Over-feeding newborn?

[DunderBlue]

My baby is 7 weeks old now and was born underweight. He's doing well at gaining weight and my GP was really pleased with him. But today my HV came and weighed him and said she's concerned we're over-feeding him. He's only gained 3oz in the last 8 days so I don't think that's even a big amount. But she asked how much he feeds, he has about 4oz every 2 hours, but for his weight it's recommended he only have 10oz a day. I understand that's a lot but it's what he wants. We feed on demand. I don't understand how he can have gained so little but she thinks we're feeding him too much? Surely if it was too much he'd be showing us signs like vomiting or an upset stomach?

How heavy is he now?

Generally I'd say if he's crying or indicating for milk and you're sure there's no silent reflux, and he's not being vomitty etc then like you I'd feed him what he wants. If he pushes the bottle away, stop. If he's breastfeeding you're Def not over feeding

Is he breast fed or formula fed. It's my understanding that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby. My dc's were huge and round as exclusively bf babies and HV kept fussing about them being too fat, but gp and all the medical search said they were just fine. They are now super skinny young adults.
I was the fattest (exclusively breastfed) baby ever and grew into a skinny child and skinny adult.

Some babies eat more. My youngest is like that. I did end up giving him a dummy as I was getting concerned he was eating for comfort rather than hunger (bottle fed baby). But I'd say so long as his weight in in the normal range for his age, there's no need to change anything.
(My son is really big for his age, but proportionate in height and weight, and his eating has tapered off naturally so I wouldn't worry).

You cant over feed a FF baby either. They just come off the bottle like they come off the boob. Have you ever tried to feed a baby that doesnt want to be fed? Honestly, sometimes I think people think FF babies are having bottles rammed in their mouths.

My baby had a low birth weight (3lb 9oz) and was gaining 12oz a week in the early days and nobody was ever concerned - just said she was catching up. I wouldn’t worry, if he’s not bringing up much milk (and doesn’t have reflux) then you’re not overfeeding.

Ignore her. Sorry to be blunt but an awful lot of health visitors are shit, and have parents worrying over nothing. My little girl is 4 weeks and she put on 6oz by the first time she was weighed at home. My HV didn't raise any concerns and didn't even weigh her at the next visit (have me the option bit she was sound asleep and I didn't want to distirb her).

Are you sure he’s only supposed to have 10oz per day ? That sounds very little.

I think the HV has made a mistake calculating how much milk he needs - 10 oz a day is tiny!

The NHS suggests 150-200mls per kg of body weight each day, so an average 7lb baby needs 525-700ml/19-25oz daily.

If he's eating every four hours that's 4oz bottles (it's very normal for newborns to want to feed smaller amounts more frequently though)

Also, standard weight gain at this age would usually be 5-7oz per week, so the amount he's put on is not saying over fed. Some babies can do almost a pound a week around the first month!!

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/formula-milk-questions/

Are you paced feeding to make sure he is not taking too much at each feed?

@DunderBlue how big was he born and how big is he now?

10oz would suggest he's 4-5lb now? Otherwise she's miscalculated. It should be 2-2.5oz per lb as a baseline buy some babies are hungry. My twins never ate just what they were meant to

She sounds bonkers tbh. If your baby is hungry you need to feed them. And if he's barely put on any weight then you're obviously not overfeeding him.

Where did she get 10oz from? Yiur baby would be about 4lb in weight to calculate that as a daily amount. What weight is your baby?

My little boy is 3 weeks old today. The hv was out this week and he gained 11oz in a week. I wondered was i overfeeding him? He is bothered with constipation...could he be eating too much? He takes between 90mls and 110mls at each feed...usually every 3 hours or so? He weighs 8lb 5oz....what should i be giving him? HV said to give a dummy if unsettled and not due food? Any advice on the feeding or constipation? Thank you.

I thought you were supposed to feed on demand and your baby sounds like he is thriving. Surely they all put on weight at different rates - not every baby will feed and put on weight according to a chart. I’d carry on as you are. As soon as you try to control the feeds, won’t the baby get upset?
My firstborn breastfed on demand and she fed a lot and was enormous. My HV never said there was anything wrong. She was SO chubby (and cute) everyone commented on it. I never restricted her feeds. Now she is a slim healthy nine year old. I know that’s just anecdotal but I really can’t see the point in restricting milk if a baby is taking it in well when they are still as new as your baby is. Maybe when he’s a few months old, ok maybe it can be looked at. But he’s only seven weeks.

You can't put a newborn baby on a diet so if they're hungry then you feed them.

Thank you... I thought it was feed on demand too but she thought it was a lot for 3 week old...but if he is hungry and has fists in mouth surely that baby needs fed? I just don't want to be compounding his constipation and colic problem if im overfeeding?! Also i would prefer not to give dummy all the time but i have been as scared of overfeeding! Help...im a ftm so new to this. He just seems to be unsettled and cry quite a bit. Thank you.

As awful as this sounds: they’re mainly there to identify issues with development and family setup.

I’ve had shit advice for feeding from all of them I’ve spoken to. J will not be asking them anything feeding related next time.

‘Keep breast feeding’ being trotted out for months because ‘trace amounts of dairy won’t be affecting him’.. blah blah, switched to hydrolysed formula and everything cleared up!

It doesn’t sound like your baby is over fed from what you’ve said in the OP.

Thank you. I hope I'm not overfeeding him as i don't want to annoy his already upset tummy with constipation. Equally I don't want to starve him either!!