GP says five week old formula fed baby is being overfed

[Mybaby2027]

I really need some advice as my Husband and I have left the GP feeling confused. Baby girl is 5 weeks old, taking between 100-120ml of Aptamil every 2 hours, so 4-4.5oz. If we are out in the car or pram she will go longer. Once each night she goes 3 hours usually between 3-5am kind of time, I am guessing she must get into a deep sleep around then.

I had to take her to see the doctor yesterday about something and they came to the conclusion that she is big for her age and is overfed. She got out her calculator and calculated the amount of formula she should be having for her weight, which is 5.255kg. She said 65ml every 2 hours, and that I am way over feeding her. I have checked with my friends and family who all say their babies were on over 4oz at 5 weeks old and weighed the same roughly. The GP told me I must reduce her milk down to 65ml every 2 hours, she said she will scream, cry and hate you for it but you have to do it.

I obviously didn’t listen and I reduced it down a little bit, so yesterday after we got home she was having 90ml. She was crying and crying with her hands in her mouth constantly licking and sucking them. Today I have given in and put it back up to 120ml. Some of the bottles she’s sucked dry completely, some she only takes about 100ml. I am instead going to slowly try to extend the 2 hours and see if we can get her to go a bit longer instead, but keep offering her 120ml. My Mum is saying the advice is ridiculous and to feed the baby when she shows hunger signs and to let her have whatever amount I feel she needs right now, which is between 100-120ml.

The GP said she is greedy and is only drinking it because it is there… this logic makes no sense because when I make her up a 90ml bottle she is not satisfied at all… she is not burping a lot which is an issue we have been focusing on. We have been getting into all sorts of positions to get her to burp and I have noticed a big improvement after trying some tips my family gave me. But still… she wants the higher amount of formula so the theory about her being in discomfort because of wind and trying to sooth herself with the milk can’t be true in her case either.

She was 8.2 pounds at birth, now she is 11.5 pounds or 5.255kg. I pointed out that I have been asking every health professional since the day she was born that we have come into contact with, how much to feed? None would give me an answer and just said every baby is different and to follow their cues, like hands in mouth etc. but suddenly this lady comes out with a calculated answer. I don’t know what calculation she is using and where it is from or if recommended. She didn’t tell me which website she was referencing this info from. I don’t know what to believe.

My son was on that amount 5x a day at 8wks but we switched 2x from normal to hungry baby (which did not agree with him) to comfort and he then went 4hrs between feeds. I also gave him a few breaks in between to wind him otherwise he would gulp the the lot and throw up. Maybe try the breaks in between otherwise you keep doing what you feel is right for your baby x

I was always told to feed on demand for all my 4 and if baby still seemed hungry they recommed SMA formula for hungry babies. Ignore the gp and get advice from health visitor.

If her birth weight was about 3.7kg and she’s currently 5.2kg then I’d say she’s jumped a centile but still within a typical pattern of growth.

First thing when growth is concerning in either direction is to observe a bottle feed
she should have a deep asymmetrical latch on the bottle (with a mam, her lower lip should touch the plastic collar)
Feeding should be paced well
she shouldn’t sound like she’s gulping down a pint but sipping a cup of tea
no clicking, minimal milk dribble
feeds should take around 5 mins an oz/30mls

often simply changing bottle feeding technique if any of the above aren’t true will set things back on track (if they’re even off track!)

sometimes high growth in bottle fed babies can be caused by oral disfunction, they cannot raise the posterior tongue to block off the flow and unless bottles are carefully paced, its drink or drown. Some babies manage this and drink! They grow excessively well but often feed often , are a bit more unsettled etc
some babies drown and they’re the ones who tend to present and get sent round a reflux circle if someone doesn’t watch a feed.

We don’t limit quantities we correct the dysfunction and the quantities limit themselves.

I was told the same at a similar age by paediatrics. He was always big, didn't lose any weight between birth and his 3 day weight check (actually put on) and has always been in clothes double his age, so at 3 months he was im 6 months, at 3 years he was in 6 years etc. He is now a slim 7 year old who is 4ft 11 with size 5 feet 🤯 Makes sense now that he wasn't following the "recommended" quantities. If she's maintaining her 91st centile I wouldn't be too concerned.

Feed on demand and until she’s done. If she was a breastfed baby nobody would know!

My friend's GP told her she was overfeeding her baby, and that it sometimes happens with formula fed babies. My friend was breastfeeding, baby had never had formula. GP just shrugged. Obvs lost for words.

It's much, much easier to over-feed a bottle fed baby than a breast fed baby - lots of info on that online so I won't repeat here. But I think some previous posters have implied that because breastfed babies have however much they want you can apply the same logic to bottle feeding - but it's not that simple. Definitely speak with your HV if you've been left confused OP. Hang in there, these early weeks are tough.

Some GPs are useless, it’s a fact of life. I work in Primary Care and am a mid life woman with a chronic illness, so I have been let down and medically gaslit myself. We have just battled for 15 years - her whole life - to get my daughter a diagnosis which is directly related to the operation she had at a day old. She has had symptoms her entire life and yet not one of the myriad of GPs, paediatricians or specialists connected the dots. It was not until I literally provided the evidence and waved it in front of them that the specialist at an entirely new hospital said, ‘Yes, I agree, I think you’re right. Let’s start her on some medication’.

