Can a breastfed baby be over fed?

[lellian]

I have a gorgeous 11 week old daughter. FINALLY, at week SEVEN my milk came in. FINALLY, at week NINE I felt let down. What a long struggle to have milk, but so worth it!

My question is can a breastfed baby be over fed? She is 11 pounds 7 oz as of today. She was 7.14 at birth. She lost more than a pound due to low milk supply, but today she is a big, healthy baby drinking milk exclusively.

Today at her check up her doctor made me feel like I'm over feeding her as she is out the of the 50% for her age. We are nursing on demand. She has an insatiable need to suck, so some days she's on the boobie ALLLLLL day long. Am I doing something wrong? I thought the idea baby weight would work itself out with the amount of nursing she wants to do?

First time mom, so I'm sorry if this is a dumb question.

TIA.

[mamadelbosque]

IMO? No. Not possible. And, as someone with a 3 yr old in the 10-15% percentile, as the doctor tells me, *somebody* has to be down in the 5-10% and *somebody* has to be up in 90th-95th percentile too!! I would so not be worried at 11wks about weight - if she's growing, keep it up. A lot of bf babies are fat as babies and then slim *way* down as toddlers when they start to squirm/move about!! Good luck!!

[groovyem]

My doc has said the same about mine. He even said I should try and give her water so I can hold off on a feeding or 2 a day. She was born in the 75th for weight, 50th for height and now at 7mo she is in the 75th for height and 95th for weight. He still tries to lecture me on her weight. My aunt has 5 kids, her chunkiest babes are now her scrawniest. Babes chunky from breast milk are healthy, not fat and they do slim down when they are finally able to be mobile, not like formula babies. So, enjoy the sweet softness of those rolls!

[Bokonon]

Breastfeeding on demand is the best and healthiest way to feed a baby. Some babies (like mine) chunked up pretty early, and then gained slowly while they grew lengthwise. My DD was 4 pounds at birth and was 18 pounds at 6 months, all on breastmilk. At 10.5 months, she's only 20 pounds, but perfectly healthy and eating all the time!

When breastfed babies do eat too much, they spit up the excess. Because they are able to regulate their intake much better than from a bottle, overfeeding is not a problem (other than the potential spitup).

Enjoy your sweet chubby baby, and kudos to you for your breastfeeding efforts! (And please keep in mind that if you stop feeling letdown, that's ok. Many moms never feel it and it has no bearing on your supply.)

[kismetbaby]

I'm with the other posters. . .feed on demand and don't worry about over-feeding! Especially since you had supply issues in the beginning I wouldn't limit or schedule feedings. My LO is also in the 95% percentile (he's 5.5 months now and 20lbs) and my Ped always said he looks healthy and happy and never mentioned overfeeding. Although when I mentioned that he spits up a lot, I was told it could be from over-eating! He nurses less now as he is distracted by the world, but until he was about 4 months old he ate ALL THE TIME. Remember with babes what they need and what they want is the same thing. . .if they want to suck/nurse a lot then they need to!

Chubby babes are great! All my mom's EBF babes were super chubby and we are all now, normal to small size adults.

Also, I didn't start feeling let-down until my babe was about 3 months old and I had good supply from the beginning, so that isn't a real sign of supply.

[zebrachick83]

Our youngest is ebf and he is over 50% for his weight too. Doc says he's beautiful and I agree. You're doing fine!

[Xavismom]

My DS is in the 97th percentile, and his Ped thinks he is great. FWIW, my mom said I was so long and fat as a baby, I was off the charts, over the 100th, and as I got older I became (and stayed) a tall thin woman.

Its totally fine, and congrats on your milk mama!

[Shellie]

Um, so all kids need to be at 50% or they are over- or under-fed? Hmmmm...

