Constantly stressed about how much baby is eating

[October13]

My DD is formula fed and 9 weeks old. She roughly weighs 12lb 5oz (having to weigh her myself). Usually she takes 4-5oz 6 times a day but sometimes she takes only 3oz and it makes me worry. I also get nervous about the time between feedings, like today she napped for 4 and a half hours and didn't wake up for food, I ended up waking her because I was scared she would be underfed for the day... I'm not sure what's normal for her age or if I should be waking her.

Stop worrying about in put and focus on out put. Is she weeing and pooing enough and is she putting on weight? Your red book will tell you how often to weigh her. She Some days she will be hungry because she is having a growth spurt and other days she maybe teething or getting a cold or for whatever reason isn’t as hungry.

Plenty of wet nappies and I get one dirty nappy a day. Weighing her is difficult, I do it by weighing myself and then again when holding her but the Dr who did her vaccinations said this wasn't accurate and not to go by it.

You only need to wake a baby for food if you've been told to do so by a HCP - at 9 weeks some babies (not mine) sleep through the night, so have quite a gap without a feed. If she's otherwise healthy (and her nappies sound good) then she's almost certainly fine - we're not always equally hungry every day, and those who breastfeed don't know how much their baby is drinking. If her behaviour is otherwise worrying you, then do seek help.

She's great in herself, only cries when she's a little over tired or if we don't get her bottle fast enough, smiles all the time etc and she sleeps through the night.

Also to add, I was told to feed and wake her every 3 hours for 2 weeks because she was jaundice. I think that's why I panic and feel I have to feed her constantly.

We fed on demand, I always had a rough idea how much she would want which helped make up the right size bottles but never tracked it and sometimes for no reason I could explain she wanted more, sometimes she wanted less.

Babies at that age are growing and changing so fast that their appetite and sleep patterns seem to change almost daily.

As long as she is content, not in any pain, pooing and weeing enough, you're on the right track and should keep doing what you're doing.

One thing that was like magic, was the 'Wonder weeks' app I downloaded. It predicted big changes in sleep and appetite really accurately. It would alert to say we were hitting a 16 week sleep change or a 12 week growth spurt and all of a sudden she'd be guzzling bottles faster than I could make them and growing out of her clothes.

We also had to wake DD to feed when she was very small so I can understand your worry, but it sounds as though your DD is past that stage?