How can I structure my 4 week baby’s feeds to stop her large milk intake?
Skye was born almost 4 weeks early weighing 6lbs 7ozs. I need help in structuring her feeds, and the resulting excessive consumption of milk for her weight. Is she able to go 4 hours at night time yet? At present she is waking every 3 hrs from 9pm.
I feed Skye 5.00 3ozs, 07.30 3ozs, 10.15 5ozs, 14.00 5ozs, 17.00 4ozs, 18.15 3ozs, 21.30 4.5ozs, 00.45 3ozs, 03.15 3ozs, 05.00 rocked back to sleep.
She is feeding on Cow and Gate 2 using a size 1 and 2 teat. She presently weighs 7lbs 15ozs.
Her sleeping by day is good; 09.00-10.00, 11.30-14.00,15.50-1700 but then settles at 19.00 only to wake again at 21.30.
In order to help Skye begin to settle for one longer period at night, it may help if you split her daytime feeds a little.
She is using a no2 teat at times which may mean she is drinking her milk too quickly. Her tummy doesn’t register that it is full, and she continues to demand milk when in reality what she needs is more sucking time. Stay using the no 1 teat for the next few weeks. This will help her to keep her daily intake more in line with her weight.
At present she should be taking about 20ozs in 24 hrs. If split over 6-7 feeds in 24 hrs, this makes each feed about 3ozs.
Allowing for the fact that Skye was a pretty good weight even though she was born early, it would help her not to gain weight too rapidly. 6-8 ounces a week is a good average.
When she wakes for her 7.30am feed, allow her to have 11/2 ounces, then give her a short break. Use a dummy to give her some sucking time and let her tummy begin to register that it has received some food. After about twenty minutes offer the rest of the feed. Use this method at each daytime feed and see if Skye is more able to be satisfied with 3ozs rather than 5ozs at 10.15 and 14.00hrs The exception to this is the feed at 5/6pm.
Allow Skye 3ozs at 5pm and 4ozs at 6pm.This should have the effect of getting her through to 10/10.30pm, at which time you can again use a split feed, allowing her at least 20 minutes before offering her the second half of her bottle. At this feed giving her 4-5ozs may help her adjust to sleeping for a longer stretch of 4-5 hrs. If Skye wakes around 2am to feed, she will still need a further small feed around 5/6am for the next few weeks. Once she becomes less interested in her 7/7.30am feed, you will know that she is ready to cut back a little on her night time bottles.