Going from On demand BF to Bottles/Formula

Holljade

As most of you know I stopped bfing 2 weeks ago

LO was eating on demand and had no type of schedule at all.

Now that he is eating formula I was hoping he would get into more of a schedule, but he still "snacks" I don't want to consistently give him 1 or 2oz bottles, bc i want him to eat more if he is hungry but I can't get him to eat more than 3 or 4oz at a time. There is no rhyme or reason to how much he eats and when he eats, So i never know if he'll only eat 1oz that sitting or 3. It's causing me to waste a good amount of formula and that stuff ain't cheap. I'm also hoping to get him on a schedule for my own sanity- do I just need to give it more time? Any advice from others who have transitioned from on demand to formula?

Thanks!

KM0715

Is he eating solids? Can you try and do bottles only every 3-4 hours and if he's hungry inbetween offer some food?

And also yes I think it will generally just take time

*sparky*

I agree with the PPs that it will take time, but would also suggest that you write out what kind of schedule you'd like him to have and then work toward it.  For example, DD nurses when she wakes up in the morning and when she wakes from each nap and then again before bed.  (and a million times a night but we'll ignore that for now).  It ends up being about every 3 hours during the day. 

If that was what you were working toward, I would try to stretch the time between bottles gradually for your LO until you get to three hours between bottles.  In between you can give some snacks of solids if it helps hold him off. Obviously if he is really fussy and having a hard time, go ahead and give him a bottle, and then try to stretch out the next feeding.

It will take some time - good luck!

Talltrees82

I also agree that it will take time. We switched to formula at 5 months and still don't have a good schedule until dinnertime. He was used to being fed on demand, and we kind of still do that! One thing I do is refrigerate any unused formula, then offer that first at his next feeding. Or save it to mix in his cereal. It will last up to 24 hours in the fridge.

hordol

Even though we do formula now, we still feed relatively on demand. I guess I don't have a snacker so it works for us, but I would try distracting him with something if you don't think he wants to eat a full bottle. Maybe a toy or teething biscuit? If he is truly hungry that probably won't tide him over.

Holljade

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I should definitely get the formula mixer pitcher thingy, I forgot about that!