Adding more formula then water when making bottles - trying to go longer in between feeds

Pheona - posted on 01/23/2009

yea and if ur husband and mother in law have gotten bad advice from him then i'm guessing he's not a pediatrician?...never give more or less then what's written on the can...and 3 hours between feedings are very good...asking for 4 hours may be asking for too much....3 hours is long enough between feedings

Aimee - posted on 01/23/2009

I think your idea of looking for a new doc is a good move!  Good luck!

Hayley - posted on 01/23/2009

No! This will just make your child constipated (trust me, my little one was very constipated just with normal SMA formula so I changed to Aptamil) You can try rice cereal maybe morning & evening... to fill your little one's tummy up a bit... That is what I plan to start doing as my daughter has broken her routine of only waking once during the night and for the past 2 weeks I'm getting up more & more often...

Rachel - posted on 01/22/2009

Thanks everyone for your advice :) My daughter does sleep through the night and I certainly don't want to make her constipated. I was just looking for a way to hold her off an extra hour during the day. I will not be mixing the formula with more concentrate than liquid, I think that this is very bad advice. I am actually in the process of looking for another doctor. This doctor has given bad advice to my husband and my mother in law so I think he is done.

Ann - posted on 01/22/2009

Hi Rachel, i have heard this is bad as well as it can dehydrate them 

Katherine - posted on 01/22/2009

How many ounces are you giving her? My daughter is the same age and goes every three to four hours. I think it's pretty normal. We are still at 6 ounces. She seems to empty those bottles pretty quickly though, so I might increase her feedings to 8 oz. We are giving just a bit of cereal in the evening at supper time, (she sleeps the entire night) but not too much as her stomach is only ready for little bits at a time. I would be careful to follow the instructions carefully, I've had bad advice from doctors before. Maybe you could ask for a second opinion? Do you have nurse hotlines or info hotlines near you? Here we have a health hotline (Quebec, Canada). Pharmacists are also great for this kind of advice.

Abby - posted on 01/22/2009

You are asking for some serious constipation!  Adding cereal won't really hold them longer either.  If you are going 3 hours, you are lucky.  I breastfeed and do it about every 45 min-1 1/2 hours.  But she does sleep through the night, so I guess that's okay.

Jennifer - posted on 01/20/2009

When my daughter was born she was in the NICU for the first few days of her life. She weighed 5lb 3 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I have a bicornate uterus which didn't give her much room to grow. Anyway, because she was small she was on a high calorie formula for the first few months of her life. To make the high calorie formula I would add an extra scoop for every 10 ounces of water. This  was prescribed by the Children's Hospital as well as my pediatrician so I don't think that adding extra formula is necessarily harmful. I'm wondering though why would your baby need the rice cereal AND the extra formula. I would think one or  the other would be ok.

Erin - posted on 01/20/2009

I've heard that adding more formula than the instructions say can cause serious constipation, etc. It's made to be mixed exactly as written to be best for the baby to digest.

Jennifer - posted on 01/20/2009

I have never heard to add extra formula. In fact, I think you are supposed to follow the instructions precisely. However, I have heard to add Rice Cereal to the formula to thicken. This 'could' help. We tried this with our twins, in hopes to extend the time they fed during the overnight hours. It did not work.