Just need help.

[CJ98]

My 9 week old baby is drinking 5 ounce every 2.5-3.5 hours (everyday is different) my health visitor is telling me I’m over feeding my baby whereas everyone else is telling me that not only should she be on more than 5 ounce she should be going 4-5 hours between feeds.
I feel like I’m at my wits end not knowing who to listen to, I feel like I’m stuck between upping her milk and being accused of still over feeding my baby or I continue doing what I’m doing and fear that I’m under feeding her.
As a first time mum I’m feeling really overwhelmed by everything and feel like I’m doing a rubbish job as a first time mum I really didn’t realise how hard being a parent was. I honestly feel like I’m struggling 🤦🏼‍♀️😭

Listen to your baby. If she’s clearly hungry, feed her.

you can’t over feed a 9week old!!!

What @SouthLondonMum22 said. Don’t forget that for breastfed babies you can’t measure volume of what they’re having at all, so I would go with your gut. If babies are hungry they will let you know. All babies are different and you know yours best. x

Feed your baby as much as it wants. You know your baby better than anyone else x

What's her weight gain like? If she's following her line in maintaining the percentile she started at then all is fine. Does she seem happy in herself? I breastfed my baby and felt like sometimes it would be every half an hour 🫠. Babies are good at taking in exactly the amount they need 😇.

She shouldn’t be going 4 or 5 hours between feeds. That advice is very old and is based on how often chicks feed and your baby isn’t a chick.

Feed her on demand, so feed when she shows hunger cues so she should always have some left in bottles because she has decided to stop. If she drinks all the bottle you need to make her some more milk for that feed.

Is she on the same centile she was born on?

Babies can over feed, but it’s rare and is often a sign of reflux.

I’ve been told she’s put on too much weight but she’s only been weighed twice since birth so there’s been a massive jump in her weight. Everyday is different some days she’s fine with having 5 ounce of milk every 3 hours other days she’s cranky and not herself so feel like we are feeding her every 2 hours.

She drinks all of the 5 ounce bottles, & I haven’t yet tried her with upping her milk. She’s definitely not on the same centile as she was born which was why my health visitor has told me I’m over feeding her but she told me that if after the 5 ounce bottle my baby shows signs of being hungry I have to give her a 2 ounce top up but that isn’t enough as she’s still hungry: I feel so confused by what I’m supposed to be doing

Just feed on demand. She might be still finding her correct centile. Personally I’d always offer milk at least every 3 hours during the day as they ultimately need to be taking all their calories during the day if they are going to sleep through the night (some still might not sleep through the night obviously as they can wake for other reasons).

What centile was she born on and what is centile is she on now?

She would be sick if it was too much for her.

Ignore the "this is how much the 9 weeks old should take" advice. My daughter always took twice as much than google or the health visitor suggested.

She was born 25 percentile, and in a few weeks, she jumped to 75. She was a chubby, healthy, happy baby; she is two and half now and definitely lost that baby chubbiness.

I don't think "overfeeding"can exist until they are on solids.

I believe my little one was born on the 50th & is now currently on the 91/96 (I can’t remember which one) I’ve been told she’s a chunky baby as she gained like 6lb from the day she was born to the day of her 7 week check up. All I keep being told is aslong as she’s happy I’m not actually doing anything wrong.

I believe she was born on the 50th & jumped to the 91/96 at her 7 week check up. I just keep being told different things by people but she gained about 6lb from the day she was born to her 7 week check up.

We have managed to get to a point where she feeds every 3 hours during the day and then on a night she’s able to go a little bit longer but we just feed whenever she wakes up and demands a bottle.

If your baby was breastfed, no-one would have any idea how much they were drinking!

Try to tune out all this 'advice' and focus on your baby and whether they are content (smile, nod and then do what you want). Babies drink varying amounts and do not follow a timetable. New babies sometimes feed on the hour, every hour for the entire day and night (growth spurt!) and then the next day go for several hours between feeds. Watch your baby and try to learn their hunger cues. This could be drooling, sucking their hands, rooting, crying etc etc.

After a while you'll be able to tell the difference between this and the way they cry when they are tired or uncomfortable or whatever. Offer them what you think is the right amount. If you give them too much they will be sick. If you give them not enough they will still be looking for more.

Get them weighed a few more times and make sure they are following a centile line. You can only tell what line they are following once they regain their birth weight and then have had some more time to settle. They may go up or down a few centiles but should eventually stick to a line.

Midwives and health visitors have to panic when the centile changes dramatically- it's their rules. Just no one told the babies the rules 😂

I don't go 4 hours without a drink. Everyone is different and all babies are different. Follow your baby and don't listen to crappy outdated advice.

Not all babies are born on the 'right' centile for them due to things like variations in how well the placenta works and various things. Don't worry. HV sounds like she rolled out of 1972.

Just feed on demand. You'll know when she's had enough.

If she's draining 5oz bottles you need to make up larger feeds - start with an ounce more and see if she still finishes it all, then keep going up by an ounce until there's some left at the end of a feed. Then you'll know she's getting enough. Don't get me started on Health Visitors. You're doing great!

Just feed the baby.. I was in hospital with my baby for a week and he was put on a ‘diet’ - monitoring for over feeding - I carried on feeding him in secret. He was a tiny baby at the time with a urinary infection. I wasn’t having any of it!!