How many oz does/did your 3 or 4 month old eat? (Getting stressed here...)

[Lexiesgirl]

15w old bottle-fed DD is really struggling with her food - half the time when I put a bottle in her mouth she screams like I'm offering her poison! I suspect it has something to do with teething as she is merrily chewing away on toys, ice cubes, my fingers nails etc and gouging them into her top gums.

However after being a good feeder for the first few months, she's now become a nightmare to feed. Sometimes we split feeds, sometimes we dreamfeed in the day(!), other times she has to have the bottle in her mouth for a good 5 minutes of absolute screaming before merrily eating...

On a good day I might get 30oz in to her, which makes me happy. But on average she eats about 25oz a day. I know the guidelines are just guidelines but it suggests that babies should eat roughly 2.5x their weight in lbs - so for DD that's 2.5x13 = 32oz.

So please reassure me (yes, yes, PFB and all that ) that some babies just don't eat much, and if I just let her feed on demand than rather sticking to a very rough 3.5hr routine, she'll be fine? (Oh, and so far nappies are still wet and heavy etc)

my dd was just the same, she never took more than 26oz in a day ever, even at 6mths just before i started weaning her, its only now that she is 17mths she drinks more than 4oz a go! she just stuck at 4oz bottles and would have 5 in a day occasionally one more!

she put on weight fine infact was BIG for her age and slept as well as a baby ever does.... was happy, met all her milestones etc, but boy did i stress!

yes feed her on demand and just see how she goes, some babies just dont need as much, they are indeed guidlines and some have more, some have less, my dd always had less, but she is now a BIG food fan and eats loads, she still has 2 or 3 bottles a day generally 4oz but she will have 5oz in the morning now :)

oh and things that helped, walking around whilst holding her to give her her milk, sitting her in the carseat watching tv whilst i gave her her milk, just chatting to her, cuddles, being relaxed etc and she also liked her milk slightly warmer than recomended!

have you tried changing teat size etc? some babies like their milk cold as well?

I have 17 week old twins and my DD was like this/ still is a bit - improving. The screaming I found stopped if we did one or more of:

• I fed her (if my DH or DM was feeding her to begin with I would take over and she would often calm down)
• Infant Gaviscon - sometimes she would take a gulp or 2 scream gulp scream (and repeat!) As if the milk was 'hurting' her in some way so thought it could be reflux
• We left if for 15 mins or more until she was ready (rather than when my routine told me it was time to feed her)
• Feeder has to look at her and not speak to anyone else/ sneakily check phone (she liked to know she was getting 100% attention) - fgs!

DS a totally pleasure to feed in comparison once we got over colic

Oh and to answer qu I would say at 15 weeks DD was taking about 20-25oz

Thanks! I think I just wanted to hear that other babies don't eat too much either... I tried feeding her in her bouncer today and that worked quiet well - it was easier to keep her hands distracted as well!

We had changed the teat size the other week which seemed to make an improvement for, oh, about three days Well, she sleeps well at night and is putting on weight, albeit slowly, so she must be fine. Just not a hungry girl!

Thanks for the reassurance