Formula Feeding....Support Thread

Delphinium · by **Delphinium** » Fri Mar 30, 2022 12:26 pm

Hi Janestar. I have found since I have weaned DS completely to FF he has settled down and has stopped needing the night feed. He is now taking 5 bottles a day at around 7, 11, 3, 7 and DF at 11 and the past 3 or 4 nights we have manage to get him to go back to sleep without taking a night bottle although he is not STTN yet. I make 7oz bottles but he rarely finishes them - maybe only once a day - and mostly takes 5 or 6 oz. So he's probably averaging 30oz a day.

On the weaning to solids I am thinking of starting shortly. DS is almost 18 weeks now. The guideline is to start solids from 17 weeks (4 months) if FF and at 6 months if BF. DS seems happy enough for now so I'm going to hold off for another bit to see if he needs it.

by **janestar** » Fri Mar 30, 2022 4:03 pm

Thanks Delphinium, my LO s nearly 16 weeks and I'm defiantely going to see can I hold off on giving her solids for another couple of weeks, she is clearing her 7oz bottles and is now waking at 7am this week as opposed to 8am like before, I dont want to giver her anymore for the moment but if she starts waking during the nite i'll have to, it's really annoying me the way people keep saying how big she is!!! You'd swear I give her too much but I have to give her what she wants, she was a big baby at birth - 9lb 12oz..........oh people can be so annoying!!

Delphinium · by **Delphinium** » Sun Apr 01, 2022 7:47 pm

Pay no heed Janestar! You're her Mum and you know her best. My DS was 8lbs 15oz and he was over 16lbs when we last weighed him 2 weeks ago. I was a bit worried about overfeeding as well. I mentioned it to the Dr when I brought him for his BCG last week and she not to worry, that Babies that gain weight quickly in the early months generally have far fewer health problems in the long term and they lose their pudginess as soon as they start crawling and being more active.

Daisy Day · by **Daisy Day** » Wed Apr 11, 2022 1:05 pm

Hey girls,

For those of you who make your bottles up in advance and keep them in the fridge, what do you do in the middle of the night when baby needs a feed? Do you come down to the kitchen to microwave the bottles, use a bottle warmer in your bedroom or warm them before going to bed and keep them in a thermabag?

By the way if you make up a batch in advance and store them in the fridge how long can you keep them in the fridge (just a day or even less?) and do you cool them down under the cold tap before putting in the fridge or just put them straight in?

by **player2** » Sat Apr 14, 2022 9:01 pm

Hope someone can advise me. My LO is 11wks old - I BF but
have started to FF 1 week ago for evening and night feed.
I'm using aptamil pre made cartons. From the start
she drained the bottles a full 7 oz. the last 2 evenings
I've had to give her 10oz !! Is that too much. She drains the
bottle no matter how much I give her.

Is it too much ?

by **janestar** » Sun Apr 15, 2022 9:06 pm

Hi DaisyDay - I have been making up my bottles this way as advised by my PHN - each nite before I go to bed I bring my (7oz) bottle of boiled water to bed and 7oz of formula separately - you can buy containers in any chemist or Tesco - they are split in three and you can fill them with however many oz;s you need for feeds. When LO wakes up normally around 7am I just make up the bottle then without having to come downstairs - she drinks her bottles at room temp so need to be heating them etc, also every morning I fill kettle, boil it and fill 4 bottles with water, just leave them to one side and add the formula as I need it - I have two of those Avent containers for formula and put the powder in every morning too - this way I can keep track of how many bottles and oz's she takes every day - hope this helps, I know its a bit long winded but I was a bit confused as to what to do when I started bottle feeding too!!

Player2 - I BF for first two months had to wean LO off over nite as I was on strong antibiotics but to cut a long story short - she would clear every ounce given to her so I didnt have a clue what to give her, it took about a week to get into a routine but from about 11 weeks she was drinking five 7oz bottles a day - 7am, 10.30am, 2.00pm, 5.30pm and 8.30pm, she is still drinking the same amount - she is 18 weeks now, but she clears every bottle and has done all along, I was worried at first she wasnt getting enough but was told if she is sleeping through the nite and happy between feeds she is getting enough, then I was worried I was giving her too much as she is a little buster but its what most 4 or 5 month babies take i think - its just hard to know what to give them as they are all different but I'd maybe cut it back to 7 or 8oz feeds if i were you and see how LO gets on during the nite etc, hope this helps?

Daisy Day · by **Daisy Day** » Mon Apr 16, 2022 11:28 am

Hi Janestar,

Thanks a mill for the advice!
So by the time your little one wakes up at 7am for her bottle, the water could have been sitting in that bottle for about 7 hours with no formula in it? That's great if you can do it that way with the blessing of the PHN, but given that the water would have gone so cool then surely it's not warm enough to kill any bacteria in the formula?
Your method would definitely be my preferred way to make up bottles but it's kinda confusing when everyone's telling you that EVERYTHING has to be totally sterile for the baby but then the formula surely wouldn't be sterile if you add it to a bottle so long after boiling the water?

