When to allow baby to go longer in between feedings

[Chloevalentine]

My 7 week old was eating 4 oz formula every 3 hours during day and then 2 bottles in between 8pm -5 am so average 28 oz. I've recently upped it to 4.5 oz and I'm noticing that he's waking to eat or getting hungry around 4 hrs instead of 3. Is that normal/ok?  But he still is having just 2 bottles during the night.  So it's still about 27-28 oz. should he be eating more?  He was 10lbs 14 oz 2 weeks ago. I actually woke him to feed him today at 4 hrs. Thanks

[*Kara*]

He's eating fine for his age... I wouldn't wake to feed him unless his nap was over 2 hrs already

[Lolly]

That's a good amount of formula for his age, so if he is able to go 4 hours providing his milk intake doesn't drop then that's fine. I wouldn't let him go longer than 4 hours max in the day though - you want to encourage the bulk of the calories in the day or he'll need more during the night!

Laura

[Chloevalentine]

On the occasion he goes 4 hours and takes an hour nap it's a lot of A time snd I'm nt sure what to do with him as to not overstimulate.

[Lolly]

Do you want to post your EASY up and we'll have a look and see if you can tweak anything?

Laura

[Chloevalentine]

I do have another question.  At night I was feeding baby 4-4.5 oz around 8 and putting to bed he would sleep until around 1230 wake up to feed and right back to bed until around 430-5 then back to bed until 730 and we would start day schedule feeding every 3 hours. More recently i feed him 5oz at 730-8 ish right to bed until 230 am for feeding and then right back to bed until 630. But I think he's confused now waking at 630 if he should stay awake after feeding and start day schedule becuase it's light out or go right back to bed.

One day he woke at 7 am to eat and went back to bed from 740 until 1030 and yesterday he woke at 630 fed at 7 and stayed awake until 745and then slept until 945 and today he woke early at 6 not crying but just a awake so I fed him at 615 and he only made it through half a bottle 2.5 oz and fell asleep so I put him back to bed. I'm just confused as to why he woke to eat if he wasnt hungry and too sleepy. Sounds like we are both confused lol

[Chloevalentine]

As of a day or two ago he's eating more and sleeping longer at night. Day time feedings are still around 3-3.5 hours apart even with increase in food. Naps are on average 1 hr but now there's awake time in between eating, awake, sleeping, awake then eating

Easy :

E. 630:7am - feed 5 oz (see note in last post )
A. Not much awake time
S. 745-1030 lately it depends

E. 11 feed 5 oz
A. 11-1215 laugh and looking around sitting on couch play music
S. 1215-115
A. 115-2pm
E. 2pm 4.5 oz
A.  2-3pm playmat tummy time
S. 3-415 pm
A. 415-5 holding him walking around
E   5pm 5 oz
A. 5-615
S. catnap on and off fussing put in car for ride
E. 8 pm 5 oz put to bed 830 takes him about 30 min to fall asleep no crying though
S. 9-230
E 230 5 oz
S. 3-615
E. 630 2.5 oz
S. 650-745

[Lolly]

If you want a regular timed bedtime then you really need a regular timed wake up too! I used to feel that anytime after 6am was an ok time to start the day so once they woke that was the start of our day and we just ran with feeds and naps from there. Some babies will wake the same time every day - mine never did .

The problem with going back to sleep really soon after a wake up and then sleeping late into the morning is that they can get confused about day and night and it will push bedtime later. Don't forget too that A time is eyes awake to eyes shut and includes the feed time. Looking at your EASY, if he woke at 6.30 had a feed and then went back to sleep at 7.45 that's 1hr 15 min A time so I would consider that a 6.30 wake time and would be aiming for bedtime at 6.30/7.

His feed amounts look good, remember when he starts draining the majority of his bottles you need to add another oz to them all. Have a look at this link, it has some sample routines for your LO's age. chronological EASY samples, 0-3 months

Laura

[Chloevalentine]

 if he wakes at 630 am and I feed him on couch with lights on and talking as opposed to our during the night feedings that occur in the nursery on the rocker in the dark no talking or diaoer change I still have a hard time keeping him awake after feeding. When he would wake at 5 am we would follow the during the night feeding and he would go back to bed for 3 hours until next feeding. I think at 630 he still needs that 2.5-3 hour sleep afterwards before he starts his day time routine with just 1hour naps. According to how much sleep he gets. Do you agree?  So should I treat the 630 like day or night ? 

Also if I tried an earlier bed time wouldn't be wake more during night?  One of his feedings is always around 430-530 so the next feeding would be 8-830 then I usually just change diaper and put him right to bed no awake active time and thn he sleeps until 230. That seems to work for all of us for now.

When do I try to encourage longer time between feeds during the day? He normally does 3 hours since I've upped from 4.5 to 5 oz I try to get 3.5 hours. Sometimes when he's gassy I think he doesn't finish the 5 oz bottle.

Thank you so much

[Lolly]

He's too little to try and get longer stretches between feeds just yet, babies move to a 4 hour EASY at 4 months/ 16 weeks. We do see some formula fed babies go to 3.5/4 hours earlier than that but it's not really until about 12 weeks and you can't get a tidy EASY because they aren't able to do the A times needed for another few weeks.

If his first feeding is around 6.30am then his last feed would be at 6.30 pm on a 3 hour EASY, then a dreamfeed between 10 and 11pm and then he should wake for another feed 3-4 hours after the DF. He's probably still sleepy at that first feed because his night is too short due to his bedtime. If you want the later wake up then treat the 6.30 ish feed as a night feed - so in the dark no talking and straight back down. What you may find though is that he naturally starts to wake for the day around that time and doesn't go back down so easily.

An earlier bedtime doesn't mean awake more - if they get too overtired because the day is too long then they don't sleep so well, if his body clock is  naturally waking at 6.30/7am then I would try and get his bedtime 12 hours later. You would then feed at 6.30, 9.30, 12.30, 3.30, 6.30.

Did you have a look at the link I posted?

Laura

[Chloevalentine]

Ok so ill keep the 3 hr feed duribg day. If he's getting eniugh sleep and seems to happy eating etc isn't it ok to leave schedule as is?  Also the dream feed would have him waking more dont you think his schedule / feeding/ sleeping etc is good through the night as is? If I do his last feeding at 630 do I put him right to bed or does he have awake time after?  But then he might wake around 1130 to eat and again at 330 and then 630.
I'm ok with 630 for wake time for the day I'm just having a hard time teaching him to lol. He wants to go right back to bed almost until next feeding.
Yes thanks for the link

[Lolly]

If the routine is working for you all that's great and stick with it! It's just useful to know where you could tweak or alter things if it stops working so well! You know him best so go with what you think works.

When my two were tiny the last feed was after the bath routine so I did put them straight to bed after it. Some people do a feed then bath but I found it worked better the other way. My DD used to wake for the day around 6.30 and we put her down to sleep at 7pm, we bathed both kids together so she had to fit in with DS's routine, we started bath at 6pm then last feed and into cot by 7pm.

With the dreamfeed he won't be waking more because you do it when they are asleep - you don't wait for them to wake. If the last feed is 6.30 then I would do it at 10pm (the DF is best between 10 and 11, any later and it hinders more than helps, any earlier and you don't get the benefit from it), just pick him up out of the cot gently and put the teat in his mouth and he should automatically start sucking. Because it's a relaxed feed you don't need to burp, you just lay him back down and he should stay sleeping for the next 3 hours at least.

At his age only having 2 feeds after bedtime is fab, some babies are having a DF and then 2 feeds before wakeup.

Laura