Am I overfeeding my DD? (formula feeding)

[iwouldgoouttonight]

DD is five weeks old and is now formula fed - the HV weighed her yesterday and she had put on 11oz in a week, and had also put on the same amount the previous week. HV said that was too much and we should cut down the amount we put in her bottles - she said she needs 150ml for every kg of her weight. She weighs 4.35kg so that means she needs around 650ml of milk in 24 hours. We've been giving her 120ml in each bottle and she has seven each day, adding up to 840ml - the HV looked horrified when I told her this and said we should just put 90ml in each bottle.

We've been doing this for the last 24 hours but DD roots around as if she is hungry when she finishes a bottle, and wants feeding much sooner. We've been rocking her and trying other ways to soothe her so she doesn't have the next bottle too soon, otherwise she'll end up having more bottles in 24 hours which will mean she's drinking too much again. Does this seem right? Should we be spending an hour trying to comfort her when she is obviously hungry, rooting around, virtually biting her own arm off! or do you think its ok to give her more milk and accept she is going to gain a lot of weight?

To give a bit of background, I BF for the first week until she was weighed and she'd lost 17% of her birth weight and had to go into hospital for a week. They gave me a breast pump and said I needed to express 460ml in 24 hours otherwise they had to give her formula to rehydrate her and get her weight back up. Despite being attached to the breast pump all night I managed to express 60ml so she had to have loads of formula and eventually she didn't want to breastfeed and I couldn't get any milk out when I expressed. Because of her weight loss I was really trying to make sure she drank enough formula to make her better again, but now it seems I have given too much! I'm so confused - wish HVs and midwifes were more helpful!

Anyone??

I wouldn't claim to be an expert but my DS (now 6m) is formula fed and i would say if your DD is hungry then feed her! DS has always had completely different amounts to what it says on the formula pack - he had a growth spurt at 12 weeks and had 7 210ml bottles every day for a week! You're the mum and you know your baby better than some bossy health visitor.

Your situation sounds very similar to mine, DS is 7 weeks tomorrow. I desperately wanted to BF but a traumatic caesarian, blood loss, anameia and an post op infection meant i only managed 10 days

My DS is a wee man, just 6lb10 when born and still small but he has more than the recommeneded. 150ml a time 6 or 7 times a day - if he is hungry I feed him. I had an awful time in hospital trying to feed him and him crying with hunger constantly, I'm not going to starve him just to fit in with HVs instructions!

Your DD may be having a growth spurt but if she's hungry feed her - if you were breast feeding you wouldn't be able to measure her intake.

Like your user name btw!! :0

Hello, I think the volume you're feeding sounds ok! We gave our DD 5 x 120ml feeds from about 4 weeks and quite often an extra 120ml feed in the night, which she sometimes took all of, sometimes only half. Her weight gain has increased steadily and always meant she's just below the 50th centile. TBH after about 8 weeks I stopped going to the HV, she just irritated me with stupid comments!

Thanks - reassuring to know what everyone else does. It was just the look on the HVs face when I told her how much DD fed, made me think she was going to end up being obese, especially as she has already grown out of some of her 0-3 months sleepsuits! She only weighs 9lb 9oz so she's hardly huge - I think its just the weight gain seems fast after she went down to 6lbs 12oz when she was a week old.

DS was 4lb 12oz at birth (36 weeks) and mixed fed for 8 weeks. He always had looooads more than the tin says, like the intake of a 6 month old at 3 months. He gained weight very well indeed, some weeks 400g. But we always FFed on demand. if he was hungry we offered a bottle. After about 6 months it all settled down and he's not an abnormal size at all. She's probably just catching up. if you were bfing no one would know how much she was having they'd just be pleased she was growing so well.

Ignore your HV, if that is the amount your DD wants to drink then that is what you give her.

My HV was also horrified to learn how much my DS is taking - he crys constantly unless he has 210ml feeds every 3.5 hours - That's 1270ml of milk a day fo a 5 week old baby....He also lost a lot of weight early on, and has reflux, so before medication it was impossible to know how much formula he had kept down.. He's now 11lbs and growing - I can't face increasing another oz now he's draining all his bottles, and I hope it's the 6 week growth spurt! He's a long skinny baby though, so I'm being guided by him... I can't follow HV's advice and immediately halve his intake "for his own good" - It would be cruel to watch him go hungry. He's still in tops for a 7.5 oz baby... I don't think they tailor their advice to individual babies, tbh. Having said all that (lol) I still panic that it's far, far too much...!

