12 oz in one feed at 4.5 months...

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As the title says 12oz in one feed for my 4.5 month DD, she has been quite consistent for awhile:

normally eats 7 oz 5 times a day,
sleeping through 7pm-6am.
1 x 2hr nap, and 2 x 45 min.

Day time naps have gone belly up over the last 2 weeks. Initially blamed on the last jabs...
Screaming and fussing, impossible to spot her sleeps cues, tried varying the length of away times but it's an absolute drama every single time. Getting worse each day, lucky to get 3 x 30 mins naps, so super grouchy baby.

After her 7oz feed today she was still crying and fussing. She had just woken up from a nap, fresh nappy, no interest in playing and burped very very well.

We always had to increase her milk a week before the formula advises, so I thought she might still be hungry. It was 7oz bottle out of habit. Expected she might drink an oz or two max... She drank 5oz of it, having only started the other bottle 20 mins before.

She's then given me clear sleep cues and popped of to sleep without a murmur!

So what I'm wondering is whether it sounds right that the fussiness is hunger? If so, is it safe to let her have so much? Should I be looking at introducing baby food now?

She's along the bottom line of the 25th percentile and always put weight on at a nice steady rate

I defeintely wouldn’t offer solids at this stage, nothing you’ve said suggests she’s ready yet.

How long is she going between feeds?

2.5 hours, used to go 4 hours
Shes practicing her chewing and trying to grab my food. What would I be looking out for?

Isn't there a maximum oz of formula allowed per 24h? But perhaps next feed will be tiny...

Signs that indicate your baby might be ready for food include being able to sit up unaided or with a little support, sufficient hand/eye coordination to get food to her mouth and loss of the tongue thrust reflex (where anything that goes in her mouth is quickly pushed out by her tongue). Showing an interest in your food is a bit misleading on its own as babies are naturally interested in everything we do.

All babies are different so I wouldn’t worry too much about what the formula box says, it’s there as a guide - if she’s full she’ll either refuse her milk or bring it back up. She could be going through a growth spurt and be extra hungry.

I’m not sure there’s a limit on how many oz you can give per day - again, the numbers on the box are just a guide, much as the recommended daily calorie intake for adults is a guide based on the ‘average’ man or woman. I’m pretty sure I don’t eat bang on 2000 calories every day!

@mikado1 that's what I though about 24 hours, she still had 6oz on each feed after that every 2.5-3 hours

The problem I'm finding is she seems to be napping poorly, and I'm wondering ifs because she's hungry, she used to be every 3.5-4 hours, now by the time I've fed her and she's played a bit she seems to be hungry so either won't sleep at all or gets a very short cat nap

There is not a maximum amount of formula allowed in one day. What a stupid comment. Just give her as much milk as she wants.

4 month old babies are a law unto themselves, they make the rules, they break the rules. Keep up the milk feeds, take a deep breath and ride it out, things will settle down again.

My dd was like this before weaning. In the end I had her on hungry formula but to be honest I'm not sure how much it actually helped. Just give as much milk as she wants, probably 4 month sleep regression/growth spurt kicking in

The wonders of the 4 month sleep regression

They take such teeny tiny amount of solids at first that it wouldn’t make any difference to her hunger anyway. At that age mine was just bf but has been on formula since 8mo - sometimes he would take 3oz every 4 hours, others he’d still be hungry after 8oz every 2 hours - and that was with solids too.

If it was me I’d offer her extra if you think she’s hungry, as pp said if she’s not hungry she’ll not drink it - I think it’ll be a wee growth spurt.

A stupid comment bananarama12 ? It's what the OP says herself she was worried about! Obviously you know more than me but that's what lots of people who started solids early told me, that they couldn't increase formula feeds.. I did say 'I thought'..

Good luck OP.

Having too much formula is something that's been mentioned to me previously, that's why I ask. I'm trying to get to grips with all the conflicting advice and do the best for DD