bottle feeding help

[chelsea]

this seems really silly but Cass seems to want to be fed every 2 hours at night, during the day she will go 4 or 5 hours, i between each feed but i dont know whether to feed her when shes rooting? she will suck on my finger but not a dummy, she spits it out, should i feed every time she roots or try and wait it out til feeding time?

 

[nori]

hiya!

it sounds like your lo may not be getting enough during the day? Ollie pretty much cries every 3 hours but if he doesnt i tend to feed him anyway. hes not sleeping through the night but he is only waking once which is good compared to some.

many people may disagree with me but i would try and get more feeds in during the day.

claire x

 

[daftscotslass]

You'll hear all over the place to try and regulate feeds if you're bottle feeding but she's only tiny so I would just go with the flow. If she takes a good amount when she's asking for it then chances are she's hungry, if not then she's probably just sucking for comfort. She only has a teeny tum so can't go too long between feeds - it's really good she's going 4 or 5 hours already in the day though, we never managed more than 3!

 

[chelsea]

she takes about 2.5oz in the day and about 2 at night when i give it to her, i dont mind feeding every couple of hours if thats what she wants i just dont want her to start snacking and me just assume shes crying cause shes hungry.

i just feel a bit lost when she cries, like im not sure what to do, try feeding, try changing and rocking. but i dont want to just feed her cause thats the easy thing to do IYKWIM

 

[Becky]

I think at the moment she is so little the best thing is to go with the flow as she'll change so much in the coming weeks! If you think she's hungry i.e. clean nappy, etc then offer a feed, if she's hungry she'll take it and over time you'll learn what her "hungry" signs are.

 

[chelsea]

thanks, im so paranoid im not doing the right thing!

 

[kalia]

She's just little and doesn't understand day and night. It sounds like she's feeding well and has just got thins a bit back to front from our point of view. You could offer her a bottle every 3 hours in the day to see if she naturally starts leaving bigger gaps at night. But feed her when she's hungry, don't just wait for certain times

If you want her to take a dummy it may be worth trying a different kind. DD only really gets on with the ones with cherry teats - the orthodontic ones come flying out when she sucks them! The only cherry teat ones I can find are by tommee tippee and you can get them in the supermarket.

 

[chelsea]

i would rather her not have a dummy if she doesnt need one, i just get confused if shes hungry or not, do they root every time they are hungry? is that a sure way of telling?

 

[Becky]

I find that Calum roots a lot and not just when he's hungry often it's because he's tired and he likes to suck to go to sleep! So what I do if I'm not sure if he's hungry or not is I'll offer him my little finger to suck on, if he sucks it and is happy then I figure he can't be hungry but if he sucks a bit and then gets upset again I offer him a feed.

I think the hardest thing is learning to tell the difference between their hungry/tired/windy cries but it does get easier so in the meantime just offer a feed when they seem to want it.

It sounds like you're doing the right thing as she's sleeping so well so try not to worry

 

[claire2711]

congrats hun, didnt realise you'd had bubs!

sounds like she's thriving, so i'd keep going as you are. i was nervous about giving Riley a dummy but it's been such a lifesaver!! if i'd had a dummy for him in hosp i think he'd have been so much more relaxed.

ps how are the ratties taking the new arrival?

 

[tinkerbell*]

Theo used to do this (but was bit older then your little one). as others have said she is still very little. at that age theo was having a 180ml bottle every 3 hours. the only thing you could do that will help is when she feeds in the night make sure you feed her in practically darkness,,, this way she eventually learn the differnce between night and day, it was around 3weeks when Theo started sucking his hand when he was hungry (so we knew by that). we tried a dummy and he hated it, now im soooo glad we didnt persist with it! everntually we stopped feeding theo in the night (as he was waking up out of habbit) and just sat by his cot, gently put my hand on him and softly talked him back to sleep!
he was a nightmare sleeper, so if he can do it...there is defo hope!