3 or 4 hourly FF feeds

[mummyandbaby]

My DS is 11 weeks and FF. My HV has encouraged us to stick to 4 hourly feeds during the day. However, he often cries for milk after 3 hours and that last hour feels so long! Have tried giving him a little water but does not make a difference. I feel so awful expecting him to wait. Any advice please. Thanks

feed your baby when he needs - if he is crying for milk after 3 hours, feed him them

your HV is talking rubbish

Feed him whenever he wants and ignore the hv, she's talking utter tripe.

Absolutely feed him when he is hungry, why stress yourself out listening to him crying or stress him out wondering what's happened to his next meal!

If the aim is to get to 4 hourly feeds, you could try extending the 3 hours 10 mins at a time over a week or so, but will still depend on how much milk he takes to get him through the 4 hours and that depends on his appitite and little tummy! its not exactly a precise science.

think you hv is being unrealistic!

I always hesitate to say an HV is mistaken, as after all, she is there, seeing your baby....but in this case you do need to ask her why she thinks 4 hourly feeds are somehow 'better' for a baby who cries to be fed after 3.

When you hear her explanation, you can then decide whether to follow her advice or not.

It's certainly not unusual, or 'wrong', for a baby to feed after 3 hours.

Adults eat or drink something rather more often than that, in my experience

at 11 weeks and on formula he should be able to last 4 hrs but obv isnt

how much does he weigh?

average rule of thumb is that the average baby takes 2 or 3 ounces of formula each day for every pound of body weight, up to a maximum of 32 ounces. A newborn weighing 7 lbs. will take an average of 14-21 ounces of formula in a day. A 4-month-old weighing 14 pounds needs 28-32 ounces.

before switching to 3hrs, how many ozs does he have at each feed and can you increase the amount he has - he should ideally be having at 5/6

this might help

IME not many 11 week olds can last 4 hours between feeds.

I'd feed him when he cries.

Thanks for your replies and the link. Interesting! He weighs 11lbs 12ozs and is taking anything from 5-7ozs per feed. I increased the feed to 7ozs last week. He is sleeping v well, last night went from 8pm-5am so he is taking enough during the day to take him through.

Blondes, you're right that some ff babies are fine feeding 4 hourly.

Where's your evidence that babies should last four hours, though? And evidence that ideally he should have 5-6 oz? What's ideal about it if the baby seems to ask for a different pattern

The website you link to is out of step in a number of ways from the evidence-based guidelines in the UK, and actually in its 'native' US, as well.

I'm sure you intend to be helpful, but anything that says what babies should be doing vis a vis feeding is going to get a question from me and others about evidence!

hi there, i have formula fed two babies and i can safely say the kindest and best thing for baby and mum, is too respond to your babies needs, and not go by the side of the formula tin, or what a HV/doctor/MW etc thinks they need

if your baby is hungry an is fed responsivley, then so much the better

when bottles are being drained, then add another ounce for the next feed, as you have been doing, and remember that babies have days/weeks when they are hungrier than others

no real evidence just 17years exp - i did say should last -but if mummyandbaby ds isnt lasting i did say in my first post to feed every 3hrs

all the babies I have looked after (and have been many) have all been in a routine and if bf fed every 3hrs and if ff then 4hrs by the time they are about 8 weeks - but all babiea are different

i agree go with your babies needsand maybe feed every 3.5hrs till he can manage 4hrly 9if that is what you want to do)

tiktok my reply came from the link i gave - the op baby is almost 12lbs so ideally he needs to have between 24 and 32oz

so if he was fed every 4 hrs = 6feeds each feed would be 5/6oz

if during the day and not feeding at night as op said he sleeps 8pm- 5am then would be more like 7oz during the day - which op said he was having

Sorry, Blondes, I don't think that's good enough - you're talking from a professional point of view, but you don't have the evidence for this sort of prescriptive advice. When you use the word 'should', the implication is very strongly that babies 'should not' be doing something different...and while you are clarifying now that 3 hrly is acceptable, your first post made the point (again un-evidenced) that he should 'ideally' be having a certain amount per feed. As if having more or less than this amount is not ideal and therefore not desirable.

The link you gave is not a good one - it's US, not UK, and differs in many respects from the advice mothers get these days both in the UK and the US. It gives no evidence for its statements, either.

Why go 3.5 hours as a 'compromise' - the baby is unhappy after 3!

i was going by books that I have read over the year including Gf and baby whisperer for the amounts of milk a baby of different ages should have

its the general rule thing that upsets parents, like a baby normally rolls 3mths,sits up at 6mths, crawls at 9mths, sleeps through night by 12weeks

they are all milestones

but babies are different

maybe i worded it wrongly and def didnt mean to offend

the fact that the op baby can last 9 or so hours during the night would make me think that he is capable of lasting 4hrs during the day but obv you dont want an upset baby or worried mummy so feed every 3hrs

i would be interested in hearing what the hv says regarding 4hrly feeds

It's the word should that's the killer, though, Blondes Don't you see how it comes across?

If a baby should do something, then this means he should not be doing something else.

Take your example of sleeping through - 12 weeks is prescriptive, and plenty of babies are not sleeping through by that age. To say they should be doing this, is to say there is something wrong if they don't!

You can't say a baby should be having so much formula at a time, and the frequency should be x hrly...and at the same time say 'babies are different'.

The response you're inviting is that 'I see - so some babies do what they should do, and some babies do what they shouldn't?'

Do you get me?

And what is so great about lasting four hours anyway (question not to you, Blondes, or not only to you!)? So far since 8 am, I have had four cups of tea/coffee....maybe I should have waited until midday to have my post-brekky coffee, but I didn't I am not expected to go four hours between having something to eat or drink (oops, I had a bit of toast at 10.30...forgot about that) so why should a baby?

i get you

as i said i probably worded it wrongly

i will rephrase with the words many babies can

at Blondes

'Can' is much better!

where i have lasted 4hrs but only as being good so can fit in my dress for friends wedding next month

i could have stuffed my face full of choccy biscuits at 9am,10,11 and 12pm

I suppose you could look at it that I as an adult can last 12 hrs at night without food and water but I do need to eat regularly during the day to do that.

I agree I couldn't go for longer than 3 hrs without a drink so maybe that's worth thinking about? Is your lo thirsty?

I bow to others' knowledge of many babies as I have only had the 2 and one was ff at this age and the other was b/f.

WE also made 9oz bottles from about 7-8 weeks as a standard as ds 1 could then take what he wanted and not just 'what he should have for his age' as he was 9lb 1oz when he was born. We followed what he wanted rather than what the tin said he should have.

For a baby that young I would go by his cues, if he's hungry after 3 hours then feed him. My LO was bigger than yours at 11 weeks and fed at least every 3 hours most of time it was 2, he slept all night too so ime don't really think there is a relation between sleeping through and being capable of feeding every 4 hours.

Even now at 7.5 months he can't go 4 hours with no food, either milk or solids. He also never took as much per feed as the guidelines, he's a little and often boy so I just go by what he wants and we're all happier for it.