3 month old baby questions, teats, how long, routine or demand?

Question

My daughter is just over 12 weeks, and for the last few weeks I have been waking her every 4 hours to feed, having 5 bottles between 7.00am and 11.30pm. But after posting a question on here a few days ago I am trying demand feeding today. She had 5oz at 8am, 7oz at 12.35pm and 6oz at 5.30pm, weighs 13lb. Would expect her to want another bottle about 10pm, will give her a bath before this, then to bed after bottle. As she has not had the 5 bottles I expect her to wake thro the night. I have been looking at other questions on here and the babies are feeding every 4 hours (5 bottles per day) and sleeping thro the night. How can I encourage this? I did read not to let her go more than 5 hours during the day without a bottle. Advice required please.

Also, how long do your babies take to feed? I'm not sure whether to try her on avent teat 3. She drank the 7oz bottle in 20 mins, with a quick burp half way thro. I do sometimes think she starts her bottle then gets a bit angry with it, I put her on my shoulder, then try again.

Your own experiences / advice appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

I demand fed both of mine...they know when they are hungry....also I advise you to start an earlier bath, bottle and bed routine...start at 6.00pm ish..bath her then take her to a quiet room to feed in the dark...then bed....any feeds after this should be done in the dark too...well with enough light to see what you are doing..but dim..and quiet...then they realise what bath means...basically bed! All night. They soon grasp that after bathtime things go quiet and as soon as she is big enough she will sleep through...she is very young yet to hope for a peaceful night...my 2nd is 5 months and still wakes up now and then..they change a lot as they grow. Dont stress too much or you'll go mad counting every ounce...

Answer 2

just feed her on demand, try making 6 oz bottles and go from there, she might not sleep through the night until she about 4 months old

Answer 3

all babies are diferent some will sleep trough the night ( mine did not do so, he ate ) and others wont.  as you have explained you feed your daughter according to your schedule, sounds like you need to know if she has one of her own.  babies tend to eat every 3-4 hours if its breastfeeding, formula tends to be about 4 hours, as for experience my sons breastfed every 2-3 hours and only woke up once or twice during the night.  once I introduced solids they started sleeping more through the night.  as for the bottle stick to the level one for now, level three is too much milk flow for her.  if anything have her drink from level 2 instead.  as for knowing if full, babies turn or close their mouths and thats a sign they dont want more milk.

Answer 4

You could try the next size nipple and see if she's ready. It definitely does speed the feeding time along! My son was adamant about staying on size 2 until he was at least 6 months... he definitely liked the slower pace. It would usually take about 10-15 minutes. Now that we're on size 4 he guzzles 6 oz in less than 5.

It sounds like your girl is having larger quantities less often, which is fine. I'd just go with the flow of when she seems hungry, & by 12 weeks I probably wouldn't wake her to eat. We loved our routine of eating right after a nap instead of beforehand. That way he wasn't dependent on a bottle to sleep, and would be nice and full and happy during waketime. My son was still having 6 bottles at that age I believe (almost every 3 hours on the dot), but would have 4-5oz at a time. Right around the 3 month mark was when we hit the 32oz limit and our pediatrician started him on cereal a little early.

If you're ready to start establishing more of a routine though, you may want to schedule the bottles a little more. We had approximate nap/feeding times, but would alter depending on her needs of the day (at that age he was feeding at 8, 11, 2, 5, & 8 with naps in between and then sleeping 12 hr nights with a quick feeding around 2am). 12:30-5:30 seems like a long time for her to go without anything... but if she's content in between and having plenty of wet diapers to show she's properly hydrated I wouldn't force it. Sorry I babble a lot... hope I was helpful in some way! Good luck :-)

Answer 5

hello, your doing a good job id say do what feels best for you if your happy feeding her every 4 hours then continue, but if you find demand feeding easier do that,its just a case of finding what suits you and babys routine.

i kno night feeding is draining but most babies will sleep through at about 6 months, if she seems to be getting frustrated try a bigger teat, its all about trial and error, im still finding new things about my daughter at 11 months shes a handfull lol good luck hun .

Answer 6

me and my son use vari flow teats tommie tippie and routine works for us bottle when waking 6/6.30 ish 6-7oz sleep 8/830 am till 9.30/10 am feed at 10 am 6oz sleep 11.30- 1.30 feed 2pm 6oz nap 3/3.30pm till 4pm ish feed 4oz bath 6.30pm feed 6 oz sleep dream feed 11pm and start over again.He got himself in to the routine though x

he's 11 weeks and 17lbs and very long though so has about 34-35 oz a day

Answer 7

At about that age, a little younger actually, my daughter started sleeping for about 9-10 hours at a clip... so my guess is that though she'll probably wake for a feeding between 10-12 as you said she may sleep through the night after that. (you'll probably wake up at every sound she makes though to check on her!) At that age, also, my daughter was only taking 24-26 oz per day for a good month or two.

As for switching to size 3 - we JUST switched and my daughter is 5.5 months. There is no science to it, try her on the 3's for a few feedings (there is a learning curve though because a lot more comes through the nipple and they have to learn how hard to suck & swallow) and if she doesn't do well switch back to the size 2 for a few weeks.