How much does your LO eat?

[newmomroxi]

Lake was exclusively breastfed up until 3 weeks ago when we introduced the bottle. At that time, he'd eat 3 oz every 2-3 hours. When I started work, I pumped three different times and sent whatever milk came out with him. It usually came out to about 18 oz. That was more than enough for 12 hours. Now, 18 oz barely lasts half the day! I keep saying that Lake doesn't need to eat that much but my mom swears that he needs to eat 5-6 oz every 2 hours. She'll be going home this Saturday so I won't have to fight with her about it anymore but I was just wondering, is she right?

[cristeen]

SHe's overfeeding him.

Is he nursing at night? Is he spitting up?

Babe shouldn't be eating much more than 30 oz in an entire day. The experts agree on that one.

My little guy eats about 32 oz in a 24 hour period. He does not reverse cycle - he sleeps about 5 hours at night, nurses 3-4 oz, and then sleeps another 3-4 hours, has another 4 oz. He very rarely gets more than 4 oz at a time, and his feedings are rarely closer than 90 minutes apart. If he's gone a really long time between feedings, he might eat 6 oz, tops - but half the time some of that comes back up again.

[darcytrue]

My DD drinks from the bottle most days and eats around 4 - 4 1/2 oz each feeding. She eats about every 3-4 hours right now, depending the day, so that's around 24 oz a day, give or take. She has days where she will want to eat constantly and days where she will hardly eat at all.

[newmomroxi]

Thanks for the info! That really helps. He does nurse at night but only a few times. He usually eats 4 oz around 7:30 PM then he's out for the night. He'll either wake up once at 3 AM and be hungry at 7-ish when he wakes up; or he'll wake at 1-sh and 4:30-ish and eat again around 8 AM. I'd say he eats 8-12 oz at night. He eats much more often during the day but I don't think he's getting too much more than 30 oz in a 24 hour period.

My mom does feed him a lot but he doesn't really spit much of it back up which is why I was a little confused. When I introduced the bottle with Lake, he would just stop eating so I knew that he wouldn't eat just because you're offering him milk. He kept eating when she fed him so I thought maybe he does need to eat that much? Maybe it was a growth spurt. I'll make sure he doesn't get more than 30 oz in a day though

[cristeen]

She may have stretched his stomach by doing it repeatedly. That's one of the problems some formula feeding moms run into - if the baby doesn't self-regulate, their stomach stretches and then it can hold more, and that's one of the reasons why some formula fed babies are chubbier than breastfed babies.

Rather than limiting him to 30 oz in a day - there will be days when he needs more - I'd work on limiting him to 4 oz at a time, and trying to go at least 90 minutes between feedings. Over time his stomach should shrink back down a bit.

Is he getting a bottle in the night, or are you nursing him?

[Julia24]

Charlotte is 4.5 months now and still only drinks 4 ish ounces per feeding. I'd say she gets 24oz a day on a GOOD day, and she's a medium baby. (50% practically across the board). If she's gone a long while between feeds, I'll make a 6ozer, but she rarely finishes that, and she ALWAYS spits up! (but for whatever reason, at bedtime she can take 6oz and not spit up a drop! And in the middle of the night she doesn't spit up either, but we only give 4 oz at that time) She typically goes 3/4 hours between feeds, although occassionally it'll only be 2 hours, never sooner than that - heck she's still spitting up fresh milk at that point in time!

[newmomroxi]

It seems like the consensus is 4 oz per feeding so I'll stick with that for when he gets a bottle. He hasn't ever been fed more often than 90 minutes between feedings and he usually goes about 2.5 hours.

Before my mom got here for the holidays he was probably eating 24 oz a day, 27 oz at the most. (I was still breastfeeding so I'm estimating that based on how much expressed milk he'd eat from a bottle and how many times he ate in a day). Lake is also a medium baby and he seems happy and satisfied. I think the reason why she fed him so much more is b/c he's constantly putting his hands in his mouth.

Anyway, I'm still nursing him whenever I'm home (nights and weekends) and I just let him nurse as long as he wants every 2-3 hours. The only time he gets a bottle is when I'm at work. My DH and sister, who usually watch him, are really good about his feedings so I think things will get back to normal next week.

[melis79]

Well our LO is about 16 weeks now and over the past week he has been acting hungry even after finishing off a 6oz bottle. He eats about 4 times a day, as he sleeps now 10-12 hours a night without waking to eat. He is getting all his calories in during the day. When he was eating about every 3ish hours during the day (so about 5-6 feeds per day) he was eating 4-5 oz at time. He moved himself to a longer time between eating, even though I would wake him around the 3 hr mark and he would just nibble on the bottle and play with it and then fall back asleep. I have been just following his lead on sleep and eating and he seems to be following about a 4hr schedule give or take during the day. For the past week I have been making 8oz bottles and for the most part he sucks those right down and is content.
I am not worried about overfeeding the poor guy as we had to switch to formula at 9 weeks due to him only weighing a smidge over birth weight by that point. He is now around 12 pounds (6l 6oz at birth)

He has reflux so he always spits up but he will do that if he drinks 2 oz or 8oz. Even did it with the small amount of breastmilk he was getting from me at the time. At least now he is gaining weight.

[JordanKX]

We've been staying pretty consistent with 30oz a day. 4 8-oz bottles and about 8oz of water. The water was a hard thing for me... there's research either way. But I'm a Sears fan and they suggest if you're giving formula to a big eater (which Rowan definitely is), water isn't a bad thing if in small doses. The 8-oz bottles (which he never eats in one sitting) saved us from making a bazillion bottles a day - I think he's at the 4-6oz at a time. He hasn't gained any MORE weight (I mean, more than relative to his body), but he's still definitely a chunk from early.... before we found our rhythm and I'm quite sure we were overfeeding him. Like Cristeen said, he wasn't self-regulating and probably expanded his tummy so he could eat more. But I LOVE the chubby cheeks that came out of it :-)

[phytoangel]

dh and i have been talking about how much dd has been eating lately. she goes in spurts of eat eat eat eat and she seems to be growing so much lately. right now she does a 6oz bottle and nurses, i have to supplement due to low supply, about 6 times a day. sometimes it is closer to 8oz. i figure that i make about 15oz a day. so, if you add that one up, she is getting more than 40oz a day. i let her feed on her on accord and if she isn't satisfied, not spitting up and then happy after a bottle then i don't worry how much she is eating.

i must say that lettting your little one take what they need seems more natural to me. if they were ebf, then we wouldn't know how much they are eating. just a thought! good luck mama.

[rebeccajm]

Sawyer doesn't eat NEARLY as much as his big brother did, and he weighs less as a result. He is in about the 40th percentile for weigh. Lucas was always in the 70-75th.

He eats his largest meal (I think?) right at bed time. He nurses like crazy then sleeps 5+ hours, then nurses every couple of hours during the night. During the day, and he eats 3 small meals of 2.5 - 4 oz each while I am at work. I'd say he takes 20-25 oz/day, just a wild guess! He's just not a big eater, which is weird to me after having super chubby Lucas!

[texmati]

wow! we just started a babysitter while i'm at work this week, and ds gets 3 2.7 ounce feedings. I'm gone fom 9-5. it sounds like hes not getting enogh?

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by texmati

wow! we just started a babysitter while i'm at work this week, and ds gets 3 2.7 ounce feedings. I'm gone fom 9-5. it sounds like hes not getting enogh?

If that's all he wants, then it's plenty. He may be reverse cycling - is he eating more often at night?