move 10 week old to 4 hours?

[Alyson G]

Hi, this is my first post

I took my daughter to the clinic today where she was weighed and is 13lb 1oz at 10 weeks and 2 days. I asked if I needed to change formula because I didn't think Cow and Gate was suiting lo (excessive gas and fussiness). I was told not to bother changing formula but as she has gained 1lb in a week it's a bit much so I should try feeding her every 4 hours instead of 3 to try to slow the weight gain down.

I don't really know what to do as recently, lo hasn't been showing interest in feeds at 3 hours and if she does eat when uninterested, she brings a lot up. She generally takes 6 feeds of 6 oz a day and sleeps 9 hours at night, this was from 10/11ish at night through to morning but we have recently been putting her to bed early so she wakes about 4/5 ish. I have thought about keeping her on 3 hours and weaning the night feed as if she wakes in the night for a feed, she doesn't usually want her first bottle so it makes me wonder if she actually needs the night bottle. Could this help her weight gain by taking a bottle away? Could she be waking out of habit even if it is not at the same time exactly? She is always pretty much on the 9 hour mark from going to sleep.

[Lolly]

Hi there and welcome to the boards!

You could try a 3.5 hour EASY (are you familiar with EASY - have you read Tracy's books?), formula fed babies do need to go longer between feeds earlier than breastfed babies. I think she is a bit little for 4 hours, as she won't be able to do the 2 hours A time needed for a 4 hour EASY.

The feeds she takes now sound very normal to me and the nightfeed is totally normal for a while yet, the fact she wakes at different times does indicate hunger rather than habit.

I also wouldn't worry too much about what your HV says, follow your instincts! Babies gain weight at different rates and will gain more some months than others - I bet if she gained a lb in a week being breastfed they wouldn't be suggesting less milk !

If you post your day for us we can have a look and see if any tweaks will help overall, so

Eat - what times, how much
Activity - how long for
Sleep - what times, how long for

HTH!

Laura

[Alyson G]

Thank you for your reply. Things have gotten so much better. We tried dropping the night bottle as I wasn't convinced she needed it, I realised that she never actually cried for this, she just fussed a bit like she was shuffling and in my sleepy state, I just rushed in with a feed thinking she had woken for it. The first night, I didn't go into her room as she wasn't crying and she resettled withing 5 minutes, she did this once every hour for 3 hours then the next night, she fussed once, resettled and slept for the rest of the night. She has now done two nights going 12 hours without a feed and has been so much more happy and content in the day (less wind and sick) and showing an interest in her feeds again at the 3 hour mark, I think I was accidently overfeeding her. We can also see signs of teeth cutting through (at 11 weeks ) so this may have also been a cause for her lack of interest in bottles.

Thank you taking the time to reply  .

[Lolly]

I'm glad things are better now! Sounds like she is doing well!

Laura