4 week old still feeding every 1.5 hours

[RbLxmum]

My 4 week old (formula fed baby) is a terrific sleeper. She is able to settle on her own very quickly and sleeps well between her night time feeds.
Although, her sleeping can be too good! She struggles to finish her bottles so she is still waking up every 1.5 to 2 hours for feeds. I have tried all the tips to keep her awake for these but she will fall asleep after 60-90ml.
This is similar to the day and very rarely drinks more than 90ml and is very regular with her hungry cues every 1.5 hours.
It's getting very demanding, especially on a nighttime. I beleive she uses the bottle as a soother and she is snacking rather than completing full feeds so I've been unable to spread these out longer.

Any tips on how to break this cycle? She doesn't cry when hungry or tired, we just follow her fussy cues.

She also has never used a dummy. Would this help with pacing the nighttime feeds longer if used in bed?

I think that sort of timing is normal tbh. She's tiny still and her stomach is the size of a walnut.

New babies do want to suck for comfort and if she’s not crying for a feed I’d try to space them out by offering a dummy and cuddles first. Obviously you feed her if she’s crying but if she isn’t and it hasn’t been 3 hours yet I personally wouldn’t have fed mine, and they were fine, gained weight well etc. Also, what teat size is she on? If you’re on 0 she might manage bigger feeds on size 1.

Sorry, it does get easier but it's crushingly exhausting in the first 6 -8 weeks. What weight is she? There was a tipping point when mine hit 12lbs when they could go for longer. It was about the only point in time when having a baby near twice the birthweight of my two seemed like a win 😆

Two things which I can share from two underweight babies who would fall asleep half way through every feed are :
foot tickles and taking off some clothing. Not so they would get cold but simply put, less warm and cozy. Keep them awake and feeding. Plenty of burping, a bit of chat, foot tickles and back to the bottle. Feels a bit cruel but needs must. It's very easy to zone out, you're shattered and watching day time tv/box set, the baby is dozing off and before you know it they're asleep and you just want to pop them in a cot and you know, go to the loo, eat something with two hands, have a shower or actually crawl into a prone position and nap yourself.

Not feeding on demand. The MN mafia will be out for me on this one but the old fashioned way is to feed at set times and let the baby scream in the meantime. I'm not advocating this for a second with a 4 week old but you can start to consider stretching things a little in due course especially during the day when you want to get most of the calories into them and they can withstand a little human interaction. Do a nappy change, bit of a leg kick - make sure they are properly awake before they start to feed. Anything more than that you are at the 2 months plus mark. There's a baby person called Gina Ford who advocates a really restrictive and regimented approach to to all this. I did find the timetables useful as it gave me an idea of what to expect at various ages / stages and practical ways to manage to actually leave the house. Understanding that babies often feed on awakening, then have a 30 mins catnap before waking again. That pattern recognition [in my fog] was a godsend - I suddenly knew I had 30 mins or so daily to get through the shower and dressed so could leave the house and have about 1.5-2 hours before the next feed was due. [enough for a walk and to park myself in a nice coffee shop, eat pastries and feed before heading home so I was bigger at the end of mat leave than after she was born 😱]

Wonder weeks was also great - growth spurt weeks when you will need to batten down the hatches and feed them a lot.

Definitely give a dummy as babies need to suck.

They have tiny stomachs at this age though and 2 hourly feeds are normal. See if she settles with a dummy first before offering a feed.

Thank you! Yes we are using 1 teats for her. I will try a dummy for nighttime. I havent been opposed to using them but haven't felt the need to so wanted to avoid them if possible.

I have tried to distract her when she gives me her hungry cues until she cries for the bottle but she still falls asleep after half a feed!

I understand she's still only tiny so will take a while for her appetite to grow. But want to help speed the process. Nighttimes are getting tiring 😫

4vweeks is tiny still and tbf some babies just prefer little and often. My ds didn't go longer than 1.5hours til 6 months, oz increased but time between bottles didn't. He was just a grazer

Where's your other half in this?

If the baby is bottle fed you should be heading of to bed at 9.30 and leaving him to do a feed at 11. That would give you a 9.30-1.30 or 2am feed? And another around 4am - 5am. It won't last forever but it's a way to actually survive this phase [without murdering him/her]

He's still not going to bed too late to get up at 7 for work and bring you breakfast in bed while you feed, then you can actually get up while the baby naps for 30 mins while you gallop through the shower.

Him/Her being your partner rather than your child.

formula or breastfed, i still agree with feeding on demand. Imagine being told as an adult you can’t have a snack / eat 10 minutes before ‘dinner time’ / eat less / want more.

I had a friend who force fed her baby extra formula to ‘make them go four hours’ - absolutely shocking.

1.5 - 2h is completely normal.

