EASY with a 7 week old-need some help please!!

[sl]

Hello and happy holidays,

My son is 7 weeks old and we have been trying a 3hr EASY routine with him.  He can manage the 3 hr wait between feeds during the day but at night he still wakes every 2 hrs for a feed.  I have been doing cluster feeds and a dreamfeed at around 10-10:30pm. He is taking 5ozs during the day and at night he can still manage to suck back 4ozs.
This is our schedule as we approach the evening.  He takes 5ozs at 5pm and he sleeps until 7pm.  We feed him again, then a bath and its off to bed.  He usually falls asleep within 20-30 minutes but before I can get a dreamfeed in he wakes up.  He usually wakes up by 9:45 hungry again.  I do a "dreamfeed" at 10-10:30pm, which he is awake for, and we put him back to bed.  By 1-1:30am he is awake again hungry.

Can someone please help...Am I doing something wrong and am I feeding my son too much formula??

Thanks
Lori

[rebecaq]

Hi Lori,

At 7 weeks they still feed a few times at night, but I'm not much of on expert with bottle feeding. I'm letting Paula our other mod know about your post. She's also a bottle feeding mod and will be able to help you 

- Beca 

[sl]

Thanks Beca,
Any help I can get is greatly appreciated!!!

[* Paula *]

Hi Lori,

When you feed your lo during the day, are you feeding him every three hours i.e. if he is asleep are you waking him up to feed him?  If not, I would wake him when his feeds are due to ensure that he takes most of his calories in the day time as opposed to night time.

I would also suggest cluster feeding, this helps your lo tank up before bed time.  I would feed at 5pm - put him down for a cat nap of about 45 minutes, wake, feed again at 6:00pm, bath as your A time and feed again after the bath around 7:00pm, and aim for him to be in bed by no later that 7:30.  This way your lo has tanked up before bedtime and should sleep through until the dreamfeed.  I would also try moving the dreamfeed as close to 10:00 as possible.

At this age, you can still expect night wakings, this is very common.

As for formula  and how much your lo should be taking, the guideline is 2.5oz - 2.7oz per lbs of body weight.  See the link below.  Please note that this is only a guideline, and some babies take more and some babies take less.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67933.msg516813#msg516813

Hope this info helps.

Let us know how you get on.

[sl]

Hi,

I will try your suggestion and let you know how it goes.  I have a few questions if you don't mind.

If I feed him at 5pm (he normally will take 5ozs) can or should I feed him 5ozs again at 6pm?  When I do cluster feeds I find I am forcing him to eat and he spits up a lot more.  Do you think I should give him less at 6pm and 7pm?  When I do a dreamfeed how much should I give him?

I do wake him every 3hrs for a feed and my son weighs about 12-13 pounds.

[* Paula *]

I would offer him his normal feed at 5pm.  Then at 6pm, you can make up another 5 oz bottle and see how much he takes.  You can keep the formula for up to an hour, so once he has had his bath you can then offer him again from the same bottle at 7pm.  Do this over a few days, and then you can judge to see how much he is taking.  Don't force, you are just offering him extra top ups, if he takes them great, if he only has a few sips, at least you know he has a little more milk in him.

I would still offer him the same amount as a DF, although he may not take as much due to being topped up.

Keep us posted on how you get on, and let us know if you have any questions.

Good luck 

[rebecaq]

Just jumping in real quick to say the cluster feed isn't at 5 and then 6, it's 5 and then 7 

- Beca

[* Paula *]

  Thanks Bec, yup you are right, I put one too many feeds in there.

Sorry about that.