How many oz of formula per day? 4 month old

[FelineFeather]

My baby has been ebf up until a week ago. We've had to put him on hypoallergenic formula due to allergies and it tastes disgusting. Poor thing hates it. Because of this I'm not sure I can take his lead when it comes to volume because he'd drink next up nothing.

The tin says 30oz is recommended for 3-4 months. The NHS website says 150-200mls per kilo, which sounds outrageous because he'd be having 50 oz a day! I've also read that 32 oz is the ceiling for all babies. My head is spinning. How much should a 4 month old have!?

In the last week he's averaged about 25oz which seems far too little. He had one day of 33oz and one day of just 23. Is this normal? I wish I could just let myself be lead by him, but he'll starve if I don't encourage him to drink more. Help!

my almost 4 month old has between 31 - 35oz a day.

My almost 6 month old has 28 - 30oz per day. When she was 4 months she had around 24 and has always piled the weight on.

Did you want to FF, or would you prefer to continue to ebf? Are you able to go dairy-free yourself so you can continue?

There isn't a ceiling of 32oz
There is no correct amount to give as you're supposed to feed to their appetite and all babies will be different.

Don't force feed or you could end up triggering a bottle aversion.

@Tygertiger I was dairy and soy free for 3.5 months and wheat and egg free for a month. The dairy had a big impact but sadly we just can't work out what else is affecting him.

My 14 week old has about 25oz per day. He's growing well. Also on hypoallergenic formula

@FelineFeather I did dairy, soya, egg and wheat free for 6 months with my first as we figured it out too late and he wouldn't take the hypoallergenic formula (from 9 months). It's an absolute slog. Ignore the 'you should just keep breastfeeding' comments, unless they've done multiple exclusions themselves they don't understand it. Good luck with the formula

And don't stress too much. Get what you can in him for now, they seem reasonable amounts that he's taking. He won't let himself starve. And very soon you'll be able to add the formula to porridge etc and get it into him through food too. I got lots of great recipes to make using formula from my son's dietitian so maybe look into recipes that use formula for when you wean

If that was addressed at me, please reflect that I didn’t say “you should just keep breastfeeding” AT ALL. I was asking because the OP is clearly really struggling and sometimes HCPs jump straight to suggesting dairy-free formula (which we know a lot of babies really don’t like) without supporting approaches to eliminate food in Mum’s diet first. Clearly that’s not the case as the OP has clarified, but it wouldn’t be the first time posters have had poor advice about going straight to formula without trying elimination first. So please be a bit less judgy yourself as I wasn’t being judgy at all 🙄

OP, it sounds incredibly stressful, I’m sorry. Have you got a supportive HV who could advise you? Is he still gaining weight?

I’ve literally just got back from the HV drop in because my almost 4 month old is drinking no more than 3oz every 3 hours….if that…has done for 7 days now….turns out he has put on 2lb oz in 2 weeks so I’ve relaxed a bit now. She had a look and he’s in early stages of teething and he’s going through a nosy phase where he’s too busy to eat. He’s only having about 20oz a day at the moment but before that was on about 32-45 a day. I just think it’s a bit of a phase.

mines switched to lactose free milk, I don’t think it’s the taste for him he’s just having a moment. If your LO is happy and content maybe just leave it for a week or so and see if his appetite changes perhaps.

I was ebf until 5 months. Sore subject as ebf my nearly 2yr old until 12 months.
Anyway, baby is now 6 months. She's having around 18-20oz of formula and 4oz pumped breastmilk. Feeds directly from me 1ce or 2ce in the night.

So, around 22-26ish oz total from 5 months to 6 months. With that amount she increased back up from 9th to 25th centile and than sat on that curve nicely.

@Tygertiger oh god no sorry. I badly worded it. I meant more the inevitable comments that come on these threads when people start criticising. I've been there myself and told I was selfish etc. For what its worth, I think yours is good advice particularly as lots of gps don't think you can continue to breastfeed. I was intending to show support to the OP not to offend anyone who had already posted. Apologies

My two are drinking an average of 30oz a day and are 4 months. Some days a bit less some days a bit more. As long as theyre feeding, plenty of wet/dirty nappies i wouldnt worry. Theyll let you know when theyre hungry x

Thank you so much everyone. Appreciate all the replies. I got him weighed today and he's jumped from the 50th to the 75th centile! We haven't had him weighed in about 3 weeks though so I'm not sure if he put most of that on before the switch to formula... Although I know that's illogical!

Made a plan with the HV to let him eat as much or as little as he wants this week, then weigh him again next Friday. He's had about 26.5 Oz today, majority of that being a nice big 7oz bedtime feed. Hope he sleeps well! He was up for a feed every hour when breastfed!

Hi. I'm a maternity nurse and have used the above cmpa mills a lot

A top paed who I did my reflux and cmpa training under - who works at Portland - suggests putting a few drops of vanilla extract into the milk while baby gets used to the taste and then to reduce slowly

The milks are rank and why they don't flavour them is beyond me

Rough guide is 2.5oz per lb of body weight or 150ml per kilo of body weight

Divide how many feeds a day for rough guide of how much milk

Native Vanilla - Pure Vanilla Extract – 118ml (4 oz) - Made from Premium Vanilla Bean Pods – for Chefs and Home Cooking, Baking, and Dessert Making amzn.eu/d/gpzZ4AO

My daughter was put on aptimil pepti 1 after a CMPA diagnosis at 4 months old. The guidelines on the tub would say 30oz per day but she'd rarely drink more than 24oz-26 maybe on a good day. She always maintained 50th percentile for weight so try not to worry about it unless they're losing weight. She's 8months old & exactly the same now, other babies around us drink 7/8 oz per bottle and we're lucky if she'll take 5 or 6 at a time. Avoid trying to pressure her into feeding as we discovered this started to cause a feeding aversion for our daughter. Just to put your mind at ease, She's absolutely thriving, crawling/standing/cruising before the 'usual' milestone ages and an absolute bundle of joy. Some babies just drink less!

Hope you don’t mind me jumping on after a few weeks! Just wanted to know how your LO is and if their appetite increased at all?

My DS is 4 months. Had been on lactose free for a month and 4 days ago started aptamil pepti 1 and I’m lucky if I’ve gotten above 25oz into him the last 3 weeks! Some days it’s under 20oz

He is teething and had vaccinations so hoping it’s just that, also super nosy in the day which isn’t helping, he takes a bottle in the night absolutely lovely but the daytimes are a nightmare. Hoping it’s just a phase he’s in.