FF query- routine feeds vs demand feeds

[mummarosie1]

Hi all, I have a 6 week old DD. She has been bottle fed (C&G) since approx day 4 when BF wasn’t working for us.

Since then DD has fed between 3-4 hourly and I have gradually tried to prolong the time between to 4 hours (however she has not been distressed waiting for long periods of time!). So she was routine fed rather than demand fed.

Over the last week she has suddenly a) started taking much more (jumping from an average of 90-100mls to 130–140 average) and b) seeming absolutely ravenous after about 2.5 hours during the day (although still going 4 hourly at night).

She is gaining weight well and suffers with mild reflux.

My question is... should I be trying to prolong feeds to 3-4 hourly or feeding when she first asks for it? It seems like we have digressed from a routine 4 hourly feeding regime to barely lasting 2.5 hours now!
I always associate demand feeding with BF not FF but not sure what I should be doing!!

My health visitor used to tell me that it was fine to have a routine, but to offer formula as often as DS needed it, cos it’s not that easy to overfeed a baby. We always fed on demand and it seemed to work ok for us.

Hi op it's likely your DC is having a growth spurt hence the sudden demand for more milk and not as spaced out my DS was like this would have months where he would drink loads more of formula and other months not so much

Advice for ff is to feed on demand. If want a routine look at the EASY routine for when your baby is a bit bigger.

DS had his own vague routine, but we fed on demand. They go through growth spurts and periods of not wanting so much because they are ill/teething.

DS is 2.8 now, and is not overweight, still regulates his own eating (he is in the upper percentile for weight, but top of the chart for height)

I fed on demand for the first few weeks, then moved to three hourly feeds. However, it was still 'on demand' - he demanded it every three hours exactly. It was weird. I often wondered how he knew.

He stayed on three hourly feeds during the day til he was about seven or eight months and we started cutting bottles out.

2.5 - 3 hourly is quite normal at that age. Could also be a growth spurt

We fed on demand. It was every 3-4 hours usually.

I pumped and combo fed my twins (never produced enough despite pumping every bloody two hours for 7 months) and they would not feed on a schedule until they were about 9 months / 10 months. Honestly, they were constantly hungry. They're 14 months now and still wake 2-3 times a night each at least for milk. Constantly upping their solids to try and reduce it but that's only just starting to work now. Some babies are milk junkies, I fear.

I routine feed and if she is crying early for a feed I try everything else first and then sod the routine and feed her anyway. I did find around 2 months she started to just get bored so around 60% of the time going outside for a bit would calm her down.

This is purely because she is generally miserable off her routine though! So it is really for her benefit not mine if that makes sense.

I'm waffling a bit, what I mean to say is if it's definitely hunger feed the baby! But if it isn't then feeding won't really help (ime)

Thank you for advice, everyone!
I think my concern is less that I want a routine, and more that I want to avoid feeding her for random crying because I’m mistaking it for hunger. Having a set time frame helped me avoid that if it makes sense?

I have a 8 week old (on Sunday) we formula feed on a routine only because he wants food exactly the same time everyday. At about 6 weeks old I noticed he did occasionally ask for food sooner but then would still wait till the next feed time we feed 9.30_12_4_8_2am and 6am. I'm hoping he will drop the 2am one at some point. He eats 150ml as we noticed at the 8pm feed he would often still seem hungry at about 6 weeks also so we upped them and he finishes them. Sometime he will leave 30ml or so in the daytime ones but not often.

When I started formula feeding when my DD was 4 months she sometimes struggled to last 3 hours so my health visitor suggested we try hungry baby which did help her last longer.
It’s only since she turned 6 months and started on 8oz that she’s managed to go 4 hours in the day; normally managing 8 hours from 7.30 to 3/4am at night

Guess it depends on the babies - if mine cried, if check nappy and then feed. It was almost always that they were hungry. Every couple of hours they wanted milk, but they were grazers (always little and often). There's no way I could have fed on schedule as they would have just screamed the house down until they were fed. Until recently the only times they ever really cried was being hungry. They'd happily sit in a poo until you notice it, but they won't be quiet if they're hungry! They're both following their curve (only 25th) perfectly despite my worries about how much they eat!