Feeding time at the zoo (feeding questions)

Chunkylover

We moved our 7 week old on to sma for hungrier babies last week, since then her cluster feeding decreased for a few days, only starting at arund 8pm and finishing at 12, its now starting around 6pm and may finish up at 2, going through 250mls to 300mls and wont look to be fed till 6

Now all of a sudden, her farting has become unbelievable (and funny) it doesnt seem to cause any discomfort, her burping does though and she can get into a bit of a panic over it, she is now looking to feed every 2 hours and at the lsat count it was 60mls at 6, 80 at 8:30 and 150 at 11

Could this sudden increase be a growth spurt or something else

Also what are peoples opinions on waking a sound asleep baby to feed (4 hours since the last feed)

Trinity

Does she cry to be fed at 6?

If so i wouldnt wake her. It means she knows when she is hungry and is able to let you know.

Is she vomiting much? We had to try our baby on loads of different foods before we got one to suit him, we settled for Aptimil in the end as it agreed with him.

He too liked to be fed every 2 hours. But he soon settled into his own routine and was sleeping all night by 6 weeks. Is she actually crying for these bottles?

Have you had your 6 week check up yet?

Chunkylover

Hey, she had her 6 weeks last week, no probs there, only time she cries for a feed is when she is cluster feeding and cant get enough but at nighttime, no, not a sound out of her and may take a while to get her into the mood to eat

We left her for 5 hours lastnight (the best 5 hours of sleep of my life ever) before feeding her and she didnt seem to mind it, and was a lot more awake when I was leaving, she did only have a small amount (bout 80 mls at 5 and again at 7) but looks like shes back to her normal 120/130 mls for the 11 feed (being fed at the moment)

Theres been very little vomit, once or twice but we think that was cause she was put down to fast after a feed

TargetWidow

Hey Chunky, how many feeds a day are you doing from getting up till bedtime?

Chunkylover

The feeding has calmed down a lot, getting a 3 to 4 hour gap between feeds

Id say she would have about 7 feeds in total a day, maybe have 2 1/2 feeds in the middle and a longer larger feed late at night before we put her down to bed, she really has started to relax in the past day or 2, just hope it stays that way

Trinity

I'm not sure I understand the cluster feeding

All babies will have varying appetites however the recommended feeding guide for a 7 week old (now 8 weeks?) is approx 5 bottles a day @ 150 mls per bottles. Thats just an average though so in or around this mark is fine.

As long as she is not losing weight, in fact she should be gaining weight every week.

A lot of parents try to get their baby into a sleeping routine from 6 weeks so going over night without a feed is no harm, obviously not 12 hours or anything but 6 hours without a feed is fine.

My mam used to tell me to "train" the baby to wait for his bottle. Sounds cruel but what she meant was dont be shoving a bottle into his mouth everytime he opens it. Plus he would drink more from the bottle so would start to go from 2 hour feeds to 3 hours as he would be satisfied for longer.

If you have cuddled, changed him etc and he still restless then its bottle time. 2 hourly feeds are very draining, you are only finished winding and changing and its time to start again and trying to plan a trip shopping or anywhere could turn into a nightmare.

I never did it though tbh i fed him when he was hungry end of story and i was extremely lucky that he found his own routine and slept all night.

Trinity

Chunkylover wrote: »

The feeding has calmed down a lot, getting a 3 to 4 hour gap between feeds

Id say she would have about 7 feeds in total a day, maybe have 2 1/2 feeds in the middle and a longer larger feed late at night before we put her down to bed, she really has started to relax in the past day or 2, just hope it stays that way

See she knows its her last bottle so is filling up. That amazed me how babies instinctively know about bed time and night feeds

Chunkylover

Trinity1 wrote: »

See she knows its her last bottle so is filling up. That amazed me how babies instinctively know about bed time and night feeds

the cluster feeding is basically that, filling up before she goes to bed, only thing is she throws a load of leg and arm movement in with it aswell

we normally feed her until she has had enough, around the 120 mark, she was born 3 weeks early at 6lb6, dropped to 6 and is now about 9lb3, the docs have always been happy with her weight, but Im sure you know when its your 1st you never are quite sure if what you are doing is right, got 6 hours solid sleep lastnight before waking up to her kicking the side of the basinette (moving her to the cot tonight so itll be a change for her) and had just over 130 when she woke up

metrovelvet

Trinity1 wrote: »

I never did it though tbh i fed him when he was hungry end of story and i was extremely lucky that he found his own routine and slept all night.

