When did you know your baby was ready to take more milk?

[KimchiLaLa]

My 8 week baby is only 6.5 pounds but HV's have been happy with her gain (born at 4 pounds) and she drinks around 18-20 ounces a day, across 9-10 feedings. Never more than two ounces in one go. Today she has wanted more at each feeding, which of course I give her but burping loads in between, as she does have reflux and I'm conscious not to overfeed. Is she looking to take more? How did you know when your babies were ready?

If they finish the bottles then increase each by an ounce

She always finishes her bottle but I only put 60 in there as she never usually wanted more and when she's overfed, she takes quite a lot out. Maybe I should increase and see what happens...

2oz is a tiny amount for an 8 week old. I would offer more

When we were using bottles we just kept giving more and more until dc decided he'd had enough and stopped drinking. If it looked like he was going to finish the bottle the one who wasn't feeding would quickly make another so he didn't run out.

If baby is is finishing bottle I would increase the amount.

If my ds finished the bottle at every feed, I add another oz. I would also increase if he wanted food again in less than 3 hours.

Ds is 9 weeks and is on 6oz st each feed. He’s gaining weight fine and doesn’t seem hungry. We feed him every 3-4 hours. Except at night when he sleeps (for now) for a 6 hour stretch.

I’d increase by an oz.

When they drain every or nearly every bottle. HV told me that they should be leaving some about half the time. If you're offering 2oz and she's taking 2oz and never leaving any, it's time to offer more. She may not have it every time and you will waste some, but at least you've made it in case she wants it.

If they continue to drink the whole bottle at each feed add another ounce ect

Do not go off the formula tins, each baby will drink the amount they need. And if your LO does over eat they will puke it back up anyway (hopefully not the whole feed though) it's just trial and error really

It's really common for reflux babies to only take small, frequent feeds. They rarely feed like 'normal' babies. My silent refluxer never took more than a 6oz bottle until the day she stopped having them at nearly 14 months. I fed her an ounce or two at a time for months (am not encouraging this was soul destroying!) but she always gained well and maintained the 75th centile.

OP I would try another ounce, you'll soon know if baby wants it or not! If you can get her having larger feeds you might be able to decrease the number of feeds you're having to do. I always went on the optimistic side once baby was a few weeks old and made 4oz (that's the smallest the PP machine makes). She'd normally end up having about 3 at that age, over three separate feeds half hour apart Is the reflux medicated? The proper medicine make a world of difference.

Thanks all.

I may have spoken too soon as she just had another feed and didn't want more than 50. I clearly got too excited...

She feeds every 2.5-3 hours. I've spoken to HV about increasing her feeds but she said she's actually taking more than enough for her weight.

I may just add in another ounce in next feed and see what happens.

katie she's on ranitidine, I had her dosage upped two weeks ago but already feel it may need to go up again. She's filled out another set of babygros and Im confident she's put on weight but need to get that confirmed

Yeah Ranitidine is extremely weight sensitive, we used to increase ours every fortnight or so when DD was small and gaining quickly. A word of warning for you - after six weeks or so it stopped working for us and we had to have Omeprazole suspension instead which worked a treat until the reflux went at 7.5 months. I also found that with both medicines once the bottle was two weeks old the effects started to wane, like it went off!

Just trust your instincts, babies don't follow the book generally and reflux babies basically vomit all over the book! If little and often works for you, stick with it. Whatever makes your life easier at this stage!

Thanks so much, the GP did say the last bottle will last me two weeks but by that point we would know if it was working. I was told for omprazole we would need a paed referral, is that not the case?

We had to go to hospital and see a paediatrician for the Omeprazole yes. We actually got the ranitidine from them too because our GP was awful and told me 'thats just how your baby eats' and 'maybe the problem is you stressing so much' So in the end I made a complaint to the practice manager and got a referral to hospital where DD was quickly diagnosed and treated. Took until she was 16 weeks though.

Once we'd had the initial prescriptions and our GP received the paperwork from the hospital they could put it on repeat for me though (good job because I had a new bottle every ten days and the pharmacy at our hospital takes hours). It was a special order too so had to be ordered 48 hours in advance. The tablet version (you dissolve a tablet in a syringe of water and administer it) of Omeprazole is called Losec Mups and that's much cheaper and easier to get hold of. We couldn't give that to DD so we had to have the liquid Omeprazole - works much quicker, can be put into the formula (I used to make 5/6oz, tip 2oz in another bottle, add the medicine to that and then give the rest of the feed after) but it is really expensive so they don't like prescribing it.

Our HV said you need to feed on demand so a baby’s bottle should never be drained as that means you are controlling how much they have oppose to them deciding how much milk they want.

Thanks so much katie. Going to see GP asap.

I've upped the amount in her bottle and while she was throwing up a lot yday, today she wasn't so much. Let's see

Just a quick update/question here
LO just took 4.5 ounces in one go...we didn't force her, she wanted it. Most she's done before is 2.5 ounces. It's obviously great if she wants to take more!
So I wanted to ask, is that normal? To take I. So much more milk, seemingly overnight?