Feeding timings help 4 month old

[Maisie2019]

My DS is 20 weeks old. He has silent reflux and doesn’t tend to take more than 5oz in one bottle despite always being hungry, and during the daytime I increased his feeds to 3 hourly (previously 4 hourly) because he always seems to be wanting the next one and is finishing them all but won’t drink more than 5oz in one go.
When he was on 4 hourly feeds he was more unsettled but would only wake 4 hourly at night and now he is on 3 hourly he is waking 3 hourly at night too. DP keeps saying that he is waking more because he is expecting it more often due to upping his feeds in the day. However I don’t think this is the case because I know some babies who have lots of feeds in the day and sleep through the night. I just think he is growing and needs more milk but due to his reflux he can’t physically keep more than 5oz down and it makes him uncomfortable.
what’s everyone’s opinions on this? Should I be trying to “stretch him out” back to 4 hours and trying to get him to take 6oz? Or keep him on the 3 hourly feeds? my thoughts were to keep him on 5oz until he fully drains each bottle and then try and offer him 6oz and slowly increase the timings in between. It is frustrating with the more frequent night wakings but I figure he is only a baby once.

My now 9 month old has never really drank more than 5 ounces a go. He was on a 3 hour schedule day and night.
When he hit the 4 month sleep regression he started waking every three hours on the dot and I assumed it was because he got into the habit with 3 hour feeds in the day. However now he eats 3 meals a day his bottles are spaced 4/5 hours apart and yet he still stirs every 3 hours at night so I actually think it’s how long his nighttime sleep cycles are and he stirs and wakes because of that not because of feeds.
I feel it’s better to feed more often and how much they can fit in comfortably rather than trying to space out further and try and drink more. I mean i’d want a drink more often than 4 hours!

@Pizzaandsushi thanks for your reply! Yes I agree. We wouldn’t expect to sleep 12 hours straight without a sip of water! What age did he stop waking fully for a feed every 3 hours? Does he still wake for feeds at night? Mine sounds very similar to yours. I think we hit the 4 month regression early around 13-14 weeks as we have had 6 weeks ish of wakes all over the place. Some nights 6+ wakings but (I don’t want to type this and jinx it!) it seems to have settled down a bit more now.

He now wakes roughly 5 hours in the night (on a good night 😂). So yes he does still wake for feeds. He eats like a champ and drinks roughly 15-20 hours over the day but definitely is thirsty in the night still as we tried a few times to resettle without but wasn’t having any of it.
I spoke to the dietitian at Alder Hey as he has cmpa and she said it’s still quite normal to have one to two feeds which is what he does.
I think you just have to be lucky to have a unicorn baby that sleep 12 hours straight lol.
I remember my GP recently said right so he’s nine months so what drinking 7 ounces every 4-5 hours. Hahahaha. No. And that’s perfectly normal. Some babies are just little and often. My mum said I was the same and said not to worry about night feeds as when I reached around one I just naturally cut them out myself and started sleeping longer. The sleep deprivation is brutal though isn’t it?!

My son sleeps between 7 and 10 hours a night. Breastfed don't know how much he gets but feed him every 2 hours during the day. He's 8 months. Slept through the night since 11 weeks. Even if he wakes once in the night he always goes straight back down x

My DD is now 5 months and still won’t take more than 5oz at a time. She. Often vomits
after feeds even though she hasn’t been diagnosed with reflux or allergies so I don’t think her stomach will take more. She feeds every 2-3 hours during the day but goes long stretches at night so for us there is no link between frequent day feeds and night wakeups. I don’t think you can force them to take more milk if they just vomit it up so you probably just have to go with it until he can manage more at a time.