Doctor says feed every 3.5 hours--what should I do?

[erika]

I've had my four week old dd on EASY since birth. She's formula-fed. The hospital had her eating every 4 hours while we were there, which I thought was too infrequent (they were probably trying to save money on formula!). She's been eating 3.5 - 4.5 oz every three hours during the day, and going for four-hour stretches at night. My pediatrician told me today to feed her every 3.5 hours so she'd eat more. If I did that, I think her activity time would be too long and there would be a lot of crying. As it is, she doesn't always nap more than 45-1 hour. What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance for your help; I don't know what I'd do without all of you!

[estherofi20]

i would have to say to go with your momy instinct, 'cause i remmember my Ped. told me not to swaddle my DS, and since the Ped. wasn't going to be there in my house putting my DS to sleep, well i decided to swaddle him, inspite of what he had said. Another example, he told me to start solids at 4MO, and i didn't feel confy with that so i waited another month, so i guess you must do what ever YOU feel is right. Personally i wouldn't feed her every 3.5hrs, but also how is she taking her milk, does she seem hungry at the 3hr mark?

[corrina01]

You say your DD is 4 weeks old.

I would say keep on the 3hr EASY.  All in all your pediatrician is not you and you have to deal with a hungry crying baby.

3.5-4.5oz is fine on a 3hr EASY. 

Is she gaining weight?  Is she healthy?  If yes to both questions, you haven't got to worry.

My pediatrician told me today to feed her every 3.5 hours so she'd eat more

If you calculated in a 24hr period what she ate every 3hrs compared it to what she ate at every 3.5hrs you would probably get the same figure. 

HTH

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Hi there,

I think you have to go with what works for you and your baby. Only you can tell. I had to juggle the feeds to work out how my DS would take the most. If I fed too soon he wouldn't take a big feed and got hungry too soon and if I let him go too long he would wake more in the night. It turned out that my DS goes longer than the average baby between feeds but this took a few weeks to find out with lots of trial and error.

One suggestion is to keep a log so you can see any patterns. This certainly helped me out because I could never remember one feed or nap from the next. Also try to take an overall picture. Weight is important but children don't always follow curves. My little DS has not but on much for 2 weeks and then put on a 1lb in the next two.

As the weeks go on I think the feeding does settle down and there definitely is more rhythm to it.

Good luck.

J