Can babies overeat?

[suzi2]

Just out of curiousity - can breastfed babies overeat? My DS has an expressed bottle every night and guzzles 6 oz in 10 mins. And he's often looking for more!

I've heard not, but more in terms of directly from breast, don't know about EBM but doubt it, esp. as presume has bottle only once in the day? How old is he?

He's 10 wks. Only gets the one bottle - mainly becuase he feeds badly/fusses for his last feed. I wondered if perhaps the 'action' of the bottle made him eat more than he wanted - he can't really control the stop/start.

Not really a concern - just always wondered.

I think he would refuse to have more if he didn't want it, like when you give him a break for winding or whatever, he wouldn't take it back. 6oz is more than my DD would have had at that age but they're all different eh! I'm sure there's more expert people on here anyway, so I'll shut up now!

Suzi2 - it's apparently impossible for a fully breastfed baby to overeat.

when my ds was 10 weeks old, he would happily sink 9 oz bottles, and he isn't over weight.

DS is 3 weeks and downs 5oz ebm every two hours and has to be topped up with formula as I cannot keep up with demand. Would love it he suddenly worked out how to latch on but am affraid that he has gotten too used to the bottle. Due to a congenital problem on my part I could not get him to latch which is why we express.

I would disagree I am convinced that DD2 over-ate on a regular basis and then sicked the excess up just as regularly! She was basically a greedy little sod or perhaps just loved her mummy's norks .

I think guzzling from a bottle is more common, esp. from a normally b/f baby as it is just so much easier for them.

No they can't overeat!

Why not? And what do you mean by overeat?

Honestly DD2 would feed until it was running down her nose - if you offered your breast she would take whether or not she needed it IMHO.

I dont think they overeat in the adult sense. but they can certainly put it away.

Breastfed babies won't overeat when feeding directly from the breast as they can control the flow while still sucking and getting comfort. Bottles flow much more easily and babies can't suck on them without milk coming out, so they often take more milk than they would directly from the breast.