gradually switching to bottles at 11 wks... too much?

[Spandanna]

I have been mostly bf my LO with a 6.30pm bottle of formula since about 6 weeks. 2 weeks ago we introduced a bottle at 10am and 2 days ago a bottle at 4-5ish. My question is should he be tanking full 9oz bottles at bedtime and still looking for more?? I know he is capable at stopping when he's full because some of his oter daytime bottles he stops at 6 or 7 or 8oz but this seems like such a large volume for a baby so young. I don't know how much he weighs currently as I don't bother getting him weighed (he's my third and I know he's gaining weight as he's a biiiiigggg boy....born 8lb7oz, put on 1lb in first week on just breastmilk).

So his day looks a bit like this.

around 6.45-7.30am - BF
10am - 7ish oz formula
1pm BF
4pm 6/7oz formula
615/6.30pm 9-10oz formula
2am BF
4.30am BF


I was kinda hoping with moer bottles he would do longer stretches at night but his night wakings have been the same almost since birth!!! sometimes I'm up from 4am onwards feeding/settling him as he can be windy at that time....

Does this seem right? Perhaps he isn't getting enough from the BF and so filling up from the bottle? Shoul I limit it a bit or is it ok for an 11 week old to take that sort of volume at one feed?

[Lolly]

I think if he's keeping the feed down and it's not causing wind or discomfort he probably needs it! He could be going trough a growth spurt and you may find it settles down.

Are you doing a dreamfeed? That may be worth a try to extend the nightfeeds.

Laura

[Spandanna]

Thanks for the reply. We did a dream feed when we first started introducing bottles. It was the only bottle feed we did at about 6 weeks. It made no difference to the time he woke and sometimes he was waking earlier with wind because he had been so sleepy at dog that he couldn't bring it all up sp we gave up on it. I just mentioned this morning perhaps we should try again but I'm actually nervous to!!

If he were totally bottle fed how many oz would I expect him to have at this point?

[Lolly]

If he was totally bottle fed he would be having anything from 24oz up really! There is a general rule of thumb of 2oz per lb of body weight in 24 hours but they really vary. My 91st centile DD never took more than 25oz per 24 hours when her weight said she should be taking much more than that but she grew just fine! I've know tiny babies take 40+oz in 24 hours too.

What you usually find is that bottles increase gradually until they are taking 7-8oz per feed then they are able to go longer so bottles get dropped and the bottles can increase up to 9oz. Formula fed babies don't continue increasing bottles and amounts as from 6 months solids start to supplement and they tend to stay on about the same amount. Most are taking around 32oz when they are 6 months. The UK guidance is to increase all bottles by 1oz when they are draining most of the bottles. There should ideally be a bit left in the bottle at the end of a feed so that you know they have stopped because they are full and not just because the bottle is empty. They will also vary the amount they take from each bottle so be guided by them and let them stop when they are full, a bottle feed should be done in about 20 mins.

Laura

[Spandanna]

That's amazingly useful and helpful information thank you!! So I don't think I need to worry at this stage then! I'm looking forward to having DS fully on bottles now and knowing where I stand with each feed. Thanks again Lolly