stretching baby to eat every 4 hours

[Anonymous]

my 5 month old eats every 3 or 4 hours. I would like to get him to stretch to every 4 because each day is different whether we feet him 4 or 5 times a day (on 7.5 oz of breastmilk now)
Any tips?
Formula to keep him fuller? he's eating a bit of food in between but I dont think enough to not want milk..

[Anonymous]

Slow and steady. Start by trying to wait 5 minutes when he is hungry, then 10, 15 etc. bounce, go outside, sing to him etc. if he isn’t hungry he will play along. if he’s hungry, feed him, but he will slowly stretch out. You might find certain feeds where he can go longer and others where he needs to eat on the same schedule.

[Anonymous]

He will eat every 3 hours while awake. I think every kid regardless of age eats something at least every 3 hours...my boys are 6 and 8 years old. Plus he's just eating milk. Formula won't make him fuller. I assume he goes longer stretches while he's sleeping. I think on-demand feeding is the best way to feed your baby. He will fall into a natural schedule, but expecting him to go more than 3-4 hours isn't realistic.

[Anonymous]

I would think he'd wake up more at night if you stretch his daytime feedings out.

[Anonymous]

My baby ate 3 hours on the dot. I kept trying to extend it, but like a PP said, there were some feeds he just couldn't give up. I would try to see if there are any feeds that he is particularly hungry and you can increase the amount in those. My DS wasn't starving first thing in the morning, but he was at his second feed. So I couldn't stretch the timing there, but I found in the late afternoon he wasn't as hungry. Then I could space more time between feeds there. Play around with it and see if you can increase some intake at feeds in order to get rid of others.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would think he'd wake up more at night if you stretch his daytime feedings out.

. Agreed. I would want every 3 hours during day and STTN or one wake up max.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would think he'd wake up more at night if you stretch his daytime feedings out.

Exactly. I'd feed my kids as much as they wanted during the day if they'd sleep through the night. I do not want to make up calories at 2am!