Overfeeding formula?

[Pippaandpolly]

I'm FF DD who is 5 weeks and am really worried about overfeeding her. (Original plan to BF went belly up and as I wasn't planning to FF at all I feel quite insecure about getting it wrong.) The packet (Aptimil) says she should have 5 feeds a day of 150ml (for 4-8 week old/10.5lb babies - she's about 9lbs). The previous 'dose' was 120ml but she was clearly still hungry after that, so we upped it to 150 despite her not being at the right weight yet - and because we figured there can't be many 4 week old babies at 10.5lbs and both sets of numbers are only averages. Where I'm worried though is that 5 feeds in 24 hours seems very few. She definitely wants 6 feeds a day, sometimes 7. We're trying to demand feed and to keep things as similar to how they would have been with BF as possible (to ease my guilty conscience :() so I have no problem with her eating more regularly, and can't imagine trying to put her on a 5 times a day routine. (My HV explained that this could either be every 5-ish hours OR every 4 hours with an 8 hour sleep at night. What 5 week old goes 8 hours overnight!?)

So should we lower her feed back to 120 as she's eating more frequently? She's currently getting 150-300ml more per day than she should be. I am very paranoid about giving her health problems so early on, fat babies = fat children = fat adults etc. I am probably overthinking it but given that she's already missing out on the benefits on BF I really don't want to make a bad situation even worse by making her overweight. Equally, I'm fairly sure that if we did lower her feed back to 120 she'd still be hungry after each feed and I don't want her to starve!! Am so

Hi pippaandpolly, I understand your concerns, but I do think you are worrying too much . If I were you, I'd make up the larger feed each time and feed her till she is full. And I would also feed on demand, and don't worry what the packet says- it's only a guideline afterall. You have plenty of time in years to come to tweak her diet if she gets a bit roly poly , but in all honesty, I think there is way too much emphasis on weight etc. Let's face it, formula isn't the tastiest thing in the world, so she'll only take what she needs. As for your guilt- why???? You sound like a great mum- as long as she gets fed, that's what matters in the end!!! Please don't get too hung up on not bf- your health and happiness matters too

Mampig right - feed her til full as she will find her level. Dd was similarly hungry at this age (was real growth spell) but she normalized down to smaller more spaced feeds after growth spurt ended at about 6 weeks. I learned to look at box as guidance only.

Also on couple of occasions where dd did overdo cluster feeding the result was some rather spectAcular projectile sick (usually over dh ). Her weight stayed fairly constant in percentile terms

What is her weight in kilos? DS's paed said the average intake is 120-180ml per kilo per day. I make that between 19 and 29oz per day is an 'acceptable' amount. So if she's averaging 6 feeds a day that's 30oz - quite alright. And if some days she has more or less, so what?

I totally understand your feelings re bf though - I've never managed it terribly well and can really understand why you say 'I really don't want to make a bad situation even worse'. Do try not to think of it in those terms though. You are still being a fab mum.

She's just under 9lbs so I guess that's about 4 kilos? Good to hear that it's not anything to worry about - I also saw another thread on here where someone's having a similar concern but with much greater quantities, and the consensus on there was not to worry either as long as it doesn't go on for too long - which made me feel better too!

Thanks also for being nice about FF. I swing between feeling that it's the right thing as we didn't have much choice and it's not actively hurting her so I should get on with it and stop whinging, and feeling really, really guilty. It's really not helped by the fact that I am still leaking milk every time I feed her - talk about adding insult to injury!

My LO never followed the guidelines either. He was very hungry too and we fed on demand. I read somewhere that children of this age can not over eat. They just stop when they are no longer hungry.
To reassure myself,I had him weighed every week to ensure he stayed more or less on the same line (75th percentile, he was born in the middle). I guess it's an ok way to monitor her weight gain. If DD jumps several percentiles quickly, then yes maybe you ought to have a rethink.

