They put my baby on a milk diet!

[Ama28]

So my son was weighed today an at 19+2 he is 19lb!

He is not fat, he has normal baby fat on his body, but yes - he is very big. Was only 7.7 at birth. Grew - literally at a rate of knots.

Currently drinks 6x7oz bottles, but they told me to give 5x6oz bottles and water to bridge the gap.

At 3 months when he was on 6x6oz anyway, he wanted more, but i didnt want to give him any - so as to avoid him getting too big, so gave a spoon of rice with his bottle to see if it would get him to feel more full as it would have a little substance in his belly, but it didnt really work, so i held out on the 6x6oz bots till 4 months then upped him to 6x7oz - still NOT weaning yet.

The HV said she doesnt like advising this, but said perhaps i should try hungry baby milk.

Anyone got any advice?

What do you think about them cutting his milk?

Is he definately hungry, not asking for something else? Does he have a dummy/something to suck on for instance?

Yea he has a dummy.

I was always under the impression that if a baby wants milk - you give it. Not cut. Tho thats mainly for BF babies, but some people say the same goes for FF.
I kinda feel terrible that we are in this situation although - its not as tho he has masses and masses over a 'regular' amount, and its not as tho he is being given normal adult food yet, or being given sweeties and choc.

My mum found my old baby record, at 19 weeks, i was 17lb myself, and my brother, who is similar body shape to Pete Crouch - was 20lb.

I guess he is just a big boy, but when the HV frowned at me i couldnt help but feel terrible.

Perhaps i should just him on the hungry baby at the amount the HV advised?

I know of a ff mum who was told by the HVs to cut down on the number of bottles. The baby was really really fat though! And it's only bf that you can offer as much as you can give. Because when a baby comfort sucks at the breast, no milk comes out. Anyway the above ff baby is now a thriving and less chubby 6mo. I think the mum replaced all the night feeds with water. She didn't use a dummy.

My ds is 13 weeks and weighed 16lb 14oz on monday! HV has also been moaning at me for weeks about ds weight. He was on about 36oz of milk 6 weeks ago and he is now taking 25oz of milk. (5x5oz bottles a day) but he is still gaining weight! He was 7:15 born so not huge.

It's a toughy, because while you can't really overfeed a BF baby, it is possible to overfeed a FF baby.

I'm afraid I don't know enough about other tactics that you can offer, or how to work out whether you really are giving too much or whether this is his normal growth pattern. It's possible one of the BFing helplines will know more as they know a lot about infant feeding, not just BFing. (NCT, LLL, ABM).

I would also look at what length your baby is. If you have a 95 centile baby, he will be big and need more food. However if your baby is shorter then maybe he is having too much.

Well my Boy was 7lb6 at birth and 18lb at 18 weeks so I think it sounds about right to me. He's between 75 and 91 centile for height at 11months now, no idea what he weighs but he's in 9-12 clothes for the most part so not overweight.

I think you do as you thought and give milk if he's hungry, he doesn't seem too big to me.

5 x6oz bottles?? Im bfeeding and though you cant tell how much a baby is getting i know my dd neverhas nowwhere near that much..im guessing she has about equivalent of 2x 5oz a day..im suddenly thinking shes not getting enough,but her weight gain is steady. Sorry thats no help to you...
I think if he is giving you the cues for hunger then you feed him! I dont listen to HVs as i get different info fron different HVs every time!

I BF a 20-week old and regularly get 5oz of milk per boob when I express when they're full so I can believe the amount quoted by the OP.

I too have a hungry baby and am adding some baby rice in an attempt to sort his continual hunger. Not enough no use for advice but good luck OP.

I wouldnt put rice in the bottle, purely cos it would clog the teat :D I am not giving rice currently, im giving what the HV told me a shot and see if that steadies his weight gain.

The HV is a drop in so they only weigh, not measure - which if they did im sure they would see he is just going to be tall or something. Well, id hope that would be the case.

I think in a months time theyll see where the next dot on the chart is and re-assess from there. Its awful that the health of my baby rests upon dots on a chart, not that he is happy, alert, smiling, rolling over and generally a very happy little boy... i mean medium size boy!

Seriously wouldn't put anything in his bottle apart from the milk. Putting rice or cereal in the bottle presents a choking hazard and there are lots of other reasons why its not a good idea.

It is possible to overfeed a ff baby and don't forget that fat cells will stay with your child for the rest of its life.

Organic's suggestion of ringing one of the feeding lines, NCT/LLL/ABM is a good one as they will know about ff. Please don't ring one of the helplines set up by the formula companies though and the advice they give isn't always evidence based.

ama28 dont worry,you know your baby,iv got the same problem,my dd is 8 weeks and weighs 13lb,she was 8 12 at birth but is long.The hv moan that i need to cut her milk down,she has 7 5 oz bottles. This is my second baby and i was always told with my first feed on demand.Why cant they see he is happy etc.From what others have put he sounds healthy like my dd

Enjoy motherhood and dont let them hv upset you.Two weeks ago the same hv told me her feeding was fine and was same amount lol

I Wouldn't worry too much, my dd was 16lb 12oz at 17 weeks. She is a big girl, she currently has 5 x 6oz bottles a day, have also started giving some babyrice with fruit puree too. My HV wasn't concerned about her weight, she said that she will start losing the weight once she is crawling and walking. Only really need to worry about weight when they start proper food choices later.

For what its worth, Hungry baby milk made no difference with my dd.