Formula Feeding Amounts & Night Terrors

Hi
My little man is 12 days old and has been entirely FF since day 4. He is on S26 and Ive just been following the tin giving him 60ml each feed (which he is taking about 9 times a day, even tho the tin says 7 per day). Lately Ive noticed he doesnt get "milk drunk" after each bottle and takes longer to settle. Is it time to step up to a 120ml bottle (the tin says at 14 days, so not far off) and will he stop when he is full?? Im worried he will just guts the whole lot!! Also is it normal that he is spitting up a little after every second bottle or so??
Sorry for all the questions, but one last thing.....normally he has settled quite easily of a night, but the last two nights he has what I call "night terrors" for the first few hours he will cry, scream and thrash around and nothing seems to soothe him! At first I was worried about constipation because he looks like he is in real pain, but his poos are still good soft ones. Could he be having growing pains this young?? And is there anything I can do to ease his pain???
Thanks for any advice......being a first time Mum Im constantly worried Im doing something wrong for the poor little guy!!

Hi Hun-

First, regarding the bottle amount, I would try to step up. My MCHN always said "if he's finishing the bottle, he usually wants more. There should be 10-20ml left in the bottle". They are growing so super quick at this age, so he will probably eat lots. Feeding him more might mean you can drop off a feed too. 9 times is a lot of bottles, you must be exhausted!! Also, FWIW, go more with your own instinct than with the formula tin. The tin has always been completely unrealistic for my bubs and I know I'm not the only one with that experience. The tins are not a bad guide, but they are not gospel. There is a huge variance in how much babies eat.

Second, about the night terrors. I would say he is probably too young to get classic night terrors. When my bubs was that age, he was doing much the same thing and it all seemed to be about wind. We got some wind drops and they helped a bit. But wind is very common for babies this young and all you can really do is burp them well, rub their belly, give them wind drops and soothe them through it. Everynight my little man would just whinge and carry on like a pork chop from about 7pm- 11pm. For some reason that was the worst time for his little belly. Eventually he just grew out of it. Life is pretty confusing for a newborn and there is so many things about their systems that are immature. It just takes a while to get adjusted and grow into things. It will all get easier in time!

Congratulations on your new little baby and enjoy! Sounds like you are doing a great job.

Thank you so much for your reply :) Josh should be due for a feed shortly, so I was planning to offer him the extra quantity and see if he takes to it. I was pretty confused about the feeding because when I asked the midwife about the quantities she pretty much just said follow what the tin says!!
I have a different nurse coming in tomorrow now, so I will see how he goes with settling tonight and if he doesnt do any good I will ask her about those wind drops :)
Thanks heaps :)

dont listen to the tin (and most times the MCHN's either). Listen to your bub. U know him better than anyone else. I second the wind.. Same issue here at that age too. The wind drops are called "Infacol".

Just wanted to add, from what I know, its pretty hard to overfeed a newborn. Just think- if he was on the breast, you wouldn't know how much he was getting, but he would just keep feeding until he had enough (or fell asleep!!). I always kind of aimed for the same thing with bottle- let him keep eating until he pulls away himself.

Thanks Hollye I will keep an eye out for those drops....we had a much better night last night and he has been taking about 100ml every feed now.....but it wouldnt hurt to have the drops just incase :)

Amberj....that is a really good point about not knowing how much he would take from breastfeeding, sounds so logical when I think about it lol thanks :)

hi Helen, congragulations on your little boy.

At such a young age I would say is uhappiness is probably wind. DS had it quite a bit in the first 3 mnths and when I think about it there bodies aren't use to processing any kind of food so it makes sense that it would upset them to feel their tummies full and have food move through thier systems.

I also second what Holly said about following your instincts and baby, while the MCNS can be helpful for tips always remember if what they say doesn't feel right then do what feels right. Try to remain flexible and it sounds like the extra/larger bottles are working for you.

Just a quick update on us......I have been changing around Josh's daytime routine abit and this seems to have helped the settling at nights heaps :)
Had a visit yesterday from the community nurse. Josh has put on 270grams in the last week which she said was really good. But when I told her about the feeding schedule, she said anything more than 85ml at his size is just him gutsing himself! But Im less worried about it now, and I say "phooey" to her, if he's hungry I will offer the 120ml bottle and let him decide how much is enough (most feeds its between 90 - 100ml and he stops anyway)
Thanks for your support on this one guys :)

Good for you Helen and congratulations on listening to your own instinct! I don't think I've ever heard of a newborn baby "gutsing" themself!! :lol:

Glad to hear the nighttime sleeps are getting better. Its pretty tough those first few months!