Feeding schedules?

Erinruns262 · December 2013

I have a 3 month old girl (14 weeks) who is a terrible eater. I feel like I am always shoving a bottle down her throat because the pedi wants her eating 27 oz per day. I am currently aiming for 4-5 oz every three hours: 7 am, 10, 1, 4, 7, dream feed at 10 (she usually will only drink 2 oz, at this yimeso I am debating dropping it, but she needs those oz), and she will usually get up at 4am and drink 3 oz. At each feed, she will eat about 3-4 oz. she mostly drinks about 22-24 oz per day. She goes to bed really easily after her 7:00 bottle, and I can't figure out how to get in her required ounces without feeding every 3 hours and still keep this bed time. She seems young to move to a 4-hour schedule, but then I need to up her bottles to 6 oz each. Right now, I can't even get her to drink 5, but maybe she will be hungrier after 4 hours and eat more? She refuses to eat after a few ounces and i get frustrated. She just never seems hungry. Anybody deal with something similar? I am so stressed about this and what I am doing just isn't working. I'm interested in hearing others feeding schedules. Background: she was born at 9.7, weighed 11 lbs even at 2 months, and 12 lbs even at 3 months so she is growing slowly.

runningwild · December 2013

What are you feeding her? Could it be the taste she doesn't like? We had to feed Nutramigen with DD1 and she hated it. She would eat just enough to take the edge off and refuse the rest, which of course made her slow to gain weight. It was very frustrating. She also had a touch of reflux.

MeenaJo · December 2013

We had this exact same issue. At five months she is just now starting to eat almost five ounces every three hours or so. We were just told to aim for 24 oz a day. I quit worrying about it and just feed her when she's hungry. Sometimes she wants a little two ounce snack in between feeds, sometimes she eats more or less often, I just feed on demand. I kept track for three days a few weeks ago before her four month appt and she was right around 24-26 ounces. She weighed 13.5 lbs at her appt and the pedi wasn't worried at all, said she was great!

Erinruns262 · December 2013

She is on Nutramigen and has been since 4 weeks old. She is on Prevacid for reflux and we have an appt. with a pediatric gastric doc in 2 weeks. Feeding time is just so stressful. I know she is in pain, but she would be satisfied with 2 oz every 3 hours, which isn't enough. I'm just looking for ideas on how to space out her feedings since it such a struggle. I was wondering if it is time to spread them out more than 3 hours.

Carnation77 · December 2013

Agree with prior posts. Rather than trying to stretch out the feedings, possibly do more feedings closer together. My son still eats every 2 hours, too. I can't imagine him going 4 hours between feeds during the day.

VPGIRL06 · December 2013

interesting. We had this issue too. what worked for me was always feeding bigger bottles when she was going for her naps (she took 4-5 in a day) and bed time ,so she would kind of "sleepy suck" on it.

DebbieM422 · December 2013

for what it's worth, we have exclusively formula fed since DS was 3 weeks old, and had him on a schedule almost immdiealty, every 4 hours (10-2-6). Now that he's three months old, we've dropped the 2am feeding, and dream feed him at 10pm and he sleeps through to 6am

Erinruns262 · December 2013

She only wants 2-3 oz every 3 hours, so I definitely cant feed her in closer intervals. I'm hoping she will be hungrier if I space them out. Debbie: how much does your DS eat in each feeding.

lsleaf · December 2013

We had the exact issue with our child. We found feeding right before naps & warming the bottle hotter than room temp to work best. Also, her compounded prevacid works better when we have it filled weekly. She is now 5 months and still eats every three hours. She is eating 4-5 oz per bottle. I remember when getting 3 oz in was such a struggle. It just takes time. She improved greatly right around the 4 month point.

Cbuck2 · December 2013

MeenaJo said:

We had this exact same issue. At five months she is just now starting to eat almost five ounces every three hours or so. We were just told to aim for 24 oz a day. I quit worrying about it and just feed her when she's hungry. Sometimes she wants a little two ounce snack in between feeds, sometimes she eats more or less often, I just feed on demand. I kept track for three days a few weeks ago before her four month appt and she was right around 24-26 ounces. She weighed 13.5 lbs at her appt and the pedi wasn't worried at all, said she was great!

This. My daughter is 20 weeks and we feed her on demand. Sometimes it's 6 oz all at once and sometimes it's smaller amount with breaks in between. Her weight is good (13.3 lbs at her 4 month check up) so it works for us. Every once in a while I will keep track for a day and it's generally around 24 oz.

danigirl7181 · December 2013

A friend had to have their LO on the same formula and had a rough time getting him to eat enough. When they switched to a regular formula their LO started taking more, and began gaining weight.

DebbieM422 · December 2013

Erinruns262 - he takes 5-6 oz with each bottle.

Erinruns262 · December 2013

My DD has only gained 2.5 lbs since birth. She started at above the 100 percentile and is down to the 22nd. He is worried about her falling off her growth chart hence the higher amount of formula.

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