Is this normal ?

iru96 · 2024-09-16T14:53:10+00:00

My nearly 5 month old only drinks 3.5/ 4 oz every 2.5/3 hrs. Is this normal ? She's never been a keen feeder, has struggled to latch since birth, had her tongue tie cut a month ago which was missed by the NHS/HV. She was BF for 2 months and only ever drank for 5/6 mins at a time then too. I'm thinking about introducing baby porridge once she's 5 months old as I'm hoping she'll take to food better than she has milk! Has anyone tried this and helped them?? She wakes at night for a feed at 2.30 and again at 5.30

Pr1mr0se · 16/09/2024 16:02

Yes, I introduced food at about 5 months in a similar situation and it helped. It also meant that feeding was not needed as frequently too as baby porridge is more filling.

Kosenrufugirl · 16/09/2024 16:06

I would say introduce a dummy rather than porridge. Modern advice is foods from 6 months. There are a lot of people with celiac disease. Why nobody quite knows what causes it it's not worth the risk in my opinion

Original poster

iru96 · 16/09/2024 16:27

Pr1mr0se · 16/09/2024 16:02

Yes, I introduced food at about 5 months in a similar situation and it helped. It also meant that feeding was not needed as frequently too as baby porridge is more filling.

Thanks for this.. would you say you dropped one milk feed for one porridge feed?

OP posts:

Original poster

iru96 · 16/09/2024 16:29

Kosenrufugirl · 16/09/2024 16:06

I would say introduce a dummy rather than porridge. Modern advice is foods from 6 months. There are a lot of people with celiac disease. Why nobody quite knows what causes it it's not worth the risk in my opinion

I would like to wait, and may just wait until 5.5 months and only introduce it very slowly! It's been a tough feeding journey so just looking for an options that might make life slightly easier but you're right - making life easier for me now isn't worth her having issues later on!

OP posts:

InTheRainOnATrain · 16/09/2024 16:40

As a rough guide you 2.5oz of formula per pound of body weight in a 24 hour period. So if you’re roughly matching this, and weight gain is on track and there’s plenty of nappy output then. What teat size are you using? Trying the next size up could be a way of getting them to take bigger feeds. But some babies do have a preference for little and often, yours might be one of them!

Advice on weaning is AROUND 6 months, not must be a minimum of 6 months, and also to look for the other physical signs of readiness- can stay sat in the high chair holding their head steady, loss of tongue thrust reflex, able to pick something up and bring it to their mouth. So if you’re good on those, then 5 and a bit months old will be fine to start and in line with guidelines.

One more thing you could try is a dreamfeed as you’re going to bed to try to eliminate the 2.30am feed. We did that with one of ours until weaning was established and it worked really well.

Pr1mr0se · 16/09/2024 17:38

iru96 · 16/09/2024 16:27

Thanks for this.. would you say you dropped one milk feed for one porridge feed?

Show quote history

Yes, one less milk feed for every porridge feed.

Original poster

iru96 · 16/09/2024 18:46

InTheRainOnATrain · 16/09/2024 16:40

As a rough guide you 2.5oz of formula per pound of body weight in a 24 hour period. So if you’re roughly matching this, and weight gain is on track and there’s plenty of nappy output then. What teat size are you using? Trying the next size up could be a way of getting them to take bigger feeds. But some babies do have a preference for little and often, yours might be one of them!

Advice on weaning is AROUND 6 months, not must be a minimum of 6 months, and also to look for the other physical signs of readiness- can stay sat in the high chair holding their head steady, loss of tongue thrust reflex, able to pick something up and bring it to their mouth. So if you’re good on those, then 5 and a bit months old will be fine to start and in line with guidelines.

One more thing you could try is a dreamfeed as you’re going to bed to try to eliminate the 2.30am feed. We did that with one of ours until weaning was established and it worked really well.

I'm using size 1 teats. I've tried size 2 but she doesn't like them v much so went back to size 1 to make it easier for her.

Thanks for your advice. I'll take it on board and maybe try giving her some porridge around 5.5 months.

The dream feed won't work as she's very particular about when she wants a feed. If she hasn't got an empty stomach she will not take ANY milk. It's only when she's got an empty stomach she'll drink milk! It's a difficult one but I will wait it out for a month and then try the porridge / solids

OP posts:

InTheRainOnATrain · 16/09/2024 18:57

Size 1 teats explains the small more frequent feeds then since they’re for newborns with tiny stomachs/teeny mouths and it’ll be a lot of work for her to get a very small amount of milk. Getting fed up and not wanting a full feed is the classic sign to move up. At her age the usual would be 3s, at the very least 2s. It may take a couple of feeds for her to get used to them though. But I would guess it might be worth persisting.

teatoast8 · 16/09/2024 19:01

Kosenrufugirl · 16/09/2024 16:06

I would say introduce a dummy rather than porridge. Modern advice is foods from 6 months. There are a lot of people with celiac disease. Why nobody quite knows what causes it it's not worth the risk in my opinion

Some babies need food before 6 months. My daughter did as she has allergies and was losing weight rapidly

Slowfeedingbaby · 16/09/2024 19:08

I was in a very similar situation. What is her weight? Is she gaining, maintaining or losing? I was told to look at milk over the course of 24hrs and to aim for between 120m-200ml x weight in kg for total input. DD2 also had silent reflux and getting her onto some baby gaviscon has stabilised her weight to start maintaining rather than losing. We are under the care of the specialist feeding team as part of the Speech and Language service, and they have also advised me to go up to size 3 teats.