To second @TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams I really recommended the Gina Ford routines. You don’t have to follow them religiously, I never did, but they are a good starting point for how to structure feeds and naps in order to maximise overnight sleep. And I also really agree that if formula feeding your partner needs to be taking shifts to ensure you both get a passable amount of sleep.

How much she weighs makes a big difference here

I don't agree with feeding on demand if bottle fed as over feeding is dangerous. Breasts are clever and know how to make the right amount and change the composition accordingly to how often baby is feeding but bottles don't.

@Unexpectedlysinglemum excuse my ignorance as you can probably tell, I breastfed! But surely you can’t overfeed if feeding on demand? The only way I’ve seen over feeding is the aforementioned friend who did so.

surely if baby asks for food, you give it. If they stop eating, you don’t force it, and if they cry after a feed looking for more, you provide it. I’m not sure why a breast or a bottle would be any different in that regard - babies are excellent at self regulating. It is just us adults who can’t do that very well (probably because we bypass our natural instincts with fake foods but that’s another story!)

It’s pretty rare for formula fed babies to overfeed. Unless they have reflux and want to swallow to relieve the pain and then you would have to be careful because unlike breastmilk the milk itself doesn’t change based on how much baby is feeding. Otherwise though formula fed babies are just as good at regulating and you’d have a hard time feeding a baby that doesn’t want it, which is what OP’s finding. Sure you can encourage them if they’re sleepy by doing a nappy change or whatever but if they really don’t want it they’ll turn their head from the bottle and won’t suck if you offer it again.

I do think formula does lend itself to scheduling and tracking because the milk is the same every time, you know how much they need (body weight in oz x 2.5 = oz of formula in a 24 period), how much they drink exactly at every feed and when they get close to draining the bottle you know to make another oz going forwards. So if they’re crying and they’ve just had a big feed you probably just assume it’s not because of hunger and something else is bothering them. I’ve formula fed 2 babies on a loose schedule and as far as I’m aware neither asked for food until they were toddlers demanding snacks!

I had a formula fed baby and he was feeding a little and often for a long time. We nicknamed him a ‘snacker’ . We kept feeding on demand and slowly and surely he spaced out the feeds a bit.

Just do what can to get through this stage and listen to what everyone has to say and then do what works for you and your baby. (There is some stuff above I agree with and some stuff I definitely do not agree with).

Actually overfeeding is a common risk with bottle feeding and some studies have found around 1/3 of formula fed babies are overfed.

My eldest did this at this age (waking to feed often during the night). It was utterly exhausting and did my head in, so total sympathies BUT I think it’s normal and it will soon pass. Go with it and (if possible) get your partner to help with the overnight feeds. X

Remember that baby tummies are tiny and formula isn't as compact as breast milk so they might feel full but not fed.

I had this issue with mine. We were told to limit feeds to twenty minutes and to use a wet flannel on their face if they started to fall asleep. It was a game changer. They fed far less often and started gaining weight. The issue can also be if they are hungry they can get too lethargic to eat. This really helped them realise they couldn't just soothe. They missed out on food the first couple of times I suspect but were soon realising they needed to eat! I also had so much more time because I wasn't having to stop and feed them all the time.

I would say as a newborn this is totally normal. However, are you sure she is hungry? It sounds like you may be feeding her when she isn’t hungry which would explain why she isn’t having a full feed. Maybe try and go longer and see what happens. In my experience newborns will be totally fine one minute them screaming the house down when they want a feed, if she isn’t crying how do you know she is even hungry.

Interesting! I’m only going off what the paediatrician said with my first, which is that they regulate themselves pretty well and if they do take a bit much they’ll just posset it back up so it’s not something to worry about. And then the midwife with my second said pretty much the same. And anecdotally both of mine very obviously refused the bottle when done- same as OP is finding. But then again it’s been a few years since I last had a newborn so perhaps thinking on it has changed following new research? A third sounds like an awful lot of babies- if you did manage to somehow overfeed, wouldn’t it be obvious they’re taking much more than recommended for their weight and then wouldn’t they be projectile vomiting so you’d know something was wrong and correct it?

If you have the link to that study can you share as I’d really like to read it 🙏

That’s perfectly normal

Dummy?
different size teats? Some brands do vari flow and some just do next sizes.

my first never took more than 5oz bottle ever… he preferred variflow teats, he ate little and often (2/2.5hrs max). Second, took full feeds (teat went on his age, like clock work) and would be 3.5hrs between feeds but he took a dummy.

swaddling? Both of mine were swaddled at bed time and they both slept amazingly

My 2 boys 20 and 24 now basically only fed during the day slept through from 1 week old and never woke during the night so made up during the day did wake youngest once during the night but took very little they also slept on there fronts in moses basket cot and pram

Mine never had a dummy tried first born with one spat it out as nothing on lol