Feeding every 2 hours at 6 weeks

[looloo711]

My DD is currently feeding every 2 hours and has done since birth. Today I got her weighed by nurse at baby clinic at the chemist and also went to child health ctr and both nurses said that it is too often and to try and start holding her out to 3 hours then 4.
But it is hard when u have a screaming baby! She is 5.2kgs and will be 6 weeks on Thursday.

Just looking for some advice on I guess how to hold her out or if feeding this often is ok? She will have anywhere from 80-150 mls each feed.
Thanks in advance

[Zombie_eyes]

does she have a pacifier? im wondering if maybe she is just wanting to comfort suck? and not actually hungry?

i don't have a lot of other advice, my boys went 3-4 hours between bottles.

[laurea]

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[Zombie_eyes]

Is she bottle fed or breast fed?


its in the bottlefeeding section?

[Lil Bugs Mummy]

at 6 weeks i would probably still demand feed its just depends on the baby if you feel they are hungry feed them, if you want to try and stretch it you could try a dummy but try and go with what YOU feel your baby wants you know best.

[looloo711]

She is bottlefed. She is on Heinz Nuture as this seems to be the best one for wind/ constipation for her.

Yes she does have a dummy but when hungry she sucks like mad then spits it out.

Maybe if I can start by holding her out 10-15 mins each time?

[Lil Bugs Mummy]

She is bottlefed. She is on Heinz Nuture as this seems to be the best one for wind/ constipation for her.

Yes she does have a dummy but when hungry she sucks like mad then spits it out.

Maybe if I can start by holding her out 10-15 mins each time?

you can try that for sure, they do have wonderweek growth spurt round this age so you might find she is hungry cos she is growing and might be hold out longer on her feeds once its over.

[TripleTime]

If she's hungry, feed her. If she's not emptying bottles, she's not hungry.

She's only little, her feeding will slow down soon.

I always demand fed my 3.

[crazybaby]

I would just demand feed her. This is my 6 week old routine:
8 am bottle
10 am bottle
12 pm bottle
4hr sleep
4 pm bottle
6 pm bottle
7.30 pm bath
8 pm bottle
8 hr sleep
4 am bottle
4 hr sleep

As you can see i pretty much demand feed my bub. Although my first three were fed every four hours and were very hard to pacify them in between feeds. I decided with this bub that i would not do that and feed her when she is hungry. Good luck.

[Ulysses]

i didnt think you could over feed a baby? Some babies actually do want to feed every 2 hours. My son fed very regularly but he had reflux & often comfort fed - this can make the problem worse - but unless the feeding is causing an problems then i would just continue to demand feed.

Unless the feeding is becoming a problem for you I would not hold out on the feeds. Your baby just might need to feed that regularly.

Good luck.

[Pesca77]

i didnt think you could over feed a baby? Some babies actually do want to feed every 2 hours. My son fed very regularly but he had reflux & often comfort fed - this can make the problem worse - but unless the feeding is causing an problems then i would just continue to demand feed.

Unless the feeding is becoming a problem for you I would not hold out on the feeds. Your baby just might need to feed that regularly.

Good luck.

The saying is 'you can't overfeed a breastfeed baby'....apparently you definitely can with FF bubs.

Having said that, I agree with other PP and IMO a 6wk bub should be demand fed, regardless of how you feed your baby. Just like adults, all babies have different appetites & they go through a growth spurt at about this age too anyway.

[TripleTime]

You can't over feed any baby, they simply wont take any more than they need. If their tummies do happen to over full they will bring back up what they don't need.

[looloo711]

Thanks guys that makes me feel better. The nurse just made me feel like that she was feeding to much and I also asked about daytime sleeps as we are having som issues with that aswell. She pretty much said if she is feeding every 2 hours and is awake for 1.5 hours in-between sleeps she won't sleep for long cause she will wake for a feed.

But yeah your right if she doesn't want anymore those lips are shut tight!

[SugarSkull]

It's normal hun = ) DS fed every 2 hours until he was about 12 weeks old. I then started to stretch the feeds to every 3 hours by using a pacifier and then it was every 4 hours by 4 months old.

[lemonpancakes]

It might be good to try to stretch out the feeds a bit. At 6 weeks my girl had a bottle every 4 hours I think. 2 hourly would be classed as "snacking".

There's a great book that helped us called "12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks Old", it's a really simple book that is mostly about stretching out the feeds (day and night). It's not about controlled crying or anything. It's an American book so available on Amazon. Highly recommend it!

[Pesca77]

You can't over feed any baby, they simply wont take any more than they need. If their tummies do happen to over full they will bring back up what they don't need.

Sorry, I should have perhaps explained myself better :o You can definitely overfeed a FF baby as it's a manual process, as opposed to b/milk which is made to the baby's exact requirements.

Some people apparently ignore the formula mixing instructions all the time, or don't pay attention to the different ratios with different brands. This means the baby is getting too much (or in some cases too little) nutrition. This is why the saying refers only to b/fed babies.

I've just had all of this drilled in to me from our Paed as DS needs to be weaned on to prescription formula.

I do agree with you above though, bubs will simply stop drinking a bottle if full, or vomit back up any excess anyway.

[TripleTime]

That's completely different to simply over feeding by trying to get them to finish a bottle that they have interest in having.

[Pesca77]

Yes it's definitely different and I had actually already agreed with you above regarding finishing bottles.

I was simply responding to the question about not being able to overfeed a baby, which isn't technically true. That's all...sorry if it came across the wrong way.