So do not be fooled into thinking that every clinician in the NHS is knowledgeable and infallible. Especially not General Practitioners.

OP is doing the best for her baby and knows “the patient” much better than the GP. Using prejudiced language like “greedy” for a bloody 5 week old is out of line and actually unprofessional.

This is so true and very refreshing to read on Mumsnet. HVs normally get a right old bashing, with posters being advised to ignore them and go and see the GP.

I’ve just seen this @Mybaby2027 and I think you’ve had really crappy help and support regarding feeding from the very beginning. The hospital pretty much scuppered your chances of breastfeeding and I’m really sorry this has continued with similarly unhelpful commentary from this GP. She should’ve been tube fed with donor milk or your expressed colostrum, and then encouraged to breastfeed without the immediate mixed feeding with formula.

Please look up paced feeding, and switch to the slowest flow teats, give her breaks in feeds, and cuddle and held her lots between feeds so she’s getting plenty of contact and skin to skin.

Op are you and dp tall? She might also be a bigger baby who is finally catching up after a difficult birth. You sound like a very thoughtful and lovely mum.

My family are tall but Husbands aren’t. We were so shocked she came out at over 8lbs, as I was being told by people my bump wasn’t that big. 🥰

Id go with your gut seemd like she’s a bigger baby

I would ask your health visitor or community midwife. Some G.Ps are absolutely hopeless when dealing with babies

This 1000000%

It's up to 3 hours between feeds not every 3 hours.
You can't overfeed a baby, you just can't. They will take what they need, they are very good at pacing themselves.
Ds was formula fed and had more than the recommended amount, he was also 75th centile so I gathered he needed more. He was a bomper with chubby fat rolls, but also tall.
He is now at 6 Yrs old tall and lean and one of the skinniest in his class, it didn't do him any harm.
My Dd of 6 months is fully breastfed and exactly the same appetite wise, feeding every 2hrs and if I give expressed milk will take 180ml every 2 hrs easy on top of food.. 65th centile.
I'd much rather a well fed chonky baby than a hungry underfed one.
End of the day you are your baby's advocate.. Go with your gut, if they are draining bottles give a bottle.
Fwiw my hv said 5 years ago when I questioned why my ds was having more than the tin, "you can't overfeed a baby on milk, give as much as he needs."

This isn't true, you can overfeed a baby, especially if bottle feeding. I am not saying that you are overfeeding your baby OP but there is a lot of false information and anecdotes on this thread. Please do seek advice from your HV.

You can’t compare breastfed babies and formula babies. It is absolutely possible to overfeed a formula baby. The saying is about breastfed babies. Your baby is used to an amount but I’d recommend trying to stretch it out a bit.

So sorry you are worried, babies arent greedy they just need milk, shes only 5 weeks you can't starve her or put her on this stupid GPs diet, if shes fussing and sucking her hands shes hungry. Carry on doing what you feel is right shes your baby and you know her best.

If she had jumped up the centiles then she might be having too much milk but she’s following the centile she was born on. Your GP is ill informed.

I was told i was overfeeding my son. I was also told he wasnt gaining enough weight. Couldn't win 🤷🏻‍♀️ i ignored them and kept doing what I was doing. He's now a perfectly healthy 50th centile 3 year old. We did always make sure we pace fed (keeping the bottle so that half the teet has milk in rather than tipping it all the way up, to make sure he had to actually suck it to get the milk out and wasnt guzzling too fast) but we fed on demand which was often more frequently than they said he should but i wasnt about to leave him crying when I knew he was hungry!

I was going to say this- if you’d have said baby is bf - then what would the GP say?!

Feed your baby if she is hungry, loads of babies I’ve known have been a good size and it soon drops off at weaning or when they are mobile.

You know your baby best.

He’s been many years since I had babies, but your thread really upset me. I cannot understand a GP telling you to cut your baby’s milk down and let her scream and cry. It’s shocking absolutely shocking.

Just feed on demand

If baby is hungry and happy to have her milk then that’s that! My daughter was in 4oz at that age albeit it was every 4 hours and work once at night she went through a stage of every 2 hours through a growth and I couldn’t keep up. She was 7lbs 6oz at 42 weeks gestation. She gained a 1lb in her first week. She’s now 13 and is tall and slim. She has a little brother who’s 2 and he was every 2 hours for months. I remember her dad saying to me ‘she was never like this’ shock to the system 😂 my godson was every hour almost at one point. If she’s happy that’s the main thing once she moves around the weight eill even itself out

We were also told we were overfeeding and he was definitely eating an alarming amount but it’s because he was suffering from silent reflux.

I couldn’t cope with him crying and hungry and I felt so hopeless. Paced feeding helped a bit but I carried on feeding him when we was hungry because when I didn’t he would scream and scream for it and it felt so wrong to leave him hungry.

A couple of months later, he dropped multiple centiles and tunes quickly changed and we were being spoken to like we were neglecting him and not feeding him enough! This kid was drinking so much milk and putting no weight on.

It turned out he had a cows milk allergy. I won’t even go into how hard it was to get his special formula every month.

I wish I’d trusted my instincts. Half the time the professionals we saw seemed to be making things up as they want along and all gave wildly different advice.