I know what you mean - I'm a profuse 'leaker' but am unable to produce milk which is capable of satisfying any of my babies or capable of making them gain weight

You are being utterly normal - I'm now 7wks down the line with dc4. The milk dried up after 3/4wks but I'm still tormented by guilt and grief. And that's after 'failing' with 2 of the other 3 so I knew what to expect really. And even the one I did feed til 6mo looked like the cat that had the cream after her first ever bottle feed

Just be gentle with yourself - hormones still have a lot to answer for and although you won't have the bf ones for much longer, your body has still only just been pg in relative terms.

There are a lot of people on here for whom bf did not come easily or naturally, so you're in good company!

I managed to succesfully ff on demand, like you I had planned to bf, but had big problems and felt very guilty and worried I was harming my ds with formula. I never looked at the packet guidelines, instead I concentrated on making sure i was giving ds as much or as little as he needed at the time of the feed. I did notice that one of his grandmas always managed to get him to finish the bottle, whereas when I fed him, he would very rarely finish it! (she wasn't allowed to feed him very often btw) So it clearly is possible to overfeed, but ime you have to be determined to do it, and not taking notice of the baby's cues, and basically putting the bottle back in its mouth when it has clearly finished.

My talked about how she would shake the bottle until we finished it. Thats clearly not the way to do it. I haven't asked her about routines but she mentioned I cried a lot. I wonder if I was made to wait 8 hours through the night for another bottle! But I know a mum in my group did stick to a very strict routine and used a dummy to lengthen between feeds. Her DD is now 9mo and healthy so obviously all that crying did no harm.

OP I think in the other thread the baby has jumped 3 centiles. Someone suggested to keep an eye on the weight and I think it's a good idea. I had my DD weighed every 2 weeks at the beginning because I really wanted to be reassured bf was going well. I'm sure it can put your mind at ease with ff too. And I do know another mum whose baby overfeed on formula and have to be give water. He's on the 99th centile and very very big.

Ignore the 'no of feeds in 24 hours' on the formula boxes. Most mums feed their babies every 3 hours or so up until about 4 months, that's about 6 or 7 feeds in a day. However, the box is useful for giving you an idea of how much the baby should have in total in a day. So for example if it says 5 feeds of 120mls, then roughly you should be aiming for 600mls in total - but that's only a guideline: some babies take a bit more, some takes less. Get your baby weighed regularly if you're worried about her putting on too much weight. If she is, then maybe she's drinking just for comfort when she's ready for a nap. If this is the case, a soother can be very useful. I know some people hate using soothers but I've always found that if you use them sensibly (take them away once baby falls asleep and don't use once the baby is 3 mts old), it really helps baby to learn to settle herself to sleep instead of drinking herself into a milk-induced coma :)

Pippaandpolly - You have pretty much described my situation perfectly!

I also intended to breastfeed, but it just wasn't working for us in anyway, and came home from hospital on formula. (I cried for 3 days solid with guilt.) My DS is now 4 weeks old and is 10lb 9oz (he was a big baby when born!), we're also using Aptamil. What we found was he was finishing all his 120ml bottles, and still rooting round/hand in mouth after them. We upped to 150ml and just allow him to have as much as he wants. Sometimes its 80ml, sometimes its 150ml. Sometimes he'll go for 2 hours between feeds, sometimes 4.

All babies are different!

PLEASE don't feel guilty about FF. Feeding your baby is just one small part of being a mum, and you need to be enjoying your baby! This has taken me a good few weeks to realise.

I have formula fed 3 dds (youngest one is 8 months), and I too just fed on demand. I didn't encourage her to finish bottles, my Mum passed on some useful tips , but I certainly gave her another one if she was still hungry. I wouldn't worry about her weight, talk to the HV if you're worried re her length, weight, head circ etc. All of mine clusterfed usually in the late afternoons, so it did sometimes seem all they did was have bottles.

PS my 3 year old has just learned to sleep for 8 hours on the trot

I had the opposite problem and always looked at the amounts on the side in awe as dd spat out the teat and refused more. She also stuck to her centile line