How long should a 4 month old go between feeds during the day?

[Picante]

I'm still trying to feed every 2 hours, 3 hours max but wonder if they can go for longer at this age and if she'd feed better if I tried less often?

my lo's went 3-4 hours between feeds at that age. Can you wait till she asks for a feed rather than offering all the time?

I think that's the problem. I have no idea when she's hungry!

yes just feed her as she needs it - mine isn't in any regular pattern, sometimes it will be 3 or 4 hours, sometimes 20 minutes

my 4 month old usually feeds 3-4 hourly during the day and at night she has her last feed at around 11pm and then sleeps til 8:30am and this is demand feeding. i feed her when she wants it rather than making her cos she just wont drink it if i try and make her

What are the signs then?

hiya picante just realised its you! you will kow if she is hungry... if u wait til she gives you a sign (usually screaming lol) then u will know!

it's difficult to say because they can all be attributed to other things. With DS I had no idea, just fed him whenever he was less than happy and nothing else obviously wrong (i.e. nappy changed etc). With DD I have a better idea, fist chewing, lunging towards breast etc, but they could be due to other things.

if you wait until she is screaming she may be too hysterical to feed effectively, and you will have to spend time calming her. I really wouldn't let it get to that (obviously sometimes it happens, but much easier to feed her before then)

Hiya gorge!

She gets very frustrated waiting for a letdown so I definitely couldn't wait til she's really hungry.

If I tried 3-4 hours during the day will she go for longer at night?

well as im not bf-ing atm i dunno cos bf seems to be more regular feeding. how old is she?

how often is she roughly feeding atm? if she is old enough to get a routine going try and do it, but from my experience my ds and dd have got themselves into routine!

ime, if they snack more during the day then they snack more at night, so I'd say yes if she goes longer in the day she'll go longer at night. If there's more of a gap between feeds then she'll take more, then last longer and so it goes on.

Can you wait until she asks for a feed? Here it's lip smacking and rooting that are the first signs. I also try and wait a little bit after he's woken up so he's more alert for the feed, or change his nappy and then feed again to fill him up.

Good luck

I don't know - I thought there was a 'total' they would drink in 24 hours, so more feeds in the day = less at night....

I am demand feeding my 16 week old DTs - they feed about every 2 1/2 hours (from start of feed - they feed for 15-20 mins usually) in the daytime, with a feed both before and after bathtime just before they go down for the night (about an hour between the last 2 feeds of the day). They don't 'demand' that last feed, I just offer it and they feed!

They go down at 7pm ish and I feed them when they wake in the night. The last 5 days they have gone 7pmish - 4/5am without asking for a feed

During the day we have a very loose sort of routine of when they wake up I feed them, then we 'do stuff' (walk, shop, activity mat, bouncy chairs), then when they start yawning (about 1 hr) they go in their cot / carseat/pushchair (depending what we're doing) for a sleep, when they wake up (usually 45 mins - hr), feed again andso on. Usually works out at 7-9 feeds per day.