Need Bottlefeeding help

[PrincessFiona]

I need tips, tricks etc.

I am still not able to get her to take what she's supposed to. I had kind of thought that if I went to a feed on demand schedule, she'd let me know. Unfortunately, she would sleep all day if I didn't wake her to feed her....though she has had her alert moments where she also hasn't seemed interested in eating.

I'm managing to eek the formula into her 20 ml here, 10ml there, 40ml another time...but only because I'm pressing the issue.

So..now that I don't trust HER to let me know when she's hungry, how do I do this?

She needs to take 50-60ml of 27cal every 3 hours. Since yesterday, I was making the bottles as I went..then measuring out/writing down how much she took.

Now, I'm thinking that I should make the entire amount in the am to last 24 hours and use as I need it during the day????? I can heat it as I go because Thomas bought a bottle warmer. Is this how people usually do it?

If I make a bottle for her of 60ml and she only takes 20ml, can I put the bottle back in the fridge and reuse it in another hour?



kris

[DCJenn]

Kris-

this is the way I did it, with a much older child. I made a ginormous batch of formula in the blender. and pre-poured as many bottles as I could fill. then as the day wore on, I knew exactly how much he had and when I needed to make more.

Nikolai was sooooo scheduled that getting him to tell us when he was hungry was a different kind of battle. At first we offered him bottles literally every half hour, especially when we were in the hotels in Russia. It was both a bonding thing and a "I must get food into him" kind of thing.


Jenn

[Phoebe]

How did they time it in the NICU? Was she on a schedule there? If so, could you follow the timing? When I had my first baby, the nurse told me that the baby should eat every two hours. That basic time frame (i wasn't stringent about it if the baby wanted to eat more often) worked for both of my kids in the beginning. My second baby slept a ton too. This worked for my kids, but some people totally disagree and also my kids didn't have a required amount to consume.

I have never heard that you can't reuse formula an hour apart. Sorry I am not much help!

Jennifer

[DCJenn]

Oh yeah, we reused formula as long as it seemed like there was enough to bother with.

I wasn't warned off any thing like that but of course, this was a one year old with other issues.

I'll ask rick when he's up tomorrow.

Jenn

Kris,
I found this on babycenter.com.

If your baby doesn't finish a bottle of formula within one hour, toss out the remainder. Bacteria from his mouth can seep into the bottle, contaminate the formula, and make your baby sick if he drinks it later.

Room temperature is the perfect climate for breeding germs in milk, so feed warmed formula to your baby right away (don't heat it up ahead of time) and toss any formula that has been sitting at room temperature for an hour or more. If you're taking your baby's bottle "to go," store it in an insulated lunch pack, ideally with an ice pack.

Some experts suggest sanitizing all bottles, nipples, measuring cups, spoons, and rings, and others say there's no need unless the safety of the water in your area is questionable. Still others advise sterilizing feeding supplies if your baby is younger than 3 months old.

Here is the link for more info:
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/f ... 34673.html

It sounds like it is more important with infants because of immunity issues.

[DCJenn]

Oh- for on the go stuff, we had the powder packets- one packet makes 6 oz. YOu buy some bottled water and dump the powder in your bottle, add the water, shake and you're good to go. Of course Nikolai never liked warmed formula so that wasn't a problem for us- he'd drink it straight from the fridge. and Rick said that he'd toss the formula. (now, why we never did is now a mystery!)

My friend used the pre-made bottle that you can buy for her on the go stuff. I thought it was easier to carry a packet of powder rather than a glass bottle though!

We also sterilized all of the stuff before we used it but then just washed everything in the d/w.

Jenn

[Phoebe]

HOw much does Zoe weigh now?