4 ounces or five for a newborn?

[elodieari]

Hi!
Is this normal?
7 week old baby. He’s already on 4 ounces, but often wants more and has spent the past few days wanting food every hour and half on average! Is this a growth spurt? Should I give him five ounces? I already feel like it’s too much for his age!

Every baby's different, and they go through hungrier phases. My DS was taking 5 ounces when he was 5 weeks old, but rarely exceeded that amount until he was 4/5 months when he started taking 7/8 ounces at once. It was just his preference.

If he wants more, give him more.

Sounds fine. We always fed on demand/responsively even with formula. We stopped when he seemed to have had enough or offered more if he still seemed hungry. He sort of fed like a breastfed baby but on formula. Never matched the guidance on the formula tub and he never did get to the bigger 7oz/8oz feeds with bigger gaps in between- he always preferred more frequent feeds of varying amounts. Always stayed on his growth line fine. If he’s hungry, offer him the extra. Follow his cues and you won’t go far wrong.

Just to say that one thing I learnt later is that babies under 8-10 weeks have a sucking reflex even when they aren’t hungry. If you don’t pace feed he could easily take more than he actually wants before he feels uncomfortably full. It’s possible to offer the bottle to a baby this age and have them drink when they’re crying about something else!

Ours were in pain and “colicky” because of it x

We demand fed both of our babies. When DD2 is full, she’ll throw up whatever is too much for her. She also refused the bottle if she wasn’t hungry. The dummy really helped for comforting her.

Silly question, but are you making up feeds properly, according to the instructions? I've worked with families who are over-concentrating feeds by adding the water to the powder, or not bothering to level off the scoops, and then they assume little one is hungry for more when actually they're thirsty!

Yes that's normal, if he wants more give him more.

If you're worried about over feeding look up the 'paced feeding' technique online.