Always worried about little girls bottle feeding and if it's enough

[GirlMumxo]

So my little girl was 3 months old on the 20th of this month. She's always worried me with her eating and not having enough or being behind what she should.

She has only just started draining 4oz bottles. She was on 4oz from a month old, but would always leave like half an hour. But then she stated draining the bottle dry 2 weeks ago, so she's finally let me do a 5oz bottle and she's drinking it. Leaving the tiniest amount. She goes to bed at 8pm, wakes between 4am and 5am for a feed, then she's asleep again till 7:30am. I would say she's having 5/6 5oz bottles a day. But I'm so worried it's not enough. I'm going to have to ask my health visitor this week as I'm just worried she's behind when people say their little ones are on 6/8oz bottles at 3 months.

My little girl has always been on the 50th percentile, never lost from her birth weight, always gained. I got her weighed at 9 weeks and she was 11lb 7oz. She was born 7lb 1oz.

Also, how long do you leave between each weigh in?

Can we all tell I'm a first time mum😂

Is she plump and healthy, good colour, lots of energy, bright and alert, plenty of wet and dirty nappies?

If so, then I don't think you have anything to worry about.

@Greensleeves all of the above. Full of to much bloody energy at times😂 my friend has just worried me, she said her little one only took 5oz, never went past it but they fed her every 2 hours. My little girl would 100% not do a whole 5oz if we did every 2 hours, she's content with 3 and she never cries in hunger, she just shows her signs and it's bottle time. And her sleeping routine is so good, so do I let her sleep and wake when she wants? Or wake her for a feed? But then I know full well she'll be grumpy if I do that and probably fight sleep then

If she’s putting on weight and is content, that’s all that matters.
I worried myself silly from the minute I started bottle feeding that my baby wasn’t drinking as much as the formula tins said or other babies did. Even now at nearly 5 months old he will just about drink 5 oz (3.5-4.5 is his usual per feed every 3 hours), if he fancies it and usually that’s during the night after 4-5 hours sleep.
He is THE nosiest, alert, constantly rolling, kicking, babbling baby and always puts on weight, so I don’t worry as much anymore. They know what they want and how much they need to drink.
Weigh-in wise, I think babies aren’t supposed to get weighed any more than once a month but after 8 week checkup I think they don’t get weighed again for months! Unless there’s an issue.
my lo has cows milk protein allergy so is currently being weighed every 2 weeks for 2 months just to check he’s doing ok on the special formula and every time we’ve been he’s put on plenty even though I’m like, he barely drinks anything!! 😂

It sounds like your friends who have 3 month olds on 8oz bottles are over feeding! That's a huge amount!

Every baby is different and every baby drinks different amounts. I'd dsay as long as she is producing wet nappies and is well I wouldn't change it. I definitely wouldn't wake her in the night unless advised to do so for weight reasons. My son took big bottles of milk early on but my daughter is now almost 10m and has still never had more than 6oz at any one time.

I was the same with my little girl for the first few months, but then I noticed that she would drinks lots one day, not much the next, lots the next day, etc. Once she went 5 days without drinking much, but then downed 7oz bottles for the following week. She could drink anything from 16oz to 30oz on any given day! In other words, I think it all balances out in the end - they take what they need, as they need it.
My public health nurse said to follow her hunger cues, and only be concerned if she isn't wetting nappies or her mouth gets dry, her soft spot sunken, etc.
Sounds like your little one is doing fabulously. They don't half worry us though, eh, especially as FTMs who have no clue what's going on and nothing to compare them with :-)

DD1 never had more than 5oz in a go, and never sooner than three hour intervals. Gained weight slowly, but picked up enormously when solids were introduced and is now tall for her age.

DD1 dropped two centiles by 12 weeks due to milk refusal. She’d have around 16oz per 24 hours and that was the max. Started solids at 4mo and by 6mo she was looking much more healthy. There was talk of tube feeding at one point. However, now she’s 11mo she literally never stops eating but still firmly believes that milk is only for nighttime. Drinks tons of water though…

it is worrying but the key thing paeds said to me with DD1 was that they only start worrying if the drop two centiles/are dehydrated and/or ill, hence all the worry over DD2. GPS are IME always happy to see babies though if you’re worried.

*DD2 dropped two centiles

If you were breastfeeding you would have no idea of how much she was drinking 🤷🏽‍♀️

She's gaining weight, she has hunger cues that you follow, she's alert and has wet nappies, she's absolutely fine

Thank you so much ladies. Really needed to read all this x

Why fix what's not broken?! She sounds like a dream!