I think I'm overfeeding my baby.....help!

[CustardCreamLover]

My son is nearly 6 months old. From about 4.5 months he started to refuse breastfeeding during the day and it turned out to be tongue tie. This was fixed but he will still only take a bottle during the day. He breastfeeds at night but I think it's more for comfort than hunger.

However, I checked the box of formula yesterday and we've been giving him too much!! I don't really understand because it seems like he needs less now at 6 months than he did at 4 months? Anyway I want to know if I should start cutting down slowly, go straight away to the amount we're supposed to be giving him or just carry on? We've been visiting the doctor ever 2 weeks for the last 2 months and he isn't putting on an excessive amount of weight and she hasn't said anything but now I'm worried if we keep going he will end up a bit fat for his age. If it's relevant he was 5 weeks early. We did see another little boy who was born on my son's due date (o he's about 4.5 months old) and he weighs more than my son.

He's my first (and only) baby and I worry about everything of course!! Any help would be great!

Is he on solids yet? If not, then he can have as much milk as he needs. Even if on solids then he should still feed to appetite on milk with solids as extra. Milk intake should decrease as solids increase. How much is he having ? (The box will assume solids are being given alongside milk at 6 months+)

Thank you for your reply. He's not on solids yet but is 6 months in 2 weeks. The box says 180ml x4 a day for 5-6 months. For 4 months it was 150mlx6 per day. We feed him about 120mlx7 per day so around 840ml. We're about a bottle over what the box says but sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less.

The box is only a guide. Continue to feed on demand.

Generally, I wouldn't worry too much about this, in the grand scheme of things you're not that much over!

Will he take any more than 120 in a single feed ? If he will, great, blaze away, and you might see him drop a bottle

If he won't take any more than that, then i see no issue as continuing as you are really ... you can't leave him hungry !

He's not having that much at all. 120ml is only 4oz, so only 28oz per day. Continue as you are. Once solids are introduced he should start to cut down a little

The box is only a guide, every baby is different. Feed on demand, it's what your baby needs.

My baby is nearly 6 months and she has 5 6oz bottles a day, so 30oz in total. The back of my formula also says this (SMA). I honestly wouldn't worry, as long as your baby is thriving and reaching milestones, it's all good. Trust what you think is best, and unless your baby is bringing up milk, I'd continue to give what your baby needs. You're doing a great job!

Oh phew thank you so much ladies I've literally just breathed a sigh of relief. We are feeding him on demand. He will usually take a 150ml bottle just before bed but that's been recent (before I realised we were feeding him too much according to the box). It's apatamel formula. We had Hipp but it gave him terrible tummy ache so we switched back again. He's quite long for his age as well I think so I hope it's all ok!!

I have never worried so much in my life since getting pregnant and having him 😂

Ha, welcome to the world of parenting.

You can't over feed a baby, if they have too much they'll just bring it back up what they can't fit in. It's wonderfully simplistic at this age. I wish I could stuff my face and quite happily posset the excess! 🤣

DD could have up to 900 at that age, it's just a guide, don't worry.

Cow and gate says five to six months, five X 210 bottles.

Midwife told me rule of thumb 2.5 ounces per pound of weight per day.

@homemadegin in that case he's well under because at last weigh in he was just over 7kg (about 15.5 lbs). I feel a lot better!

@TheBabyAteMyBrain (love your username - I feel the same!) That would be great wouldn't it?!

My DD is very big (100th centile for height and weight) and at 5 months she is having 7 x 210ml bottles quite happily.

Looking at the midwife's advice that homemadegin gave, its about right for her size. Go by that instead of what the box thinks we ought to be feeding them.

You'd think that the boxes would say more to sell more!!

I found box volumes useless! At 6 months DD was having about a litre a day, sometimes a bit more! Dropped off quite suddenly at about 7 months and now at almost 9 months she only has about 500ml a day.

If you google you also get that calculation. I phoned midwife crying because DD was taking under, but she was tiny and she told me then. Dh stopped me phoning her when she went over by one feed on one day.

I mix fed and found the formula guidelines incredibly stressful. I still have to remind myself to go with what DD tells me, it's hard.

What milk are you on because they sounds quite different quantities. The guidance on my Aptamil box is 5 feeds of 180ml for 3-4 months and 5 feeds of 210ml for 4-6 months.

I was just thinking it was so much less stressful when I was exclusively breastfeeding. I'm sort of glad we mix feed now because it takes some pressure off me (I can't express so we never gave him breast milk bottles) but now I'm watching every ml he drinks! I knew that I'd be worrying as a parent but I honestly never expected this level!

We're using apatamel. I thought it seemed quite a big difference as well. Because what baby at 5 months is suddenly going to go from 900ml a day to 720ml. But it's definitely right I just checked again.

I'll take it with a pinch of salt now and follow the midwife guidelines.

Are you using hungry baby? Don’t know why it would be so different?

No just the normal stuff. Weird. But I feel better knowing that I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. Will double check with the doctor when we see her on Friday but thank you ladies!

I have to say chat is much nicer than AIBU!!

That’s really wierd then as my Aptamil is definitely in line with what others on here have said about different brands with 5X 210ml for 4-6m.