Iwouldgoouttonight, how's it going? Sounds like we can't win. I would have stuck to putting 120 oz in each bottle in your position - ds1 was probably having that kind of amount at 5 weeks, I'm still persevering with mostly breastfeeding ds2 at 5 weeks.

I have the same experience, I was just told by doctor and midwife that I have to decrease the amount of formula I am giving to my baby (nearly two months and drinking 120ml seven or eight times a day) as he put on too much weight in a week - ove a pound (I should add that according to his growth chart he is still not where he should be). They completely ignore the fact that he was starving for six weeks because my breastfeeding did not go well and nearly ended up in hospital thanks to all professionals who were saying I should not worry that he cries a lot and seems to be hungry. If I did not insist on appointment to check his jaundice, he would have probably ended up at hospital too! I am originally from the Czech Republic and the doctors there say that as long as you don't force your baby to drink formula, you cannot overfeed your baby and that all babies are different and they need different amounts. They would have told you well done for getting baby better! I ought to add that my country is one of the best in prenatal and postnatal care and my doctor back home is horrified whenever I describe the way mums here are advised to look after their babies. You are your child's mother and you know your child best. Having written that, I still do worry that they might be right and that I am damaging my child in some way. I have read horrible article about lactose overdose and I am now scared! Margem

Just to add. We eventually went to 180ml in his bottle - that lasted a week and then he finally decided that he had enough and he stopped draining his bottles. A month later we are on 150ml seven to eight times a day, however, my baby stopped putting on weight so much and he quite often does not finish his bottle. I sometimes throw away even half of bottle! Last night he slept over six hours. One thing might have helped too - we switched to hungry milk despite HV's disapproval. Follow your instincts and you will be fine.

I know nothing about this (first baby not yet born) but just something that occured to me - isn't it logical that having lost quite a bit of her birth weight she's going to be playing catch up and putting the weight back on quickly........

i'm no expert, but it sounds to me that if the baby lost weight at first, they are going to need more to catch up, something which isn't taken into account when doing a sum of x + y = oz milk per baby per day. people have different metabolisms, so babies must do too!

my bf DS put on a pound in a week early on. he has also had weeks of putting on nothing.

i have just seen that this has all been said already.

but hth.

My dd is ff too and is 4 and a half weeks old. She has 6 feeds in 24hrs (apart from yesterday as she slept all night). We offer her a 5 oz (150ml) bottle and she has what she wants. Mostly it's somewhere between 3.5 -4 oz but she does occasionally take all of it. Do not worry about what hv says (some are definitley very unhelpful and cause more worry than necessary).

i second (or perhaps third) the advice to ignore your HV advice. Honestly where do these people get there training from!

For the record, a friend who is a paediatric nurse advised me the following:

Average birth weight babies up to 6 weeks should typically be taking 50-150ml per feed 7 - 8 times per day.

Babies between 6 weeks to 4 months should be taking between 125ml - 175ml per feed 7 times a day.

Obviously if your baby had a low birth weight or lost a significant amount of weight those figures should be adjusted upwards until your LO has gained sufficient weight to rejoin the average.

My 7 week old DD takes on average 5 oz (150ml) 7 times a day, so a total of just over 1 ltr per day. She was born 3.5kg (7lb 12oz) and has steadily gained weight since then including putting on over 300g in one week. She is now 5.5kg and 60 cm long. No one has ever suggested she was gaining weight too fast. Infact the GP said she was thriving.

Agree with others. You just can't win, can you? If you bf you are starving your baby and if you ff then you are making your baby obese.

I also agree that it seems very cruel to not give your DD milk when she's hungry. I might possibly get flamed for this and this is just an opinion based on no expertise at all but if your DD is really drinking too much milk, could it be that she is thirsty rather than hungry? It has been really hot after all. If this is the case, you could try giving her cooled boiled water between feeds. I say this, because I mixed fed DS1 and he spent much of the the first 18 months of his life in West Africa and he used to drink loads of water even as quite a small baby.

Just wanted to add I also LOVE your name-made me & dh smile (big huge fans!) and also just reiterate what other posters have said that we mums really can't win can we!! My DS3 lost weight as EBF but as now am "topping up" & he is "thriving" have been told by hv to "cut out" top up feeds !
I am ignoring HV and going to wean DS gradually off formula an Oz every couple of days and see how he gets on-you have to be guided by your baby not by a pair of scales or a growth chart if shes hungry feed her and like others have said as she lost weight early on she is prob playing catch up-go with your gut feeling & good luck sounds like you are doing a grand job