Formula amounts!

[kidsareok]

Hi! My LO is formula fed and is 12 weeks old. He currently has 5oz 7 times a day - so 35oz overall. He doesn't sleep through the night yet but feeds at 7pm, 11pm (dream feed), 3am and 7am like clockwork every night. He sleeps like a log in between these feeds but isn't dropping a feed in the night yet. We ideally want him to go to 6oz 6 times a day and only feed once through the night instead of 11pm and 3am. Any tips? If we fed him 6oz instead of 5oz at every feed do you think he would naturally start being fuller so sleeping longer at night? Thank you!

I was told that if baby is finishing their bottles to offer another oz per feed.
Is he finishing 5oz? I don't think you can force them to sleep through more, it just has to come naturally.

Thank you! So if he still feeds 7 times a day but has 6oz he would be having 42oz a day - would that be over feeding him?! Everywhere I look seems to say around 32oz ish is normal for his age?!

I never fed to a schedule, just waited till mine were hungry and they always settled into their own routines, so they start to go longer between feeds. I was also taught that they'll either stop or vomit if they have too much.

In all honesty you maybe waiting years for your child to sleep through the night without needing you. 12 weeks is still tiny. It’s exhausting but it does get better eventually.

@Thatwentbadly

In all honesty you maybe waiting years for your child to sleep through the night without needing you. 12 weeks is still tiny. It’s exhausting but it does get better eventually.

Yes this there's no magic formula they all wake up during the night..,, it's a given It won't last forever xx

If he’s draining 5oz, then add an extra ounce. He might naturally start going a bit longer between feeds if he takes a little more at each feeding.

The guide I followed was 2-2.5oz per pound of body weight per 24 hours. So for example if he’s 10lb he’d need around 20-25oz a day as a rough guide.

You can't over feed a newborn :) I would try 6oz see how he goes :)

@brushlaptop

You can't over feed a newborn :) I would try 6oz see how he goes :)

No, but they can vom it up all over you! 😆

If he's draining them and seems hungry earlier then increase it and see but I wouldn't expect miracles in terms of nighttime sleep, it's completely normal for them to be up a few times. Have you got a partner to split the feeds with? That helped a lot with my eldest.

My little girl never got above 5oz ever! I tried the larger teats to increase amount and then she just threw up. See how you get on I suppose, I think those wake ups are pretty standard for his age though and like PP said there's no magic formula to get them to sleep through!

Each baby is different. As others have said, if your little one is draining the bottle, then try a little more and see how they go.

However, 7pm, 11pm (dream feed), 3am and 7am like clockwork every night. He sleeps like a log in between these feeds is wonderful at that stage, IME.

One of the advantages of formula feeding is that either parent can feed your baby.

Parent A goes to sleep by about 9pm,
Parent B does the 11pm feed.

Parent A then gets up to fees at 3am having had a good solid 6 hours sleep. (and is still able to get another 3 or 4 hours afterwards)
Parent B gets up to feed at 7am, having had a good solid 7 hours sleep.

Sounds great.

If he's draining a bottle I'd add an ounce at that time. You might find he then won't wake for the next bottle until a bit later or won't drink it all so you might find you're doing 7oz at one and 5 at another which is fine.

I think hoping he'll go from 11 - 7 is probably optimistic. Mine was on three hourly still at that age. 8 hours is a long gap

can you drop the dream feed? my ds is also 12 weeks and has 6oz 5 times a day. He usually has a feed between 8 and 9pm, then goes down and wakes for a feed anywhere between 3 and 4.30am, and generally then goes 4-5 hours during the day. I only feed at night if he's awake. if he's just stirring I try to sooth back to sleep first

It doesn’t matter if it’s more than you think he should have at his age. If he finishes most of the bottle then offer an extra ounce at next feed and so on. You can’t force a baby to feed more/less often but he might be showing signs of wanting to. Always go with the flow and feed on demand to meet the baby’s personal needs.

My friend’s 4 month old was on 8oz x4 times a day- very happy baby (I was very jealous). Some babies can hope bigger amounts earlier. You’ll know by the sick of it’s too much!

I think 12 weeks is still a little too young to be trying to engineer him to drop a might feed. It’s normal for babies that small to feed every few hours. They need it to regulate their blood sugar. It also helps prevent against SIDS.

If he regularly drains the bottle because he is still hungry for more at the end of it then by all means offer him more, but I wouldn’t do anything with the goal of dropping a night feed just yet.

I think it's purely luck if they sleep through, my 19 week old could at that point some night but he's the size of the average 10 month old so his stomach can hold more than 8oz, I feed him on demand and didn't do anything to make it happen.

My 12 week old seemed to drop his night feed at around 8 weeks. He wasn't waking for it so I just left him to sleep and he now wakes about 6am for his first bottle. He has 4 bottles of 7oz throughout the day then he has 8oz bottle just before bed which is between 8/8.30pm
Try giving your LO an extra ounce before bedtime, that's what I tried and he sleeps like a dream

If baby is Hungary and takes the bottle then give it.. every baby is different if mine wanted 42oz in a day I would give it