Formula feeding, 11 week old - strict 4 hour schedule or something else, what are you doing?

[threetwoonezero]

My DD is 11 weeks old, and formula fed. I'm so confused about the advice for feeding, what is everyone else doing? NHS says feed on demand, I'm worried about overfeeding, and she is quite grumpy so its hard to know what cue is a feeding cue! I dont want to be too rigid with a schedule but I feel like I'm going that way at the moment, which is my choice more than hers I think...any advice greatly appreciated.

I would always feed on demand. It makes no sense to keep them hungry and waiting when they need to eat for the sake of an extra hour or so. And it's pointless to force it if they don't want to eat. I found that with both of mine (one of which was bottle fed), it was easier to anticipate a feed at that age. Even if I wasn't sure if she was hungry yet, I knew she'd be within the next hour or two. So I could make the bottle and leave it out until she was ready. As long as you use it roughly within 2 hours, it's fine. That made it much easier to relax and just go with on demand feeding as I didn't have to stress about making the bottles up or fit that into our day in terms of going out or doing things.

Thanks. how did they sleep at night? And can you remember roughly how often the one on formula was feeding?

And how many bottles were you giving a day? The packs say just 5 bottles of 150ml at this age, but I could easily go to 7 at this rate! And she's not big for her age?

My bottle fed child would have about 8 bottles a day. She is a slim toddler.

That makes me feel better @BareBum! does that include the night feeds?

Wow, I'm reading other threads and Im not finding hardly any people who are formula feeding to a strict schedule...are the baby books evil?!

I never got when my DS was asking for milk so if he cried I would offer him a bottle. If he took it great, if not I would keep it for the next hour or two to offer again if necessary. After about 2 hours you definitely need to throw it though. A baby won't eat what it doesn't want so there's no harm in offering.

I also never bothered reading what the box of formula said about how much to feed. All babies are different and so are their appetites.

Oh yes, 8 bottles was normal here too.

IME you can't really over feed a baby as they won't take the bottle if they are not hungry.

Both my children have been formula fed from almost day 1. With my DS I was feeding every 3 hours whether he was giving any feeding cues or not. He lost a lot of weight after birth so I was paranoid he wasn't getting enough. I'd even set my alarm overnight so he wasn't late for a feed. I eventually calmed down & we got into a good routine.

DD made it clear very early on that she was in charge & she is fed on demand. She was having a bottle every 2-3 hours, sometimes more frequently until she was around 16 weeks & she then moved to longer between feeds. She has slept through the night since 9 weeks so all her feeds were between 7 & 7 and she was having 5-6 feeds a day.

I exclusively formula fed. I always fed on demand. Usually was every 3-4 hours though. I think it's the best way. If they don't want it they won't take it

I've always fed on demand. My rationale is that I don't eat set amounts of food at set times myself, so why should a baby? Hunger doesn't follow set patterns from one day to the next or one baby to the next. Listen to baby.

This is so encouraging! And @TopsyLouLou despite you feeding on demand and quite regularly that your DD slept fine at night, I had presumed if you fed whenever they wanted then it would influence if they could go longer at night...not that that is my main motivation, I'd definitely forgo a bit of sleep at night for a happy baby in the day! @WhyDoesItAlways, good to hear you were doing around 8 bottles, my guilt is lifting substantially!

Heyyy! Like pp my ds lost Alot of weight after birth, I would wake him every 3-4 hours for the first few weeks as I was super paranoid about this :0 he was still struggling to gain weight and has been put on DOUBLE calorie milk (100cals per 100ml :0).Taking an average of 6-7 bottles a day, around 20- 25 Oz. He is now 3 months old, on the 50th centile and I feed him on demand during the day, leaving him no longer than 3-4 hours. I pump him with milk during the day anytime between 5-7am till 730-9pm and he sleeps right through :-)

Feed on demand. The guidelines on amounts are just to give you an idea, all babies grow at different rates and the amounts may reduce sometimes as well as increase. One of mine was born small and drank way above the recommended amount from 6 weeks until 7 months. She was just growing. She's now a very tall slim 3 year old.

I feed on demand my baby is nearly 12 weeks and for past few nights has slept 9-6. In the day they usually have about 6oz every 3 hours but this varies. They're not a big baby on 50th percentile. Sometimes I try to feed thinking it's hunger but it's something else and they don't take the bottle so don't think you can over feed :)