Worried about overfeeding - but following my newborns cues

[JT287]

Just coming on here for some advice please!

I have a 10 day old baby who has been quite a big eater/drinker since birth really. When she was weighed midwife was happy with her weight gain etc.

im now getting to the point where im a bit worried about her feeding but equally dont know if im over thinking it…

she’s taking on average 9 feeds within 24 hours but these feeds are usually the full 4oz bottles that we make up with formula milk and the machine, which on guidance is “too much” for a baby of 10 days old.

we feed her when she gives us the signals, we never force feed or wake to feed her. We literally follow all her typical feeding cues (mouth open, leaning head to side, sucking her hand/our finger) and she’s sometimes sick (not always) but sometimes after big feeds closer together. I’m just worried now about the risk of overfeeding. I’m speaking to my midwife on this in the morning I guess more for my sake right now if anyone has some advice they can give or some reassurance this can be normal, that would be much appreciated!

It's been a couple of years since I fed my babies but just wanted to ask are you pace feeding with the bottle? Some babies just love to guzzle what's there and you have to slow them up a bit so they realise theyre full.

That being said, some babies are just hungrier than others and don't fit what the books say.

Speak to your midwife and get baby's weight checked to see what centile theyre on. But mostly take a few deep breaths and don't panic. Sending you lots of love, baby is still so young everything will feel stressful at this point but you've got this.

Thank you for your kind message and support with this! We’re now trying pace feeding, breaking it up more and trying to feed her in the more upright position with the bottle horizontal etc, will hopefully see a difference in that but it’s just frustrating not knowing if you’re over feeding or following the correct cues

I found the baby stage so hard because it is all guesswork at the beginning. I promise you it will come together, even if it is trial and error for a while.

Op, don’t worry about over feeding as she will just burp it up if it’s too much (not obviously ideal but I mean don’t worry as in, it’s not going to cause her harm sort of thing).

Pace feeding should help as previous posters have said, but for such frequent feeds I’d be inclined to try a 5oz feed and see if that makes the gap between longer. It may be that she needs a bigger bottle and then won’t need one so regularly.

In addition, don’t focus too much on what the packages etc say. All babies are so different!

So feeding according to their cues and pace feeding are both great.

There is also a thing where babies will find theor natural centile after birth. My DD dipped down a little on the centiles but then stayed there for a long time, until midteens.

Others can go up a bit on the centiles then stay there.

And the guidelines on the carton are just that, they are guidelines avd not all babies are the same.

Having said all of that, 4 Floz 9 times a day works out at 36 Floz and if you follow the usual guideline of 2.5 Floz per pound in weight a day, that woukd be the amount you’d feed a 14 pound baby.

Carry on with the feeds for now, avd maybe if things don’t settle a little more after a few days, talk to your MW or HV again