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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Northern VA
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    Default Feeding advice at 4.5months - sorry LONG

    Hi more experienced moms! My DS is now 4.5months old and he still eats every 2 hours during the day. Our nighttime routine is pretty good, I'll just put the whole schedule below. He is in daycare M-F from 9am-5pm but his dad does pick-up so I don't get him back to BF til 6pm. Should I maybe try increasing the size of his DC bottles to increase the time between his feedings. Yesterday and today we did 6oz for lunch and his DCP said he spit a little of it up but otherwise ate normally. I'm thinking if we're going to try feeding larger amounts and messing with his schedule, we'll do it this weekend when we can see how he responds.

    So schedule:
    8am - Wake up and nurse
    10am - 4oz bottle at DC
    12pm - 6oz bottle at DC
    2pm - 4oz bottle at DC
    4pm - 4oz bottle at DC
    6pm-7pm - nurse depending on when he gets hungry
    8pm - short nursing session before he goes to sleep, length seems proportional too how long it's been since last feeding
    2am - nurse and back to bed
    6am - nurse and either back to bed or up to play with Daddy, depending on his mood

    That's normally nine feedings and it just seems like we should have spaced out more by now. But maybe there's some btdt moms who had a frequent eater too? I think I'd like to eventually get him on a 10,12,3,6 schedule since that's the schedule they normally follow for toddlers at DC.

    Thanks for reading

    P.S. - His DC bottles are 2 BM an 2 formula usually, me and the pump just can't seem to produce more. But that's probably a whole other thread :P
    DS 05/09
    DD 12/12

  2. #2
    Katigre is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Default

    Edit: Oops! I misread your post and thought you said he was eating every 2 hours *at night*. Sorry about that :blush. I changed my reply below to reflect what you actually asked.

    I think eating every 2 hours during the day is totally normal at that age - especially b/c he's only eating twice during the night. If you wanted to try stretching it to every 3 hours you could probably work up to that slowly over the next two weeks (going 2.5 hours then to 3 hours) but his tummy might not be big enough to take that many ounces at once - the fact that he spit up a bit after taking more than normal is an indication he was overfilled.

    Generally speaking, I don't think it's a good idea to try to convince babies to take bigger bottles b/c it interferes with them listening to their own full/hungry signals (and knowing how own signals for being hungry or full instead of an exterior schedule is really important for healthy eating throughout life). Just a thought...
    Last edited by Katigre; 10-02-2009 at 05:49 PM.
    Mom of 4: Boy (10), Girl (7), Boy (4), Girl (2)

  3. #3
    catsnkid is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    Jun 2009
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    CT
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    DS is 4 months. This is our schedule

    7:00- wake up, nurse a bit. 7:45 he is dropped off by DH at daycare.

    Day care- he usually takes 3 to 4 feedings, no more than 5 oz at a time, for a total of 12-15 oz total. I let them set the schedule, he was prev fed on demand. He gets picked up at 5 p.m. by me. Sometimes he has just had a bottle, sometimes not.

    6 p.m. nurse

    8 p.m. nurse

    9 p.m. nurse

    10 p.m., nurse down for the count

    approx 2 or three am nurse

    sometimes one more time before wakeup at 8.

    He has always cluster fed in the evening, used to wake up much more frequently in the wee hours in the morning.

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