6 week old bottle fed - how much is too much and water between feeds.

[Orchide]

hi, hope someone can offer some advice. my daughter is 6 weeks old and has been bottle fed from the start, but am a bit concerned about her weight gain and feeding habits.

she was smack on the 75th percentile when she was born and at the last weigh in was just above the 91 st.
HV suggesting that we offer her 7oz of formula. She will at times take more than 6oz, but more frequently only about 4+oz. For the frist few weeks she was a 4 hourly baby, so regualrly that you could almost set your watch by her feeds. but now ot seems more sporadic...quite often stretch t 5/6 hours during the night bu during the day she wants a feed more frequently. when she does feed during the day she doesnt take as much. does that sound like a good pattern?

I guess im concerned (probablly overly so!)with her wieght gain -(11lb 10 at 5+ weeks!) and the amount of feeds. the formula guidleines suggest 7oz feeds for a much older baby (4 months) and only 5 a day - she always has at least 6.

someone suggested giving her water between feeds, ie. at the 2/3 hour mark? is a water top up for formula fed babys a good plan?

sounds like my DD...honestly..and it did settle down quite quickly......it is hard not to stress when you think they are not taking enough, but she will take what she needs....DD is still like this now, at almost 2. has 6 small meals every day...it was hard to stop comparing her to her brother who was such a guzzler, would drain every bottle, and take decent amounts...

if she is FF, you can share the night feeds with DH a bit , no?

it will pass......but when you are in it, it feels interminable

we are ff so yes dh defo been commissioned to help! we r both sooooo tired...

what's it like to have a baby drain a bottle? or burp straight away? or lie awake during the day without crying??

u right it does feel interminable!!

do you use a sling during the day? that can be a god send for a crying baby...

you ARE psychic :0

see my thread here

it's great for settling her - only bad thing I can say is the crumbs in her hair when I have to eat my lunch .

unfort my problem isn't getting her to sleep, it's keeping her awake during the day so she eats enough then, and so sleeps at night. She's a right drowsy one in the day. Or crying. God this is such hard work........

it is hard work....sometimes it is just plain hard work, with no apparent end in sight

DD also slept a lot, but seemed to feed better after a good snooze.

as she got a bit more alert, i would make more of a concerted effort to keep her awake after a feed..even a few minutes, walking round the house with her, talking to her...

i think it is hard to let go of your expectations of what you want your baby to do !! and as i said, about comparing them to other DCs or even to friends babies

your baby is doing what is right for her..whether that fits in with you is a whole other matter !!

maybe let her find her own way, sleep and eat as and when, and maybe she will forge her own little routine

ds was a very sleepy baby in the day too and for ages fed every 2 hours, then went back to it at about 4 months until he was 10 months and weaned himself onto solids. it was hard but i just did things by his lead. didn't want to get stressed out with routine and amounts.