Formula 15 weeks

[Lauren8642]

Hi all my daughter is 15 weeks old on Wednesday. Since birth we’ve kind of fed on a routine rather than on demand (unless she tells us she wants milk sooner but 9/10 she doesn’t) this is because she lost weight at birth we fed every 3 hours then once at birth weight every 4 hours but then she dropped her night feed then she dropped a centile. Since then I’ve been making sure she’s getting 5 bottles in a day making 5oz at a time.
I feed her at 6am, 9:30am, 1:30pm, 5:00/5:30pm, 9:00/9:30pm.
The 6am one I have her wake her for then she’ll sometimes fall back to sleep for a hour or so, and the 9pm ish one I have to semi wake her as she falls into a deep sleep around 7:30/8:00pm.
With her bottles sometimes she’ll finish the 5oz sometimes she’ll only drink 4oz in the day but recently she’s not been drinking her last one of the night it’s like she’s in too much of a deep sleep she’s only drinking 2-3oz
So the past week she’s only been getting around average of 650ml a day.
She’s 11ibs 1oz when I got her weighed last week.

Both my formula fed children didn’t drink the average formal intake each day. My hv said as long as they were feeding, showing interest in feeding and having the majority of the bottle whilst gaining weight then it was okay.
i did find that both of them became bored of formula fairly quickly so I did have to change brands.
A lot of their feeding also depends on bottles and teats. Have you changed the teat to a faster flowing one? Once they feel they have to work on sucking too hard on the teat then they can get bored.
I also noticed that both my children preferred a fasting flowing teat during the day but at night time would return to a slow flow whilst they were sleepy.

Best thing to do is contact your hv to get their weight checked and ensure everything is okay.
They might suggest waking your little one in the night to start a night feed again if they are losing weight.

I had a similar ish story with my first except we would have 3/4 oz bottles and multiple small bottles through the night. He was getting roughly half of the daily expected milk for his age.

i was concerned so went to the health visitor who’s biggest concern was dehydration. After about a w

Forgot to add that I went through so many different brands of bottles before finding one they both liked!
Maam bottles were great when they were tiny but as they grew bigger, they both just disliked them. One child loved tommee Tippee and the other loved Dr Brown bottles.
it might be worth a shot, changing the teat or trying out a different bottle to see if there’s any difference.

Why on earth do you wake at 6am. Let her sleep.

I usually suggest 7 10 1 4 7 and then bed

then to feed when wakes naturally and at that age usually around 3/4 if not later or does till 6am and start the day again if no milk feeds nighttime

but I def wouldn’t be waking a sleeping baby that early

I wouldn’t wake her for feeds at this age. My dd was around 10lbs at 3-4 month old. She woke around midnight and 5am so I fed her then.

Sorry was having trouble finishing the post. After a week or so she was happy, I weighed him every few weeks to check he was still gaining week

now I am a stranger on the internet - I would go speak to your local health visitor - mine was really good

@lifehappens12 was you feeding on demand or in a schedule?

I think you need to adjust your timing of bottles. If you let her sleep until she wakes in the morning and then feed her, then have her first nap and feed again and so on.
My two babies who were formula fed I fed them at 7, 11, 3 and 7 and then a dream feed at 10:30 until about 18 weeks, although they did take a larger volume than your baby.
The boy would have been on 7oz 5 times a day and then up to 8oz when he dropped the dream feed. The girl never took more than 6oz. I tried to feed her every 3 hours but then she just drank less of each bottle. She was a big baby (my biggest, 9lb at birth) but she took what she wanted and couldn't make her drink more and never had more than 24oz in a day. Didn't move on to solids until almost 7 months either.

@Emma2803 with them timings is I have to pick my eldest up from school at three so I wouldn’t be able to give her a bottle then that’s why I’ve always done it the way I’ve done it apart from today I’m not 100% so I didn’t wake up at six and she woke me up at seven had a bottle, but now I have to feed her every 3 1/2 hours so it doesn’t interfere with school. I’ve tried upping her bottles to 6 ounces today and hopefully she’ll drink more just currently giving her a bottle of 6 ounces.

Hence 3hrs at 7 10 1 4 7 works with nursery/lunch and school pick ups

Those bottles are much smaller than the recommended size at 15 weeks. 6-7oz (180-210ml) fewer times a day if necessary, is more normal, and at 4 months they'll probably want to be on at least a medium flow test.

@bouncingblob ive tried her on 6oz today first bottle she drank 5oz second 6oz third 4oz and fourth just over 4oz. Hopefully she’ll drink another 4 oz if not more when I feed her tonight.
shes on size 1 mam teat. I tried her on 2 a couple of weeks ago and it was just coming out too fast for her. She doesn’t seem to get bored I don’t think she just sticks her tongue out or gags when she’s had enough

@Blondeshavemorefun I honestly don’t think she’ll drink having it offered every 3 hours.
Ive tried giving her milk early before when she wasn’t settling at night and she literally drank 20ml

I would go up a size. She’s on 1 and 4mths

yes to start with they suck hard as used to sucking to get it out so get sometimes overwhelmed

but persevere

she may drink more on size 2 as maybe tired of sucking /working for it

as a rule of thumb I usually suggest going up once a month /6w size teat so would expect a 4mth to be on 2 if not 3

I totally agree with this.

I'd keep trying with the bigger teat.

I know this is unhelpful, but in two months or so you'll be starting solids so it'll change again.

Be guided by your baby though. If she's gaining weight and has six wet nappies a day, she's getting enough.