1 week old- just switched to formula from BF and wants 4 oz. a feed??

[jmosery]

My one week old daughter  was breastfed till two days ago when we made the switch to formula due to family issues(having a 1 year old) and it was just too much for us

anyways...

she is 7lbs. 0 oz. and was taking 3 oz. every 3 hours(even waking every 3 hours on her own at night)

then last night at her 4am feed, i fed her 3 oz. and she was looking for more. I tried giving her a paci and settling her other ways but she wouldn't go to sleep. after an hour I offered her another ounce and she gobbled it up and went to bed

i woke her for her 7am feed as i've been waking her for daytime feeds and letting her sleep as long as she wants at night(which seems to be exactly 3 hours)

I prepared a 4 oz. bottle and she drank it

now at a week  old, 7lbs., if she is eating every 3 hours, 4 oz. thats 32 oz. a day

thats a lot? no?

am I misreading her?

was she getting that much breastfeeding? not sure?

shoudl i do a 4 hour schedule? but taht wouldn't work with A time and all

any ideas??

[jmosery]

oh, also, she eats VERY fast. we stop her often to burp and just take a break because if we didn't she would suck down the whole bottle

i read taht feeds should take up to 30 min. she takes less than 10 min.

is that okay? she isn't spitting and burps well

[Lolly]

I'd go with what she wants. If she is taking 4oz and doesn't spit it back up it sounds like she knows what she needs! She could well have been taking 4oz at a breast feed. I think my LO was on 4oz very quickly and stayed at that amount for a few weeks until we increased it to 5oz when he began draining bottles.

It sounds like you are doing well if she is already feeding regularly!

HTH

Laura

[* Paula *]

I agree with the PP - If she is taking it and not spitting up then she can obviously handle it.

Some lo's take in more milk and some less - let your lo guide you - she will tell you what she needs.

Also at 1 week old I would not suggest letting your lo go 4 hours between feeds she is very young and would not be able to handle the A time.

You are doing great by waking her in during the day for feeds and letting her guide you in the night.

Have you tried offering her cluster feeds and a dream feed to help her tank up during the night?

Paula

[jmosery]

thanks ladies

i made 3 oz. bottles today and she was fine. we woke her twice at 3 hours and one time she woke on her own at 2.5 hours to eat

i did cluster feed yesterday at 6pm, 8 and 10 but she woke at 1 and then at 4 and I woke her at 7am to start the day

tonight i'll again feed her at 6pm, 8pm and 10

but doing a cluster feed, she is getting 9 feedings, is that okay? thats 27 oz. of formula if she has 3 oz. bottles

7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, 10pm, 1am, 4am

does that seem right?

[Lolly]

That seems to be about what we were doing! The general guidelines are 2/2.5oz per lb of body weight but my LO took a lot more than this in the early days (well over 30oz most days) and it tailed off to a 25oz per day average as he got older (and bigger!). He was 8lb born and has stuck to a steady growth curve which is what they look for. I worried about the amount he was taking, but he did self regulate and as soon as he was draining all his bottles during a day/2 days we added another oz. If she is totally draining all bottles it is worth adding another oz in. If you are having to wake her it sounds like she is getting enough, keep an eye on wet and dirty nappies -that will tell you too!

We moved to a 4 hour EASY when he was about 12 weeks old which is earlier than a lot of babies. He wasn't really ready for the activity time but he wasn't hungry before 4 hours at that age so our EASY was very mixed up at that point so we mainly concentrated on not feeding to sleep.

Laura

[jmosery]

thanks Laura

That happened with my son(now a year old)

we had to move to a 4 hour schedule earlier than usual because he wasn't hungry but for a couple weeks it was all weird because his A time wasnt up to a 4 hour schedule.

i started my son on BW at 3 months so not sure with a newborn

last night i could NOT wake her for a 10pm bottle(dreamfeed). but she woke at 11(after 3 hours) and then again at 2:30 and slept till 6:45 which was great. we started our day at 7am again.

[Lolly]

Wow - you are getting more sleep than me! Well done! My Lo woke at 1.30am was up for 1.5 hours and then for the day at 5.30 (normal wake up for him ) These teeth are driving me nutty!

I hope tonight goes as well for you!

Laura

[* Paula *]

Jaime, have you tried giving your lo the dreamfeed while she is still asleep?  This way it does not actually interrupt their sleep cycle.

It can take up to a week for the DF and cluster feeds to start working, so stick with it, and you will soon start seeing results.

Sounds like she is doing really well.

Keep us posted.

[jmosery]

PAULA- i tried a dream feed yesterday at 10pm but i couldnt wake her. i kept trying but nothing

i'm going to try again today at 10pm

didnt know it could take up to a week. good to know

i have another question for you ladies:

she has been spitting up when i burp her which I guess is normal from what i've been told. but she spits up through her nose and tonight she is very uncomfortable from the gas. I stop her A LOT during feeds to burp

could this be a sign of overfeeding?

actually at her 6pm feed, it was hard to get her to eat. she only ate 2 of the 3 oz.

but then at 7:30 she woke up starving and i tried everything before giving her her 8pm bottle and she drank it all

so on one hand i think she needs the 3 oz. and on the other hand i'm thinking it could be too much

at her 4pm bottle, again it was hard to wake her to eat and she had terrible gas pains from that feeding and spit up a bunch when burping and once through her nose

when she is awake for feeds she does much better with gas and burping

i try to wake her more but being only 8 days old, its hard

jaime

[Lolly]

Which bottles are you using? We use Dr Brown's and they are really good for stopping them taking in too much air - pricey but worth it IMO!

If she is spitting up after feeds try keeping her more upright for 20 mins or so and feeding her a little more upright as well to let gravity help. She may be a bit refluxy but I think most babies are because their little bodies have yet to mature. It's worth watching, especially if she seems to be in a lot of discomfort.

You also don't need to wait for feed time to feed, if she wakes and you know she is hungry just feed her. The only time to not feed is if you know they have had a full feed within the last hour because hunger cues are very easily mixed up with tired cues (been there done that  )

Also with the dreamfeed you don't wake them up for it. We just pick him up and rub the nipple over his lips until he opens his mouth and the tounge drops then stick it in and he will suck away. We don't burp him, he goes back in his cot ASAP however if you are having gas issues you may want to very gently burp before you lay her back down. Have you tried gas drops. Where are you? There are different things in each country, I'm UK and found Infacol worked well for a few weeks.

My LO was very hard to wake for ages, we just kept at it, especially when he had day and night mixed up for a while.

Laura

[jmosery]

We are using Avent bottles. We tried Dr. browns first but she wouldn't take them. I couldn't use them anyways because my son uses them and he freaked when he saw us give one to her. he wanted it(he is 1 yo)

with the dream feed. i wasn't waking her or burping her. just trying to get her to suck but she wouldn't. i think its her age. i'm  going to keep trying

last night at 10pm again she wouldn't open her mouth. i kept trying.

i'm in the US. i have Mylecon drops. i'll give those a try

thanks

[* Paula *]

Some lo's just don't take to the DF, so if you find that after a week she is still refusing the DF, then it might be worth just sticking with the cluster feeding.

We used Avent bottles at first with our DS and he also had bad gas problems.  A lot of people on here mention that Avent gives lo's bad gas.  We tried NUK after that and our DS took to them straight away and it helped a lot with the gas problems as well as using gas drops.

I would consider changing bottles and using the gas drops to see how things go.  We went back to the Avent bottles when our DS was about 4 months old, and he did not have a problem with them then.

HTH's

Paula