feeding question

my boys are currently eating about 4ounces every 3-5hours (they are pretty much "on demand" eaters) and i'm just curious when you all went up to 6ounces and how often you fed them and how long it took (by yourself)...

i'll start feeding the boys 6ounce bottles when they start to clean out their 4ounce bottles during more feeds...i don't want to waste the forumla since it's so expensive. right now if they are still hungry after their 4ounces i make 2 more, but that's rare.

 

When my 2 started completely finishing a bottle & still kept sucking like they wanted more, I would up it by an ounce at a time. I can't remember exactly what the age was, but I just went by their cues & fed on demand.

 

I would up the amount when they started consistently draining the lower ounce bottle. I propped bottles and most feedings, especially as they got older would take no longer then 30 minutes. When they were newborns (0-3 months-ish) feedings could take 45 minutes. Once they started STTN, they were getting 5 feedings a day and tack on about 2 feedings at night before they started STTN

 

My girls went up one ounce at a time. At 5 months they were drinking 6 ounces.

 

how do you measure just an ounce though? all of the formula containers measure in 2 ounces, not 1. so 1 scoop equals 2 ounces. i'm afraid to eyeball it and go with half a scoop in fear that it would be too watery.

 

a 1/2 of a scoop = 1 ounce if 1 scoop = 2 ounces.

 

to be honest i eye balled it >.<

now i have a dr browns mixing pitcher and i make 14 oz which is and even 7 scoops and they get 7 oz each, but before i got it i would eye ball the scoops to cut down on wasting formula

 

I make it up ahead of time, then I can just pour a little more if needed. Oh, and I save leftovers from the bottle for the next feeding. Yeah, call the police on me! I didn't do it with the girls until they were like 8 mos old, but I did it with Caleb from the beginning. I also give him formula cold out of the fridge!

 

we have always used ready to feed formula, so i can't really help you there, but i'm sure that it would be fine to eyeball 1/2 scoop to make up one oz. or just make up a big pitcher of it and pour as needed. i always upped the amount when they were draining their bottles consistently and usually just added an extra oz at a time. when they were really young it could take up to an hour to feed them by myself, then around 2-3 months it went down to 45 min and my 4-5 months they could finish in 30 minutes. that was so awesome, i felt like i had so much more time to do things other than feeding! oh and we fed on a schedule, every 3 hours, since i was obsessive with getting in as many calories as possible. and i felt like i needed to be in control of something because i had lost control of everything else!

 

My LO's are drinking 5-5 1/2oz. every feeding. I am feeding them every 3 hours during the day until 9am and then it is on demand throughout the night. They are each getting between 30-35oz. a day. I mix 24 ounces in the Dr. Browns pitcher, refridgerate it, and then pour it into bottles and heat it up on the stove.

We went up in 1/2 ounce intervals because of acid reflux.