3 week old draining 6oz

[Cjo99]

When my DD was born she took 30mls for the first day, then 4oz until she was a week and a half old and then 5oz until a few days ago, she's now 3 weeks old n has been draining 6oz bottles for the past 2 days...I'm worried incase I'm over feeding her, she doesn't throw it up but she does spew a little bit but nothing major? Has anyone else's baby taken this much? (She's been formula fed since birth, aptamil)

[bloodywhitecat]

How often does she feed and what does she weigh?

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

If you were breastfeeding you wouldn't know... The first time I left DS with DH he downed 12 Oz of expressed milk and was still looking for more apparently (it didn't occur to me to tell DH not to keep opening new bags of milk and feeding him, as DS was fed on demand). He was 4 months old not 3 weeks though.

He did go off the top of the growth chart, but he's tall and slim now at 12 (years) old and was a long thin baby at birth two weeks early (56cm long).

Do you have a sensible seeming midwife or health visitor? If so ask their advice.

You shouldn't feed completely unlimited formula obviously, because it is different from breast milk and babies can become overweight, though they don't generally.

[GingerGingerGingerGinger]

Well, it depends on how often she feeds. How much does she take in 24 hours?

[Selfsettling3]

Are you doing paced feeding?

[mynameiscalypso]

How much does she eat in a day? For the first few weeks, DS ate lots more than recommended (I think he'd been starved in the womb!) but it regulated itself after a while. At 6 months, he sometimes drinks less in a day than he did at 3 weeks but is perfectly healthy and growing well.

[Cjo99]

Sorry I forgot to mention how often lol during the day she seems to get really hungry every 2-3 hours and at night time around 3-4 hours...she was 6lb10oz at birth, she was weighed 11 days ago and was 7lb13oz so is most likely around about 8lb10 or so now...

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

Those are quite long gaps between feeds at just 3 weeks old - sounds fine to me. Ask at next weighing clinic though.

[mynameiscalypso]

I agree that it sounds like a long gap between feeds - I remember a midwife telling me at 4 weeks that DS should feed every 3 hours. No way! He's 6 months and still doesn't go more than about 2 hours!

[Cjo99]

Ohh I had no idea they were long gaps, I thought 3 hours was normal! Yeah I think I'll ask the health visitor when she's out on Sunday, just wanted some advice from other mums first

[MyDcAreMarvel]

Three hours is normal for formula fed babies unless they demanding to be fed more frequently.

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

Cjo99 3 hours is normal later, but a 3 week old normally has a tiny stomach and feeds little and often. It sounds as though your DD has a feeding pattern more like a slightly older baby - more milk but going longer between feeds.

My dc3 looked for 14 breastfeeds per 24 hours until I weaned him against his will at 14 months old in the hope he'd finally start sleeping for more than a 90 minute stretch! (Sadly it made no difference at all and he didn't start sleeping until he was nearly 3). My middle one went 3 hours at night right from the start though, and stayed exactly the same at night until he was 9 months and started sleeping through. He fed two hourly in the day except for cluster feeding from about 6pm til 11pm from a few days old until about 6 weeks.

They're all different but normally a 3 week old's stomach is only big enough to hold 2-3 oz or so and they'd feed 12-14 times per 24 hours.

Six 6 Oz feeds is obviously the same as twelve 3 Oz feeds... Whilst Eight 6 Oz feeds is a lot more...

I think it's probably fine, but yes ask the health visitor and keep an eye on weight gain.

The only thing is to be sure you're not misinterpreting tired or uncomfortable cues as hungry cues, but with those feeding intervals you're almost certainly right that she's hungry.

Some babies comfort suck so you could try a slower flow bottle if you're not using the slowest one.

Is she awake and alert for some of the time in the day or just sleeping between feeds?

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

MyDcAreMarvel even at 3 weeks old? Bottle fed babies obviously have the same size stomachs as breastfed babies so still usually need smaller more frequent feeds in the very early weeks.

[Cjo99]

The midwives told me anywhere from 2-5 hours is normal so I assumed 3 hours wasn't much of a gap see I thought maybe I was misinterpreting hunger cues so I've been making sure it's not anything else like tiredness, nappy change, gas etc but it seems as though she definitely gets hungry after 2 or 3 hours...

She is quite an alert baby, sleeps for an hour after a bottle just. I was worried about stretching her stomach too much but she rarely seems uncomfortable, is great with getting wind up and rarely spews milk.... it just worries me that most people say she should only be on 2-3 ounces when she's on double that, and has been since she was 2 weeks old

Health visitor is out tomorrow (or Monday?...baby brain)

Thanks for everyone's advice

[Cjo99]

Oh also! Some things I'm reading says to stop feeding at 4oz and offer a dummy because baby's can comfort suck and I must be over-feeding her, yet others say babies will only take what they need & you can't over feed a baby??? So I'm getting all different kinds of advice😂😂

[Pea2019]

I have a now 3 month old baby and was similar to you. Went to hospital for something and was told by dr i’m over feeding! They said it’s supposed to be 150ml per KG. My baby fed every 3hrs too so i used to work out what the ml was in oz, and then divide this by 8 (feeds per 24hrs). Turned out it was half of what i’d been giving!

[Cjo99]

But if I cut down her feeds she's only going to cry for more once she's done, so what do I do? I was told to avoid the 'hungrier baby' formula also😩 I was also told you can't over feed a baby & they'll stop when they need to...so much advice out there😂😂

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

Cjo99 have you tried a slower flow test on the bottle so she has to work harder to get the milk?

Don't restrict her milk though unless under medical advice.

Have you seen the health visitor?

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

Teat not test

[wintertravel1980]

I started offering DD 6oz bottles when she was just short of 3 weeks. She has always been a hungry baby and could drink (and now eat) loads. Paced feeding, etc made zero difference. At 3 weeks, she would probably finish one 6oz bottle a day but she would consistently take 4.5-5oz per feed.

The indicative feeding guidelines (150mls per kg of weight) apply to older babies (over 3 months). Newborns are generally unpredictable and some of them eat much more than others. DD significantly exceeded her daily "norm" in early days and only got closer to the guideline after 3-4 months of age.

DD was born at 75th percentile but she quickly moved to the 95th curve and has followed it consistently for the first 18 months of life. She is now 3 years old and has got 50% BMI (even though she still eats two or three times more than what is recommended for her age - only healthy stuff). Some children just love their food and have got fast metabolism.

[TrashKitten10]

Sounds exactly like my little girl. We started on 3oz and then increased pretty much an oz a week until she was a month old demanding 6oz per feed when all the advice said she should still be eating 3oz. FWIW she's now nearly four months and still has 6oz bottles and is probably eating less than when she was a newborn. It just levelled off and she doesn't seem so ravenous anymore. Makes no sense but she's always steadily followed the 75th centile so it's obviously worked out okay.