishing the bottle you can't know if it's because they are actually full or just that the bottle is empty. You might waste a bit of formula but at least you'll be able to recognise if they are still hungry

I am so glad I found this! I have been having the same dilemma with my 2 week old.

He was born at 8lb 12 and as of last week was 9lb. He takes 4oz and will finish the bottle 90% of the time then after 30 mins will be rooting for more and won't sleep without an hour (at least) of a battle then will only sleep 2 hour stretches.

But I've had the 'don't over feed' thing drummed into my head too so at 4oz I feel like I shouldn't give more?
His dummy will some times placate him but more often than not it won't.

I might just screw the 'guidelines' and give that extra oz and see how he does with that.

I just fed formula on demand. In my experience with both my ff dc they either spit out what they don’t want or fall asleep when they’ve had enough...! You can also try offering a dummy if you aren’t sure if they’re just wanting to suck - breasfted babies suck a lot just for comfort so it’s worth offering a dummy just to see if it’s that. If they are genuinely hungry they’ll spit the dummy out in disgust and cry and then you’ll be able to offer a feed anyway!

My health visitor used to say “baby can’t read the formula box so he doesn’t know what he’s ‘supposed’ to have”
I always just fed to his appetite!

Just go by the weight. If he's gaining hugely, your over feeding. Look up pace feeding and just follow his cues.

I would just demand feed, if he’s hungry feed him, he can’t overfeed at this age

I was worried about this too as my DD is a hungry Horace! She’s in the 90th percentile but thriving