Going up and down with milk intake. Not taking as much as should should for her weight.

[Lauren8642]

My little on has never really been a milk girl she lost a fair bit of weight at birth because she was so sleepy we got put on feeding schedule and pretty much still do that now at 4 months old so we feed her every 3.5-4 hours depend on what time her first one was to make sure we fit in 5 bottles.

She goes through stages where she’ll drink loads and up her milk then she’ll go back works and kind of go off it and not drink much.

She’s 5.5kg so 12ibs 2 when I got her weighed last week so going on the rule 150ml - 200ml per kg she should be having 825ml - 1,100ml a day but this is what she’s had the past few weeks see how her intake went up then is going back down. (Today was a awful day we was out so she didn’t drink much of her second bottle then the dream feed on her 5th she’s just falling asleep struggling to wake her up for it)

Is this ok? She’s still following her line so far but her formula intake isn’t really going up as it should so I’m scared of her dropping any centiles

Have you tried smaller more frequent feeds? Maybe she’d do better on 6-7 small feeds. Does she still have night feeds? Does she show signs of hunger, or is she not giving any feeding cues between the scheduled feeds you’re doing? Does she have a dummy? Maybe when she’s fussy and you give her a dummy, a small feed would be better?

You don’t say what her birth weight/centile was and what it is now. If she’s only small (<25th centile) she may not need/want as much milk as a baby that’s on the 90th centile. The recommended amounts are a guide, feed her responsively, she’s unlikely to let herself be hungry.

Ultimately babies have hungry and not so hungry days, with growth spurts that cause them to want more, and then quieter days when they aren’t as hungry. As long as she’s weeing & pooping plenty, healthy, alert, growing and gaining weight I’d try not to worry.

@Ileithyia Sometimes she shows hunger cues sometimes if she’s napping I have to wake her if it gets close to 4 hours. No she doesn’t have a night feed she generally will have her bed time bottle at 7/7:30pm then go to sleep then has a dream feed her at 10/11pm then will sleep until 7/8am.

She was 7ibs 11 and on 50 th centil I think when born and dropped weight now she’s been following the 9th centile.

shes 12ibs 2 now and is just over 4 months old. She’s very smiley and good at holding her head when held upright but struggles to lift her head at tummy time, doesn’t roll (only onto her side at night) and doesn’t laugh yet.

i think im just anxious when she doesn’t drink as much one day I’ve got in my head she’s not going to gain weight. And also comparing against what other babies are doing at her age.

Have you discussed all this with your health visitor? None of these things are huge red flags, but maybe your HV can put your mind at ease.