Catnapping and feeding problems

[nicoletia]

Hi All

My little one is 4 months old next week. He was 8.26lb when he was born and lost 15% of the body weight in the first week due to what later transpired to be a severe tongue tie. He was born in April so we were advised to try to get him back to his birth weight within a week otherwise he would be referred for investigation to our local hospital which we wanted to avoid given the highest number of covid deaths around that time. I managed to regularly express and he gained beautifully but then his appetite increased and when he was weighed at his first check up, he was on the 95th centile which continued until his next weigh in at around 3 months old.

I don't know how big he is at the moment but he doesn't fit in his 3-6 month clothes and my back is killing me :). That said, I've been recording his feeds for over 2 months and he takes on average 30oz per day. The consultant who we saw for an unrelated matter told me he was gaining too fast so did the GP, however the dietician he was initially referred to assumed 150ml per kg of body weigh was fine so he should in fact be taking way more than 30oz (I suspect he's close to 19lb at the moment). I no longer express and he's on HiPP formula.

I feel disheartened because all medical practitioners I've seen so far made comments about his weight but I'm definitely not overfeeding him and he rarely wakes up for a feed in the middle of the night. Is this something I should worry about?

Thanks

Hey, no advice but following. My boy is just over 4 months and busting out of his 3-6 month clothes. He's gone above his centile line but I've always heard babies don't have an agenda/are greedy. They just eat what they need!

I think the main problem for us is that even if I try to stretch his feeds, because he's catnapping I have to feed him before each nap otherwise he won't fall sleep as he will be hungry :(

Try switching it round so you feed him when he wakes up, rather than before he falls asleep. Formula babies can be overfed, and if your HV and GP are concerned about his weight gain you should probably listen to them. Are you sure he's hungry every time, rather than just bored/grumpy/frustrated? How often is he feeding?

My HV has never seen him. She phoned me before the start of the lockdown and told me she would be available on the phone. She has not bothered checking up on us since.

I don't think my GP is concerned. It's more the comments that he makes about the little one's weight.

We follow sleep, eat, play routine. He takes on average 5oz per feed 5-6 times in 24 hours which I don't find excessive considering his current weight and wonder if he actually should be taking more, hence this post.

That doesn't sound excessive to me at all. The feeding guidelines on the back of our formula tin says for a 4 month old. 6oz feed 5 times a day.

It's about what my DS eats and he is only 10 weeks old. He was born at 9lb 7oz and has always been big/long from being in womb. 95th/97th centile.

I have the same comments from HV & GP about how big he is & how well he must be fed. How they cant imagine how a baby so big was inside me & no wonder I needed an episiotomy. Blah, blah, blah.

They aren't concerned about his health or him being fat, I just think sometimes people make comments just for something to say.

If it's any reassurance my little boy has gone from around 60th centile to 91st centile and he's only 7 weeks. He's breastfed apart from one 120ml bottle of formula a day, and they say you can't overfeed a breastfed baby so I assume it's fine. Everyone comments on it, but like a PP said I think it's just something to say - most of the comments I have had have been framed positively.