How small exactly are babies tummies??

[blossom2]

DD2 is now 12 weeks (born 3.5 wks early weighing 7lbs) and is now almost 6kgs. so great weight gain, however i'm still confused/wondering how she manages to gain so much weight given how little she eats.

She feeds every 3 hrs, spends only 5 mins (if i'm lucky 10mins) on a breast. Even when she has not feed for 4/5 hrs, she will only take 3ozs (EBM or formula).

So can anyone tell me how she has managed to gain so much weight?? i still feel she 'eats' so little.

(i'm not complaining but it feels strange to me, since i hear other babies of her age are having 4oz, every 3 hrs)...

Is a baby's stomach the size of it's fist? i have alaways had that impression.

I thought I'd read that somewhere too, colditz.

Some babies feed very efficiently. My DS2 feeds very efficiently, always has, and gains very well.

Their stomach is only the size of their fist. I think they may take more than a stomach-full, though, at a time - with some of the milk going down into their small intestine.

And anyway, breastmilk is the perfect food, so is very efficiently digested, IYSWIM.

(She might well also take more milk, directly from the breast, than she takes from the bottle. Who knows?)

blossom, ds is 8 weeks old, and feeds for five or ten minutes 2 hourly during the day, and goes up to 6 hours between feeds at night, only feeding for 15 minutes between sleeps. Haven't had him weighed for a couple of weeks but I know he's well over 10lb now! They get so much more efficient at sucking as they get older.

HI Miaou ... thing is DD2 has never spent more than 15 mins on breast ... very of yr ds sleeping 6 hrs, most mine has managed is 5 hrs ...

I was told anewborn's is like a walnut (prob. their fist size)

My lo has 7 oz of the second milk every 3 hours, and has 5 a day as he sleeps 11 hours at night. What a tubster. I thought that was normal. Perhaps not

And he's 13 weeks...sorry, that info might help!