11 day old baby....a few questions!

[my*lil*munchkin]

Hi ladies :wave:

My little man is 11 days old. I had intended to BF and atempted to for the first week, however he wasnt getting much milk from me and we were having to top him up with the little EBM I was able to express and then with formula...He lost weight in hosp & I was getting very stressed & upset, so on Friday I decided that I was going to FF him only and enjoy feed times instead of worry & stress about them.

So...I have a few questions... :confused:
How much does/did you newborn drink?? We have him on NAN Gold HA. On the tin it says 90ml up to 2 weeks, then 120ml up to 1 month. Sometimes he drinks the full 90ml, but other times he only drinks 60 - 80.... I assume this is normal that they dont drink exactly the same at each feed..? We try to get him to drink as much as we can, but dont force it down him if he doesn't want it.

Also, how many feeds per day do you do? He was only waking every 4.5hrs, which the midwife said wasn't enough feeds in the day, so we had to wake him 3 hourly during the day, but let him sleep through the night.
Yesterday I tried a bit of a "routine" with him, and aimed to feed him 7am, 11am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm, 2am.... He was a little unsettled but we had visitors coming and going from 10am - 8.30pm, so that's no suprise!! I will see how that goes for a few days....

Any other advice/tips greating appreciated!!

Sorry for such a long post, but I just feel like I have no idea...!!! My first bub, can't you tell :laughing:

TIA :flowerz:

[delirium]

Most, if not all babies lose weight shortly after their born. Then within a few weeks they gain back, so it may not be that you don't have enough milk.

I bottle fed both my kids and they didn't always drink the recommended amount, sometimes they drank more. it is just a guide.

I also demand fed them. Some times they would feed every 3 or 4 hours, other times they would be every hour. I placed myself in their shoes and I know that I get hungry at all different times. I'd be crabby if someone told me I had to wait another 3 hours for food. No judgment on the fact your are feeding by the clock, just explaining why I demand fed.

You have to work out what suits you and your bub. :)

[dillydAlly]

Congratulations Lotsahugs :yelclap::yes:

My DD was bottle fed from birth and we had a chart done up for us when we were in hospital but I vaguely remember her being on about 80 mls when coming home......... (btw she had jaundice so we had to up her feeds a bit)

I have always followed bubs lead...... Yes in the back of my mind I always had the whole 3/4 hourly feeds in my mind but DD was a very sleepy baby. It is about the amount of milk they have in one day not in each sitting so eating more at some feeds and less at others is normal.... We used to wake DD (by changing her nappy and tickling her feet) but she wouldn't drink if she was really asleep........

With the amounts..... I tend just go by if she is drinking it all more often than not.... In my mind it's always better to make that little bit more than have them be hungry and have to go and make more.

Bubs will let you know when they are hungry and as long as bubs has lots of wet nappies, is putting on weight and sleeping ok, you must be doing something right :)

If your really worried you could always go to your gp or CHN to have a chat......

[my*lil*munchkin]

Most, if not all babies lose weight shortly after their born. Then within a few weeks they gain back, so it may not be that you don't have enough milk.

I bottle fed both my kids and they didn't always drink the recommended amount, sometimes they drank more. it is just a guide.

I also demand fed them. Some times they would feed every 3 or 4 hours, other times they would be every hour. I placed myself in their shoes and I know that I get hungry at all different times. I'd be crabby if someone told me I had to wait another 3 hours for food. No judgment on the fact your are feeding by the clock, just explaining why I demand fed.

You have to work out what suits you and your bub. :)

SOrry, should have worded that better...he actually lost more than 10% of his birth weigh so they wouldn't let us go home, we had to stay an extra day & a half...

I am torn between "routine" feeding and demand feeding. Up until yesterday I was demand feeding, but decided to try routine feeding. I think I wil give that a go for a few days and see what works...arghhh..so many things to think about and decision to make :confused: and he's only 11 days old! :laughing: I guess this is just the begining of a lifetime of decisions for our little guy LOL

Thanks for your advice!

[kribby]

Hi there I went through the same thing I have a premmie bub so when she came home I was freaking out! I was told I had to feed by the clock and I did for a month till her due date!
From then on I fed on demand but didn't let her go more than 5hrs without a feed! Now I just let her have a bottle whenever she wants it she still doesn't go histericle for a bottle but i have now picked up on the signs that she's hungry! I find that during the day she will spread out her feeds then at night she cluster feeds! And by 10pm she has her last bottle and goes to sleep till about 7am! There's no harm in letting them sleep all night and if you can sleep all night it feels so much better on you!
I don't blame you for feeding by tge clock as you don't want them to loose weight so keep doing it if that's what your comfortable with! Eventually he'll find his own pattern then you'll know and can feed on demand!
As for the side of the tin I think it's bollocks!! All the tins are so different in mls per scoop and they have it as a guide as to how much to make! My bubs is by the tin meant to have 200mls 5 times a day and she never takes tgat much she takes around 150-180mls and sometimes only 4 times a day (rare but it happens) I was told by my pead that it's 110mls X each 1kg per day! Although it's just a guide also! And I have seen some say 150mls X 1kg per day!
So really as long as you keep an eye on his weight it won't really matter if he takes less than that as long as his weight is increasing!

Hth a little! And if u have any qestions feel free to pm me anytime!

Eta- if you haven't decided 100% that you want to ff you could always ask in the bf section about ways to increase supply etc I am a ff and I love that dh and I can share that privelidge but I do wish I could have bf! But it's your decision and there's nothing wrong with that decision!!!