Hi Hetal,
Yes I agree with you that babies will not sleep thro out the night and their requirement for formula will vary.I stopped Bf as I was not getting enough milk even after taking tablets given by my Doc. So he recommended that i shd start formula as and when needed. Now she is going to be 4 months very soon and is almost on formula except at night... but you are right abt she might not be getting enough milk at night...i will substitute one feed with formuls and see. Though i think i was not able to express correctly what i wanted to say. My daughter does sleep peacefully at night for 4-5 hrs at a stretch. If she sleeps at 8 she will get up at 12.30 for her feed and go off to sleep immediately after that without making a fuss. Then she will wake up at 3-3.30 for another feed and finally her day begins at 5.30 in the morning. Which I find pretty comfortable.Its only in the daytime she wil not sleep for more than 1 hr. and does seem to be little cranky. If she sleeps for 2-3 hrs she wakes up fresh and very active and is ready to play. My worry was that she does not take more than 3 oz of formula at time in the day but takes 2-3 oz at a time after almost every 2 hrs.I thought maybe if she takes more formula she will sleep more. Well as u said i shd accept that that is what is her need.. she prefers more feeds of smaller qtity over a big feed after 4-5 hrs.
Let me mention that she was born 3 weeks earlier and her birh wt was 2.9Kgs. At the 3 months her wt was 6.35Kgs. I have not weighed her after that. She is now 3 1/2 months old.
Looking at the birthwt i felt i shd start solids after 4 months. i have shifted to Jakarta when she was 1 month old and the Doc here said that in Indonesia they start giving baby biscuits(they have special biscuits for babies) cerelac, banana etc. at the age of 4 months . He said I can start if I want.
What do you think shd I start with cerelac or shd I wait for a month more? Or shd i start with banana? As she was born preterm ( Doc said she is pretemr and not premature) shd i wait for a month more and start at 5 months. how will I know that the tongue thrust reflex is gone or not? I have started giving her water as it is hot here. She does drink it with spoon.does that mean tongue thrust reflex is gone.

Regards
Swatts Hetal replied. if your baby was able to sleep peacefully at least for 4-5hours,,at a stretch,,thats ok for 4month old..there is not probs..

now about the daytime sleep hours,,i will not be concerned if your baby takes lil naps, of 1hours every 3-4hours,,its ok some babies dont sleep much..
as far in 24 hours, she sleeps around 12-16hours,,its ok for a 4month old to be awake the rest of the times,,,

just check that she is not looking tired,,it means that she is getting overstimulated and that you need to settle her down or if nothing rock her and try to make her take even 5-10min nap,,,see if tht helps...

overstimulation often happens from 3months onwards,mostly due to reasons like busy house,lots of people around, and main reason that none can avoid is : that baby is also able to see all the colours and all the things by 4months,,,,which makes him get curious to see, watch and keep looking at the world around...expect it,,its common....also, too much of open windows,and sunlight in the house,makes the atmosphere very lively,,which makes them stay wide awake,,,so every 3-4 hours,,or after her main feed, shut the windows,give her a dim and calm atmosphere,,and rock her,,put some good low beat music,,or something that is rythmic,,and it will help her relax from all the overexcited ness...and with that, even if she is calm,,m fine,,not necessary that she will sleep,,,just talk to her,,play with her peekabbooo,,give her your fingers,,and wave them,,she will catch them,,,give her reflex exercises,,talk a lot with lots of happiness and calm expressions,,and with eye contact,,,give her a light feather touch massage around the forehead from top of the head to forehead,,babies love that,,,,,she will like it and may be she will sleep with that...
this will help her soothe her and calm her..she will njoy these moments and so will you..
respect her intake feeds and offer on demand,, and check her weight...weekly at home,,worth buying a weighng scale..

since she is sleeping 4 hours nicely i am not much of concern,,daytime is the time many kids like mine too slept for an hour or so,,but just make sure that they r settled, and not overexcited,or dont look overtired,,,this will carryon until 5-6months when they will be very much familiar to the environment around them,,,which will further prevent them to stop getting amused about the things around them,,,,then they will be interested in trying to cruise around,,or start sitting,,

about her birth, preterm babies are mostly ref as the babies born before the end of 37th week of the pregnancy,,and premature are those earlier than that or may be after than this timeline,,what matters the difference between the both,,
preterm babies were mature enough to breathe and suck normally after the birth and pretty much good on weight compared to prematured ones,,,,,which is not the case with prematures ones. or with your baby,,,.

so in your case, her weight 2.9kgs is good at preterm.if at all she would have reached the duedate, she would have been of 3.5kgs,,which would be very good...
her weight looks good to me,,if your dr says that its ok to give those biscuits or so,,thn you can start if you want,,

for me her waking schedule looks okay,,and i would rather wait a month if this is her health...however, let your dr be the first person to suggest you tht..he knows your baby better than i know.

about the tongue reflex, you will know at the first feed of solid itself.. give a very lil in the baby spoon, and see what she does,,if she throws up or after putting the spoon inside the mouth she still keeps it in mouth,,well,,,,she is not ready,,thats the clear sign,,if she takes it,,her tongue is ready for intake of solids...she is drinking water with spoon so i can say that starting liquid consistency of solids, wont be a prob for her,,

the onlything you will have to keep an eye after starting solids at this age,,is, her digestive probs and petite after starting solids..and that whether or not she showed ne discomfort in her bowels,gas,getting irritated after feed of solid or during bowels,,or having alot of stomach discomfort making her feel less interested in tummy time or give her refluxes,,or vomitting or ne such other stomach related issues...

so now its your personal decision,,if you think she is ready for it, go ahead,,for me,,,her weight and sleeping schedules doesnt say that she is in need of solids as of now,,so upto you...your dr said you CAN start if you want, because he too sees her growing well,,,otherwise drs say that your baby needs to start on solids or something like start her with baby first cereal or ne brand that they genrally give solids a start,,,,,
you dr has left the decision to you :) and so will I :)

take care, good luck
anu replied. hai

are you the same swatts who used to post a lot of messsages in the july due date club?

another thing, i was so surprised that you are living in jakarta, i live in bandung. i brought my daughter to bandung when she was 2 months old. i have started giving nestle beras merah and nestle pisang and susu. but i have not yet tried the biscuit bayi. i am adding vegetables with the cerelac and giving. my daughter was also born 3 weeks before duedate as my water lelvel suddenly went down. my due date was july 11th, but she was born on june 21st.

is this your first child. do keep in touch. Priya Satish replied. If you want to increase the breast milk, try adding sprouted whole moong to your diet everyday. It helped me a lot.