Oh boy are you lucky!

I did feeding on demand also and he became a snacker, and end up in this cycle of feeding burping changing, feeding burping changing, and his peeing really disturbed him so he'd never sleep for more than 40 minutes without a pee waking him up.

At the same time, I couldnt do the dream feed or cluster feeds or any of those things, because well, he just wojuldnt open his mouth when he wasnt hungry.

I also think the fact that I never used a soother contributed to this because they need to suckle and a soother can help you post pone a feed or satisfy the need to suckle when the need to feed isnt there. I don't know really here...Im just guessing. I know it's approved opinion that not using a soother is better, but I sometimes which I had used one.

only thing is she throws a load of leg and arm movement in with it aswell

My son also did this. I put it down to some primal wrestling the wooly mammoth, go in for the kill and eat. Who knows, but he just like doing that.

Trinity

metrovelvet wrote: »

Oh boy are you lucky!

I did feeding on demand also and he became a snacker, and end up in this cycle of feeding burping changing, feeding burping changing, and his peeing really disturbed him so he'd never sleep for more than 40 minutes without a pee waking him up.

At the same time, I couldnt do the dream feed or cluster feeds or any of those things, because well, he just wojuldnt open his mouth when he wasnt hungry.

I also think the fact that I never used a soother contributed to this because they need to suckle and a soother can help you post pone a feed or satisfy the need to suckle when the need to feed isnt there. I don't know really here...Im just guessing. I know it's approved opinion that not using a soother is better, but I sometimes which I had used one.

only thing is she throws a load of leg and arm movement in with it aswell

My son also did this. I put it down to some primal wrestling the wooly mammoth, go in for the kill and eat. Who knows, but he just like doing that.

Yes i suppose we still dont realise how lucky we are with him. He has a soother though. Its a never ending debate but i brought one into the hospital with me when i went in to give birth, its never been an issue for me.

I loved mine. My first boy got rid of his without any prompting at age 3, just gave it up. On the other hand my neice is 10 and still sucks hers! Its very soothing for them as far as i remember from mine.

I always say i'd still be sucking one if they made them big enough for my mouth


@Chunkylover - its no different with your 2nd, you still feel you are doing everything wrong or its not good enough

Good luck with the cot. Our friend gave us a mad looking contraption that hooks onto the cot, it makes it shorter so that that blankets cant go up over his head during the night. If you dont have one of these they say feet to the head of the cot so he cant wriggle down under the blankets.

January

Mine got a soother while she was in the hospital, but only because she was sucking my finger too hard!!

lostinnappies

because of the new food it maybe taking a while for her digestive system to get used to it .. hence the farting. She may not be hungary but rather have a sore tummy. Try lying her on her tummy and rubbing her back for about 5 min or give a soother instead.

ps she is also at the age where the proper colic can kick in, try infacol before each bottle and wind for at least 15min after a feed. literally wind till you dont think there is any more and then wind again.

Ludo

Chunkylover wrote: »

Also what are peoples opinions on waking a sound asleep baby to feed (4 hours since the last feed)

Don't wake him/her. Just lift slowly into feeding position while asleep and insert bottle ;-)

We did that with our two when they were young as they were waking for food around midnight. We started pre-empting them and after a couple of weeks they stopped taking the bottle in their sleep and no longer woke up looking for it.

delly

Its gas, I was at this stage a year and half ago, but it may as well be the last century 'cause I can't remember a thing about feeding routines.