I was wondering if you could help me by suggesting a good feeding schedule for my daughter. She can typically only manage 5-6oz of formula at any feed. She ever seems to get hungry. Out of interest, I waited to see how long it would be until she asked for food, but when it got to six hours with no hint, I had to give in! She has never actually lost weight, but fails to thrive, and has dropped a couple of weight percentiles.

Because she never asks for food, it is difficult to tell if she is getting enough. Whilst feeding her, you can tell when she is filling up as she gets increasingly restless, thrashing around and arching her neck and back. She tries to take more sips but then pulls away in discomfort.

I used to give her 4, 4hourly feeds between 7am and 7pm and a dream feed at 10:30pm. As she was quite happy to go through the night, I felt cruel disturbing her, so dropped the night feed and brought the day feeds closer together. This is what we are currently doing:

7am Wake up 6oz Bottle

10am 6oz Bottle and 2tsp baby rice

1pm 5oz Bottle

4pm 5oz Bottle and 2tsp vegetable

7pm 6oz Bottle then bed


I only give her solids when she refuses any more bottle, so as not to limit her intake, but add to it. She still sleep soundly through the night ( I know, lucky me!). Do you think she is getting enough, or should I re-introduce a dream feed to give her a bonus feed?

I would welcome any advice!
Gemma

dont know if this will help i got told by ped that a healthy baby should take 150-200mls per kilo of there body weight eg. 3kg baby food intake 450ml to 600ml per 24 hours,
how ever that is only a guide i know miki does not take any where near what she should but we get into her what she will take
it sounds to me that your daughter is getting enough but dont tale my word for it being that i have a child that just wont eat, i am sure one of the other mums will give you more info

To me she seems to be eating a pretty darn good amount, but Eric was the same way. No hunger cues to go by, and he ate until he was uncomfortable (usually before he even got started LOL). He ate every 1 to 1.5 hours around this time, but could only handle about an ounce at a time. BY 6 months though he was eating better (the pedi GI helped with his constipation). He was telling me that he was hungry and could take a good 2 to 3oz at every feeding, and eat every 2 to 3 hours. This is the first time he ate as much as he "should" his whole infancy.

Emilia didn't take to solids until about 8 months old, but I do know that when she had a bottle (I breast fed) at around 5 or 6 months old she drank 6oz, and she ate about every 3 to 4 hours. So what your little one is eating sounds good to me.
Then again your baby is falling off the chart, maybe she needs more.
I don't know, maybe talk to the doc about it. Or give the new schedule that you came up with a little more time.
What ever you decide to do next I wish you the best of luck, and I hope she stops dropping of the chart soon.