Hi everybody, Melissa here.
Back again with feeding schedules for formula fed babies between 4 and 6 months.
We're going to walk through this with you guys, again I did not formula feed at this
stage, but I have done a lot of thinking about it and applied some of things that really,
really worked for me and laid them out here for you guys.
So I'm going to put up a lot of graphics to walk through exactly how much and when you
might want to try to feed your baby in case your interested in going on, being on a schedule,
the way I was.
Okay, what are the guidelines for a formula fed baby?
At this stage, the general guideline for how much formula your baby should be eating is
between 6 and 8 ounces at every feeding.
These are just ballpark amounts but they do give you some guidance.
Under AAP guidelines, a formula fed baby will be eating about 6 to 7 ounces by month 4.
By month 6 your baby might be up to 8 ounces but this will be about as much as he or she
will probably drink.
If your doctor is happy with your baby's weight gain you don't need to worry.
Another way to calculate how much your baby should eat is to multiply the weight of your
baby by 2.5 then divide that total number by the number of feedings your baby has everyday.
So let's take an example, assume your baby weighs 14 lbs. and is eating 5 times a day.
14 x 2.5 = 35 ounces that is the approximate amount of food your baby will eat over 24
hours.
Then divide 35 ounces by 5, the number of feedings per day, and you'll get the amount
per feed, in this case 7 ounces.
Again, this is totally general guideline, every baby is going to eat at a different
amount, every baby is going to grow at a different rate it's all very, very unique but these
are sort of ballpark figures so that you can kind of guesstimate early on how much you
think your baby might be needing, and of course you'll be looking at all this very carefully
with your doctor.
Okay, so once your baby is around 4 months of age, you're going to want to try, I did
at least, if you're interested keep watching, you're going to want to try to get her onto
some sort of a schedule so that you have a good idea of when she's eating, when she's
napping, you can start to plan your life accordingly - deal with your pets, deal with your job,
deal with your older kids.
So what does a schedule look like for a formula fed baby between 4 and 6 months of age?
Let's assume that she's eating every 4 hours and that's she's eating around 5 times a day.
What is your schedule going to look like?
Let's assume that we're starting in the morning with a 7am feed.
Okay, let's walk through this.
She's going to eat at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, and 11pm.
Basically, again, your feeding every 4 hours and your feeding 5x a day.
Okay, so hopefully between 11pm and 7am in the morning you're hanging out, having fun
watching TV, or you're with your partner doing something on the romantic side, or you're
getting some sleep.
Okay, now how do I incorporate the naps within this feeding schedule at this stage?
It's way too premature for the baby just to be on two naps a day at this point or one
nap so you're going to have to incorporate the naps into this feeding schedule at this
stage.
How do I do that?
What I have done and what I did at this stage, is that my baby was eating every 4 hours,
I put my baby down to sleep around 2 hours after each of those feeds began.
So what is this going to look like?
Here you're going to go, you're going to start at 7am.
You're going to do your first feed.
And then you're going to do a one and half hour nap about 2 and half hours after the
baby first fed.
So if the baby first eats at 7am from 9:30 to 11am the baby is napping.
You're going to feed again at 11am and then about two and half hours after that your baby
is going to go down another nap.
Okay.
3pm is your next feed.
And at this point I would do a smaller shorter nap because you're getting close to the end
of the day so maybe put her down from about 6pm-7pm.
7pm is going to be your last feed, your baby is going down to sleep right around 8:30pm
or 9pm, if you can.
And that 11pm is going to be your top off for your final feed.
Okay, so in an ideal world between 11pm again and 7am you're having some fun, you're watching
TV, you're doing something romantic, or you're sleeping.
Now I have another video on introducing solids.
Some people do introduce solids before 6 months of age.
Watch that video and when you do introduce solids you just incorporate that into the
feeding schedule that I've set forth here.
And you will give the solids either before or after you've given the formula.
Okay, so that's if for this video.