I do think it's possible to overfeed a BF baby but I think it takes special circumstances in most cases. My daughter over-ate from about 2 months on. She also had bloody stools and the world's worst "colic." We later found out she has Crohn's and it's been active since birth. She is my third and I'm a firm believer in NOD. She screamed all day and rooted all day so I fed her all day--I didn't know what else to do at that point and the ped. was telling me to feed her if it worked. She's 5 now and still wants to over-eat (or more accurately, eat when she's not truly hungry) to quell the bad feelings in her "tummy."

Is your baby's height/weight out of proportion? Is that why the doc is concerned?

[lellian]

Thank you for your replies, mamas. Being a first time mom, and a first time nursing mom, I'm full of questions.

The Dr. made a big deal about "big" she has gotten since her last weigh in a month ago. She's 22.5 inches long so to us she doesn't look huge, she looks chunky in all the right places. Thank goodness I have enough milk now to chunk her up. . .so I was rather offended by the hinting that maybe I'm feeding her too much now. First there wasn't enough milk and we had to supplement with formula and donated bm, now I have enough to feed her exclusively and I'm made to feel like she's getting too big!! Oh well. . .I'm going to stick to feeding on demand, and know that I'm not alone with my gorgeous little chubby checked daughter!

Speaking of feeding on demand. . .

Thanks mamas!

[EmilyG]

I would be nothing but proud that your baby has gained so well!!
IMO you can't overfeed a breastfed baby, if she overfills her tummy, she'll spit up!
My girls are both >97% for both height and weight and have never fallen below the 95th%ile. I'm proud of that, but honestly I think it's all genetics at this age, my Dh and I were bigger babies. I think genetics has way more to do with where a baby falls on those silly charts that what they're eating!

[boobs4milk]

if you struggled with low supply, did you supplement with formula or use bottles?

[lellian]

Hi Boobs4milk,

I supplemented with the SNS an oz and then 2 oz every feeding with either donated bm or formula. We moved to 4 oz of formula a day, and now we don't do formula at all because I have enough milk to ebf her. She does do a bottle of bm with DH when I'm at work. I feel like I'm proof that bm can come in very late but it took us over six weeks and a hella lot of supplements, including Reglan. It was just shocking that my Dr, knowing what we went through, when then imply that baby was eating too much.

Since my milk came in she has spit up the "extra" for sure. I'm okay with this. I'm super proud of our working together to get milk! Via la milk!

[rparker]

My daughter's pediatrician told me that you cannot overfeed an exclusively breastfed baby... and my daughter was fat. She started out average and then topped the charts for her entire first year, "despite" being very slow to take to solids. Now that she's 29 months old she's back to the height/weight percentiles she had at birth.

My mother-in-law was told to switch her first baby to skim milk at 6 weeks because he was "getting too fat on breast milk," but this was in the late 50s!

[boobs4milk]

Originally Posted by lellian

Hi Boobs4milk,

I supplemented with the SNS an oz and then 2 oz every feeding with either donated bm or formula. We moved to 4 oz of formula a day, and now we don't do formula at all because I have enough milk to ebf her. She does do a bottle of bm with DH when I'm at work. I feel like I'm proof that bm can come in very late but it took us over six weeks and a hella lot of supplements, including Reglan. It was just shocking that my Dr, knowing what we went through, when then imply that baby was eating too much.

Since my milk came in she has spit up the "extra" for sure. I'm okay with this. I'm super proud of our working together to get milk! Via la milk!

awesome! congrats! we struggled, too and it does feel good to get it!

i asked about the formula and bottles because ff babies sometimes gain more rapidly than bf babies and feeding with a bottle (whether bmilk or ff) can lead to over-feeding. i wouldn't worry about it, just wanted to say that she may gain more slowly on bmilk now or she may stay steady. millie was 6lbs 7.9 oz at birth (lost to 5lb 14 oz) and at ~9 weeks she was 11lb 9 oz and at ~21 weeks she was 15lbs 8 oz. obviously, her weight gain slowed. she was fortified to 27 cal/oz for about a week because i was told my bmilk wasn't enough. ha! she's 6 mos and 17lbs+ now.

s and give yourself a big pat on the back or sticking with bf!