Post by sporklemotion on Apr 19, 2014 9:43:51 GMT -5
I don't have anything new to add, but my 4.5 month old will go between 2.5-3.5 hours between feedings at day care (she gets 5 oz. bottles of breast milk). The 3.5 is usually after a long nap. She takes in 15-20 oz. over the course of the day-- seems like a lot to me, but I wouldn't ever tell them not to feed her if she's hungry. She nurses at night and gets 4-5 oz. of milk or formula before day care. Despite her huge appetite, she is on the other end of the spectrum from your baby-- 4th percentile for weight, and 40 ish for height. But she is healthy and doesn't spit up or seem to have reflux/allergies, so her pedi isn't concerned. She's pretty active (read: squirmy), so I think she just burns through her calories quickly.
On weekends, she'll eat every 2-3 hours, but will also comfort nurse at times. She eats MUCH more frequently when she's nursing than when she is getting bottles. I don't know if it's a comfort thing or that she's taking in less at a time.
She usually wakes up 1-2 times in the MOTN-- if there's a second time, it's usually after I have gotten up for work any way. I will gladly feed more often during the day to get awoken only once at night.
I don't get your pedi's thinking here-- when DD is hungry, it is painful to make her wait. Five minutes feels like an hour! I would just do your best to keep your DS happy and not worry too much.
Others have already said it, but your pedi is talking crazy. Feed your kid when, or even before, they are hungry. Let them nap when they're tired. At that age, I still think you're just on the edge of thinking about starting to have a feeding/nap schedule.
Even now, at 7.5 months, B still eats every two hours or so, and will sometimes nurse more often if he's having a fussy day. He can make it three hours, but that's about the limit. He does STTN (most nights), and I'm still nursing him between 6 and 8 times a day, plus he gets two meals of solids in there. At four months, I think we were offering naps after every 90 minutes of being awake. Just a couple of weeks ago we switched to a 2-3-4 sleep schedule.