4 1/2 wk old puppies feeding

Question
my shih tzu had a litter of 7 puppies the end of march. Last Wednesday she had eclampsia..the vet said no more nursing. I have been hand feeding them for a week now. They are now 4 1/2 wks old, 5 wks on saturday. I had them on Hartz formula and Pedigree canned puppy food and found out that Hartz was really bad so Monday I changed it to Esbilac and Nutro canned food. They are starting to get a dark poop..one of the pups has poop that almost looks black its so dark..it smells way worse than the normal poops did, which smelled bad too lol .. the vet said to watch it for a couple days. I have never had to hand feed pups and am getting all kinds of conflicting addvice.

I guess my main question is this.. How often do they need to be fed..some say still every 4 hrs with formula and some say 5-6 no formula. Do they still need formula at this age? If so, how much and often..Their teeth are starting to come through so should i try the watered down hard food now? I want these babies to do well and I may be a bit paranoid but I really want the best for them. Thanks in advance. ohh also .. at this age do they whine when they wanna come out of their box and play?

Answer
Hi. You can switch them over to puppy food now, I would soak the food in water before giving it to them. At this age, 4 times a day. By the time they reach 8 weeks, they can eat 3 times a day. At this age, they should want to come out and play, they should be interested in what's going on around them, and want to play with their siblings. Perfect time to get them use to humans, and normal house sounds/activities. Good luck, let me know if I can help with anything else.