Ages and Amounts of Formula

[hlatreille]

Have YOU tasted formula??  For those of you who haven't you really should, I could not believe how awful it tasted.....just a strange taste, I don't know how babies drink it quite frankly!! LOL 

It definately tastes WAY different to your breast milk.....I would try what Paula suggested.....he just may need some time to get used to the taste of the formula.

[Aythen's mom]

okay my son is 7 months old he is a big boy at 22 lbs I stopped nursing about a month ago and I have been giving him 4-5oz at a time, but he does have cereal and baby food now. He is waking in the night constantly do you think I am not giving him enough formula. He has a jar of food and cereal at 6 and a 5 oz bottle at 7 then off to bed. My other problem is he is a puker with him spitting up a average of 10 times a day I am leery about giving him more??? What to do?

[grahamsmama]

How many bottles is he getting a day now?

[Aythen's mom]

Okay we have cereal and fruit in the morning with a 4 oz bottle usually around 8am, around noon he has a rusk cracker a jar of vegs a 4-5oz bottle after nap around 3-4 he has a 4-5 oz bottle, at six it;s supper a jar of food some cereal maybe some fruit after and a cracker, at bedtime I would usually give him about 5 oz.  He does throw up quite a bit, I was givign him more but with the constant puking i thought I was over feeding so i cut back.  Last night I was reading how much others were feeding there babies they were much younger and having more I know he is having food too but don't they get most of there calories from the formula?? Anyway he went to bed at 730 and slept for two hours, screaming at 930 I rewrapped him and he fussed for a bit then was crying again at 10 i thought maybe he was in pain so I gave some medication. He went to sleep and was crying again at 11 he seemed so irate like he usually does.  I gave him a 4 oz bottle that he downed in 30 sec. and seemed to want more, I made him another 56 oz bottle that he drank down just as fast and then.... and then.... he slept. From 11-745 that is a record for us lately. 


       I don't want to over feed him and I don't want any future weight problems but he is such a big baby, what is the norm and how much should I adjust it for my big baby.  Giving him 5oz he always seemed to want more.. Today I increased his bottles to 6-7 oz and his night bottle to 9 oz he didn't drink it all though, so well see if he sleeps better..................He used to sleep 12 hour nights at 3and 4 months......Thanks for responding..... Anymore advice is helpful.......Cheers

[grahamsmama]

Ok, so he's 7 months old and he's getting about 18 oz during the day, then whatever he's getting during the night.  And 3 solid meals.  Honestly, I think you aren't giving him enough formula (or weren't before you upped the amounts yesterday).  I would say a minimum of 24oz during the day until about 9 months, plus his solids.  If he's spitting up a lot, maybe you could ask your pediatrician about changing the kind of formula to a thickened one or just adding thickener to it. 
How was your night last night?

[Aythen's mom]

Last night was very good, I feed him a huge bottle before bed, he took about 7 oz went to bed at 730 cried for one min at 930, I didn't go in, he went back to sleep on his own, was crying at 1230 I went in shh and pat went to sleep until 630 and I gave him 4 oz to get us through to 830 breakfast. I did much of the same today so well see. We went to see the doctor today and he was not at all concerned about the throwing up, he said it is only a problem if baby is not gaining weight, Aythen gained a pound last months so he is good. Thank you for the tip and the support Kerry

[bakershaker]

I have a question about this! My DS is 3 months old. He is 13 lbs and doing great! The thing is he eats like a piggie!! He is eating 5 ounces every 2-2.5 hours...even through the night! Sometimes he will sleep longer stretches and go maybe 5 hours at night. so he is eating about 40-42 oz of formula a day! That seems like a lot to me. People suggest just giving him more then 5 oz at each feeding to make him last longer..but he won't eat more then 5 ounces. People also suggest giving him rice cereal already..but he just seems to young for that?? I don't know? Anyone else have this problem or could give me a little info? He is on the EASY routine, but I can't get him to wait that extra half hour for a bottle. I'm scared at 4 months there will be no way he will wait 4 hours in between. Help!

[* Paula *]

Have you thought about trying the second stage formula, the one for hungry babies?  Might be worth a try.

[bakershaker]

I've never even heard of it? Is that the stuff for 6 months+?

[czechmum]

Hi, I would not move your babe to a four hour schedule as I di that with Nathan around 4 weeks because he was bottle fed and could go longer between feeds but then I dealt with 45min naps from about 6weeks until 4months as he was unable to stay awake for 2hours prior to his nap and could not sleep 2.5hours every sleep cycle. If your baby is eating 5ozs every 3 hours and is happy I would go with it and just increase the milk as necessary and move to a four hour schedule closer to 3.5 or 4months. HTH

Hi
I seem to have the same problem. My son is almost 10 weeks old and we had to move him to a 4 hourly feeding because he just wasn't hungry after 3 hours. But now dealing with the same issues of him not being able to stay up for longer then an hour and than he will not sleep for longer then 45 mins to 1 hour.. (apart from 1st morning nap when he will sleep for nearly 3 hours!!!)
How did you manage? Did you just ride it out until he could stay up for two hours?

[mommygina]

Hi!  My LO is 4 weeks old and takes 3 - 4 oz formula per feeding, more often 3.5 - 4 oz.  We are on a 3 to 3 1/2 hour EASY, except at night he might go 4 hours.  He takes in roughly 25 oz formula per day (anywhere from 23 - 28oz.)  He is 10 lbs 3 oz.

However, he does spit up some after almost every feeding.  Is this spitting up normal?  I try to keep him upright for 20 mins after feeding, but still get spit up after.  Sometimes with burping, sometimes during a diaper change or A time.

Thanks!

[* Paula *]

Spit up is completely normal.

Some lo's are what you call a happy spitter,when they have the reflux symptoms of just spitting up, but are not bothered by it, and are not in any pain.

If your lo is happy, then I would not worry.

Remember, the spit up always looks more than what it actually is.

HTH's

[Ladyloulou]

Hi! My ds Luis is 12 weeks old and takes between 3 1/2-4 oz. every 3 1/2 to 4 hours. If I wait the 4 hours then he will have the 4 ounces, he goes to bed at 9 at wakes up at about 4. I feed him then due to the fact he is not eating that much during the day so i think he needs that feeding. Is that normal? He has reflux and is in the formula that has rice starch, it's thicker than regular formula (could that be the reason)  He is not spitting anymore, I fill the bottles up to 5 ounces but he takes only 4 and he is starting to turn away from the bottle when full and there is no way to try to make him drink more. Also in the morning he doesn't want to eat when he wakes up, I have to wait like an hour and them he takes the bottle. is this normal too? he wakes up at about 6:30. but I work so that is fine for us. thanks for any reply.
Loulou

[* Paula *]

Sounds like your lo is doing fantastic.  Some lo's are bigger eaters than others.

The fact that you are only having one night waking at this age, means that he is definitely getting enough through the day.  As he gets older you will see he will start to take more.

With regards to only wanting to eat an hour after waking that sounds pretty normal if he has woken at 4 and had a feed, and then wakes at 6:30 - that is only 2.5hours after the previous feed.

[Miimii]

My little girl is 2 1/2 weeks and is taking anything up to 5 oz every 3-4 hours in the day and then sleeps most of the night (around 12am to 6:30am)! From what I've read some of your older babes aren't taking that much! She does let me know when she's had enough and sometimes that can be 3-4 oz, but most of the time she will drink the whole 5 oz!

Is this normal for her do you think? I don't want her to get too chubby! She has about 6-7 feeds in a 24 hour period.