Bottle Feeding - Do babies drink less as they get older

[CCW86]

My DD is 15 weeks old, and he used to drink around 6.5 Ozs every 4 hours, and would do so happily and relatively quickly. However for the last few days, he will have around 4ozs and then cry and refuse the bottle. Sometimes he will have more after a break or a nappy change but he doesn’t have as much as before. I don’t want to force feed him if he isn’t hungry but also don’t want to let him get hungry if I give up at 4 ozs when he stops. Anyone with any advice? I am exclusively expressing if that makes any difference

Amounts can go up and down depending if they are having a growth spurt or not. Does he still want feeding at the same intervals?

I think he does. He cries quite a lot throughout the day (he will be fed cuddled and changed and still cries sometimes ) so it’s hard to know if he is crying because he is hungry or for another reason. Sometimes we feed him a little early but it’s only around 10/mins early

Appetite really fluctuates for various reasons from teething to growth spurts. Mine 10mo baby is bottle fed from birth and has very rarely drained bottles.

As long as they are gaining weight and producing wet and dirty nappies then I wouldn't worry.

Are you using the correct test size? The teat size increases the older the baby gets. Generally there is a newborn (0 months) size, 1-2 months size, 3 month size and 6+ months size. I find that when my baby starts reducing milk it's time to go up a size - I think it's too much effort for him to get the milk out so he just gets lazy, once the teat size has been increased he downs the bottles!

Ooh, good point! I had totally forgotten about the teat size thing. Definitely worth considering.

As said, try going up a teat size! If he's struggling to feed he'll get annoyed and restless. Speaks the voice of experience 😫

He is already on the 3 month one so not sure if its that, and sometimes he will drain 4 ozs really quickly, so think it should be ok. He is gaining weight and we have wet and dirty nappies galore so I guess thats all that matters. I can't wait for him to be able to talk to me so he can tell me what is wrong. Just feel awful when he gets so upset and we don't know why