Automatic 3.5 hr switch

[Alexian28]

DD started Zantac last week and lo and behold she can take a real full feed of 5 oz (rather than 3 oz) and actually keep it down.  Hooray!  With the 5 oz bottles she's automatically put herself on a 3-4 hr ish routine literally overnight from a 2.5-3 hr routine and dropped a bottle.  She is almost 11 weeks old, 5 weeks old corrected.  Not sure if her exact weight but I'm estimating 9 1/2 lbs based on her last pedi appt.  I'm not too concerned with any of this despite the fact that she is drinking more than average and is too young for 4 hr routine but I wanted a second (or third or fourth!) opinion.

Old routine
3 oz formula every 2-3 hours during the day (5 bottles), 4 hrs at night (2 bottles), total 21 oz/day

New routine
5 oz formula every 3-4 hours during the day (5 bottles), 6 hrs at night (1 bottle), total 30 oz/day

[*Kara*]

The new total is absolutely fine hun... I would think she might do a bit of catch up from taking such a small amount before the meds worked for her so don't be too surprised if it does level off a bit (but I would still expect ~24ozs a day on average).

Glad to hear that the Zantac is helping

[Alexian28]

Thanks Kara but now I have another kicker.

We decided to try again with the dreamfeed, as her bottles were at 7 am, 1030 am, 1:30 pm, 5 pm, 8 pm and then she would last till 3:45 am.  We were trying to see if a dreamfeed would cut out the middle of the night waking or at least take less oz during that feed if she still woke. 

We successfully did the dreamfeed last night (first time ever!) after trying for about 20 minutes off and on; she finished it just after 11 pm and took the entire 5 oz.  Well lo and behold she STILL woke in the middle of the night, even earlier at 3 am, and took another entire 5 oz bottle for a total of 35 oz for the day.

I'm absolutely bewildered at this.  How in the world did she manage to be hungry even earlier with an additional bottle in her?  If I had known she would get up anyway I would have gone to bed at 9 instead of making myself stay up

[*Kara*]

You might have a baby who doesn't benefit from a DF   Not all babies do well with it as it can disturb sleep more than help it...

Given her age, one night feed without a dream feed is AMAZING!  To be perfectly honest, you can expect that night feed to stick around for a few months yet so I wouldn't try to eliminate it - she very much needs it still...

[Alexian28]

I agree she need it, we were just trying to shift her 8 hour stretch of sleep with no bottle from 8pm-4am to 11pm-7am

Given that she took both bottles should I be feeding her more during the day?  It's hard to believe that she would need that much food.  She drains her 5 oz bottles but she is content afterwards.  I'm not sure she has an "I'm full" sensation as she rarely turns away from food (maybe 5 times ever).

[*Kara*]

  I'm not sure she has an "I'm full" sensation as she rarely turns away from food (maybe 5 times ever).

I assure you that she does

If she drains a 5 oz bottle, offer 6 at each feed and see what happens   Any time she drains a bottle, you want to increase it by an ounce (all feeds) so that she is stopping because she is full, not because the bottle ran out.  She may be content, but not totally full.

[Alexian28]

Kara you are awesome and I am sending you virtual hugs.  We decided late last night when she drained yet another 5 oz to start offering her 6 oz at her last bottle of the evening, at 7 pm.  This way we know she will be with us and we can observe how she reacts afterwards; we are so paranoid about overfeeding her due to the reflux.  If she takes most or all of it down we'll also offer 6 oz at her middle of the night bottle and go from there.  It took her a good 5-6 days of taking 5 oz bottles before she stopped spitting up at every burp; I assume her stomach is "learning" to take the bigger feeds?  I'm paranoid we'll be overfeeding her!  She dropped a bottle (to 6 total) when we bumped up to 5 oz but that's still 30 oz a day.  If we go to 6 that's 36 oz for a roughly 10 lb baby, yikes!  Perhaps as you said initially once she recovers from not being able to eat she'll drop back down again.

Edit: Forgot to add that, although she started the 5 oz she moved to 3.5-4 oz between feeds, she's already dropped back to 3-3.5 hrs, even 2.5 hrs on occasion. 

[*Kara*]

There is a growth spurt at 12 weeks so could be that causing the frequent feeds right now.. if she isn't spitting it up, she should be fine

I wouldn't worry about overfeeding unless she starts bringing it up or has terrible wet hiccups etc...

[Alexian28]

I wouldn't worry about overfeeding unless she starts bringing it up or has terrible wet hiccups etc...

Comes with the reflux territory   I need to call her dr today and see about getting her meds adjusted.  It's been over 2 weeks since we started and she was actively refluxing (rather than just silent reflux) in the evening.

She's now drained 2 6 oz bottles: her 630 pm bottle before bed and her 1 am NW bottle.  Geesh. 

[*Kara*]

Eeek... call the doc for sure.

[Alexian28]

She's getting a weight check tomorrow morning to up her meds, yay.  It will also benefit us in knowing how much her average formula range is based on her weight.

We have been giving her 6 oz bottles since last night and so far today she has dropped a bottle, eating at 6:30 am, 10:15 am, 2 pm and 6 pm rather than 6:30 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm.  If she keeps the dropped bottle over the next couple of days, despite draining the bottles, she will have self-stabilized at 30 oz/day.  We'll just have to see.  When she went up to 5 oz she started at 4 hrs between those bottles as well but went to 3.5 and then 3 hrs in about a week.

[*Kara*]

When she went up to 5 oz she started at 4 hrs between those bottles as well but went to 3.5 and then 3 hrs in about a week.

That was likely uncontrolled reflux though  

Let me know how the appt goes tomorrow hun!

[Alexian28]

Well they doubled her dose from 0.7 ml to 1.4 ml.  Although she's draining her 6 oz bottles I think we'll stick with that size for at least a few days to give her time to readjust on her meds and then go from there.  She's a hair under 10 lb, amazing she'd drink at least 30 oz of formula a day!

[*Kara*]

Great news about the meds increase!  That's a good dose for sure so you should see a much happier bubs in the next few days!

Mine was putting back a solid 26 ozs a day at 10lbs

[Alexian28]

Kara thank you so much again for your help.  I'm starting to see her meds take effect.  She is still stabilized at around 30 oz/day at around 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 oz per bottle, and last night she "slept" through the night for the first time.  Had to do diaper change and tummy massage at 2 am but she went a good 10 1/2 hr night stretch without needing a bottle.