Feeding Schedule for 6 week old

[Tilly'sMum]

Hi there,

I hope someone can help me.  My LO is 6 weeks old today (how time flies) and I have been roughly doing the EASY schedule, but not to timings, just the routine of E, A and S.  Altho' Tilly is only 6 weeks, on the health visitors advice, she is having about 5-5 and a half oz of milk per feed.  It seems a lot, but apparently, that's what she needs.  She is going 4-5 (sometimes 6) hours inbetween her feeds.

I consulted the book again last night which says that she shold be having smaller feeds every 3 hours, and I am unsure what to do.  If I only give her 4 oz of a feed, she still looks for more, the health visitor says that she will only take as much as she needs from her larger bottles.

Of an evening, she will feed about 6pm and go through till 1 or 2 am (7 / 8 hours), when should I cluster feed or dream feed??

So what do I do, do I try and form a routine from what she is doing now, which she is very happy, sleeps well and is very contented, or do I try and reshuffle her onto a 3 hour EASY plan??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Tilly's Mum

[Mariek]

Hi there

At 6 weeks I wouldn't expect her to go more than 3/4 hours without feeding - their tummy's can't hold so much and they digest what they take within this time. The amount she should be having is dependant on weight rather than age (usually the guidelines are 2.5/2.7oz per lb of weight in a 24 hour period - so if she weighs 10lb she should have about 25/27oz - but all babies are different some will eat more, some less).

I would suggest trying her on a 3 hour EASY routine and see how you get on - if it doesn't work you can always change it.

I'm pretty sure there's an example EASY schedule for 6 weeks old in Tracy's book - I don't have my copy because I'm in work at the moment.

There's a great thread in the EASY forum where people post their routines for their 0-3 month olds.

http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/sample-easy-routines-0-3-months-vt10384.html

Check this out for some ideas.

HTH

love

[Matka]

Hello!
 Your baby sounds exactly like my son.  He will be 6 weeks in 3 days and eats and sleeps about the same time frame you mentioned.  Last night, I started the cluster feed (6:00 5oz., 8:00 3 1/2oz., it was all he would take, and a dream feed of 5oz. at 10:30pm)  He usually wakes at 3:00am and this time slept until 3:45.  I felt like I was forcing him to eat and I'm not sure if the extra 45 min. made that much difference.  I get the feeling to keep him on his own schedual.  I wish you success!  It's funny how I read every book on baby care I could before I had my son and none of it can really prepare you for just trusting your own instinct.  I sure love being a mom!

Mrs. Rollins