Delphinium · by **Delphinium** » Mon Apr 16, 2022 1:29 pm

Hi Daisy Day. No, the cooled boiled water won't kill bacteria in the formula powder at that stage but I reckon there shouldn't really be an issue when you are making it up and feeding it to the baby straight away. That way the bacteria doesn't have an opportunity to grow and multiply. Loads of people make up bottles this way without any problem. I make up only 3 or 4 bottles of water at a time and seal them up until needed. The boiled water is good for up to 24 hours once it is sealed in a sterilised bottle. I keep my formula pots (Tommee Tippee) full at all times so I'm always ready to just dump one into a bottle as needed or I can grab a bottle and powder pot to shove in the changing bag if I'm heading out.

Daisy Day · by **Daisy Day** » Mon Apr 16, 2022 3:36 pm

Delphinium wrote:Hi Daisy Day. No, the cooled boiled water won't kill bacteria in the formula powder at that stage but I reckon there shouldn't really be an issue when you are making it up and feeding it to the baby straight away. That way the bacteria doesn't have an opportunity to grow and multiply.

Ah Delphinium thanks so much for explaining that - the penny has finally dropped with me! :o0

I was a bit slow there but it makes perfect sense when you put it like that. So really the only way baby would get sick from making up bottles that way is if the formula was contaminated to start off with and really that's not likely. Excellent that's me sorted on the bottle making!! :wv

by **babsdel** » Fri Apr 20, 2022 9:57 pm

Hey girls, I just seen this thread, great idea, didn't read em all yet but read a few. My little man is quite a hungry baby and he's only 19days old, but he is already drinking 5oz bottles and clears most of them. However he may only have 4 oz sometimes and maybe even 3 oz other times....But he mostly clears the 5 ozs. He isn't really in a routine yet but roughly we get 3-4 hrs out of him between feeds. Does this sound too much??? We asked the PHN about hungry baby food and she said she wouldn't recommend it but what do you think is it too much for his age etc etc???

Delphinium · by **Delphinium** » Tue Apr 24, 2022 4:33 pm

Babsdel, I wasn't FF at your stage but that all sounds roughly normal to me. My lad is a good feeder and he was only taking 5oz bottles every 3 hours when I moved to FF from BF at around 12 weeks. if you are getting 3 to 4 hours out of him before he is looking for a feed again that sounds normal. I wouldn't think there is any need for Hungry Baby formula. It's meant more for older babies if you are delaying weaning to solids AFAIK.... open to correction here.

rosie_mama · by **rosie_mama** » Tue Apr 24, 2022 8:17 pm

babsdel, that sounds normal enough to me too. i'd only look at the hungry baby formula if he was drinking a full bottle and then hungry again soon after, or drinking lots of ozs over the course of a day.

i always used this as a guide (although i had the opposite problem in that DS1 wouldn't take enough!) - the amount of oz per day should be roughly 2 - 2.5 times their weight in lbs, so e.g. a 10lb baby might be expected to take 20-25 oz per day, and if you split that between 5 or 6 feeds it works out about 4 or 5 oz a bottle.

but that is just a guide, and go with your own instinct, you know if your baby is getting enough or if they seem hungry etc.

by **babsdel** » Tue Apr 24, 2022 8:51 pm

Thanks girls that's a good guide to go by....Don't feel too bad now! After changing food to Aptimil Comfort as ds was in so much pain in the eves / nights with wind, the phn advised me to try this food. Only put him on it yesterday and already see a difference! Hopefully it will continue now. :wv

nelswife · by **nelswife** » Tue May 01, 2022 5:54 pm

babsdel wrote:Hey girls, I just seen this thread, great idea, didn't read em all yet but read a few. My little man is quite a hungry baby and he's only 19days old, but he is already drinking 5oz bottles and clears most of them. However he may only have 4 oz sometimes and maybe even 3 oz other times....But he mostly clears the 5 ozs. He isn't really in a routine yet but roughly we get 3-4 hrs out of him between feeds. Does this sound too much??? We asked the PHN about hungry baby food and she said she wouldn't recommend it but what do you think is it too much for his age etc etc???

My little man was a hungry baby and was taking 5oz quite early too, i never asked the PHN any advice, because i think they all tell you something different, did she say way she wouldnt recommend it. I used the hungry baby formula in his night bottle and normal formula for the rest of his feeds during the day, and he was and still is fine. I only used it for a few weeks until he started sleeping through the night.

My advice is go with your gut and instinct and not what the PHN tells you!

by **babsdel** » Tue May 01, 2022 6:17 pm

Thanks all, we actually moved ds onto comfort formula as he was so upset with wind in the eves and nights, he is now taking 6oz bottles just as of Mon and he is fine, he doesn't finish every bottle now but he is doing well on them. Yeah I just think when he's hungry you have to feed him and as long as he's not getting sick he obviously needs it! Thanks girls :wv

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