10 week feeding

[JLD1987]

Hi all! Just looking for some advice.
I'm a FTM and a single parent. My daughter is 10 weeks and has never really eaten a lot. She's only recently gone up to 5oz at her 4 hour feeds and most of the time doesn't finish. She usually has between 3 and 4.5oz. She isn't on a schedule with eating, depends on what time she wakes and we go on the 4 hour(ish) thing from there, so each day is different. She gets really tired at around half 6ish so I bath her and put her to bed around 7-7.30 most nights. But she usually ends up missing her next feed due to being asleep. And sometimes she can sleep 8 hours before waking for food. I'm lucky if she has 20oz a day. She was 6lb2 when born and now weighs 10lb15. HV said she was putting weight on fine and is on the right line.
So my question is this .... Should I just leave her to it, and let her sleep til she tells me she's hungry, or wake her for her last evening feed then put her back to sleep?? I feel like if she doesn't have the last feed, she's having less food! Maybe I'm just being an overly worried mum, but any advice would be great!

If she's following her line, having enough wet and dirty nappies, you're probably best to go with it.

@arbrighton she gets changed 6 times a day and always has a wet nappy. She pops usually every other day, so no issues there. I was thinking of just letting her do her own thing and following her lead, but I was just worried that she wasn't getting enough milk during the day. I can't seem to get her on a feeding routine cause she won't eat if she's not hungry, so even if we get to 4 hours and I offer her milk, she won't take it if she's not that hungry. She's pushed the gap to 5.5hrs before. She's a very contented baby, only cries when she is hungry or tired and smiles and babbles and wriggles around most of the day. So I'm guessing she must be getting what she needs. I just wish I could squeeze the last evening feed in, so I know she's getting 6 feeds daily.

Just leave her. Babies this age wake up if they're hungry. Also in my experience health visitor err on the side of caution with weight (ie no baby is ever gaining enough! )so if you hv says all's well then it probably is.

@InDubiousBattle yeah I thought leaving her was for the best. I always just like to check, with her being my first, I'm unsure about most things 🙈 I know I'll find everything out along the way, but some advice from people who have been there and done it all before is always reassuring.

I used to feed on waking.

My DD is 4 months now, had nobody around to ask so felt exactly the same as you!

As PPs have said if she's hungry she will wake and just follow her lead, DD never finished a full bottle at that age and the HV said it was best just to let her be. It sounds like you have a very content baby, congratulations on your little one 💜

Know what you mean about being unsure as a first time mum, even when you've read the books, but the baby hasn't....

And it's even harder with BF as you don't know how much they've taken.

@gingerbreadbiscuits yeah I think I'll just stick to feeding when she wakes. Im sure she will let me know when she is hungry!

@yummywine ah Thankyou! I know what you mean about being unsure, I guess it's all just a part of parenthood! Yeah she is a little delight 95% of the day haha! I'll stick with just feeding as she wants and hopefully she will develop her own routine and carry on putting on weight like she is!

@arbrighton I understand what you mean, my sister is BF her little one and is having a real problem with the baby putting on weight! Must be hard when you can't keep an eye on what they are eating. Would have liked to BF but just wasn't happening with me and my DD, we seem to be ok (mostly!) on bottles though.

My dd is 10 weeks old aswell and has slept through the night since 5 weeks so has only had 5 feeds a day since then. Typically she feeds at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm. I think if i left her she would stay asleep for the 11pm feed but I wake her (usually 10.30pm so i can go to bed a bit earlier) purely so i know shes full enough to sleep through the night! If your little one sleeps well and is following a centile on the growth charts i wouldn't worry about fitting 6 feeds in. When they're new newborn its easy for them to just sleep through feeds which is why its important to wake them as they lose weight easily. But by 10 weeks she'll know when she's hungry so follow her lead unless she stops gaining weight.