4 1/2 month old, doesn't take much milk but still wakes during the night a few times and is hungry

[LisaJasper]

My Ds2 only ever takes 4 or every now and then 5 oz of formula during the day, and will go anywhere between 3 and 5 hours between feeds (I've tried just feeding him every 3 hours but if he's not hungry he will not allow the bottle anywhere near his mouth!) He is pretty small - between 9th and 25th centile and he is very contented - he hardly ever moans or cries unless he is starving or tired. All this suggests to me that he is ok but I know he should be having more feeds and he usually wakes twice in the night and will take a full 5oz bottle both times, so he clearly is hungry. Although he has gone through the night a fair few times and went through a period of only waking once. This is all new to me as ds1 was huge and ate for England!!!!
Any ideas for what to do, or am I worrying over nothing? Sorry for long post!

have u tried to feed him every 4 hours? as i noticed my dd2 have a pattern of every 4 hours and so did my dd1

add an extra ounce to the bottles , if he is draining a 5 oz bottle, then 6 oz or even 7 will fill him more.. this might help him take bigger feeds each time and satisfy his hunger more

don;t worry too mich about feeding every 3/4 hours on a schedule, feed responsively, as much as he wants and take it from there

I always make up 5oz bottles, he very rarely drains them and usually only takes about 4 - 4 1/2oz so I don't think making bigger bottles will help. I'm not really worried about a schedule - it doesn't work for him anyway so I feed on demand - today for example he had a feed at 7ish and took 4oz, then again at 12 and took 4oz again, then at about 2.30 and took only 3oz then he had 6oz at 6.30 - he does usually have more than this but I think the heat made him less hungry - he was as happy as normal and is fast asleep now!

but you say, "he usually wakes twice in the night and will take a full 5oz bottle both times"

so if that is the case at night, give him more in the night !

thing is, at this age, it is perfectly normal to wake once or twice for a feed . if he takes more at night, then offer him more milk, he will gradually then space out feeds night and day as he takes more at each feed

agreed with lulu

I'd not thought of that, my thinking was that if he took less in the night then he would take more during the day - but I see your logic lulumama!
I know the number of wakes is perfectly normal especially as he is small, so I'm not that concerned about it, (although would love a full nights sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I;ll make up more tonight for him and see how he goes - he's such a good baby I think I'm just trying to find problems!

he sounds like he is doing very well and so are you!!