One Month Old...How much formula???

[helenmonaghan]

Hello,

My little girl is one month old & feeding 5ozs 3-4 hourly. Is this an ok amount? I'm so worried about over feeding her but she doesn't tend to spit up much and does only take 4ozs at the odd feed so I think she's good at telling me when she's had enough.

Also, how do I get her to go longer than 3-4ozs at night?

Thanks in advance.

xx

[Lolly]

Sounds like you and she are doing well! The general UK advice is to feed what they will take and when they are draining bottles add another oz so they can stop when they are full not because the bottle is empty. It sounds like she is taking what she needs!

There is a guide that they need to take 2-2.5oz of milk per lb of body weight in 24 hours but not all babies conform - some take more some a lot less (like my 2 )

What is your EASY like? Are you cluster feeding in the evenings and doing a dreamfeed - these should help get more hours in the night. Bear in mind she is still very little, with a little tummy so it needs filling more frequently at this stage. As she gets bigger she will sleep longer honest!

Laura

[helenmonaghan]

That seems good advice, thanks. She more often than not drains the bottle, but I only upped it from 4 to 5 last friday so not sure if I should increase it again so soon?

I'm trying to get her on EASY at the moment, she had got in the habit of only sleeping on us, in the car or in her pram & so I've been doing a combination of pick up put down & shhpat since last wednesday depending on how hard she's crying I either shhpat or pick up put down. She's getting better at going down awake every day. She's quite snoozy & so usually only manages to stay awake for about an hour at a time, max 1.5 hours but I'm trying to make sure that if she falls asleep after her feed I change her or lay her on her changing mat etc to wake her for some activity time before sleep.

I tried giving her 3 ozs before bath & 3 ozs after bath last night (over the space of about 1.5 hours) so that she had taken 6ozs by 7.30 instead of 5ozs. I wasn't sure whether that was the right way to cluster feed or if it should be 2 full bottles over a longer period? I didn't want to risk filling her up so much that she wouldn't take her 11pm feed.

xx

[Lolly]

You can increase again if she needs it, there is a big growth spurt at around 6 weeks so she may need the extra! The split feed sounds fine, her next feed is 3.5 hours later so she should still take it. You could always increase the bottles slightly and see what happens!

I would stick to pat/ssh for the time being, pick up/put down is too stimulating for little ones and is really better for 4 months+. Don't forget that her A time is really awake time not just activity time and includes the Eat time.

Laura