[tela]

what is your baby's age, how many ounces of EBM does your baby take by bottle, and how frequently does your baby eat?

jacob is 3 months today (). at daycare he takes 3.5 oz of EBM every 3 hours. at home i EBF - he nurses every 2-2.5 hours in the evening til bed, sleeps a 6 hour stretch, and then picks up the every 3 hour routine. at our weight check appt today, the nurse said he should be taking at least 4 oz by bottle. i disagree based on my research. BF babies eat on average 25 oz/day from 1-6 months. jacob eats 8x/day, so 3.5 oz bottles make sense. plus he's totally satisfied after eating and spits up if i try to give him any more. he's tiny (9 lbs 14 oz), so i think he likes to eat smaller amounts more frequently. what do you ladies think?

[Astrid]

I think you know him best. Breastfed babies tend to be a bit smaller than formula fed babies from everything I have read. Now, my trio had 1 bottle of formula every day b/c I just didn't produce enough to give them all their milk AND b/c they were preemies, it was imperative that I had them gain weight so we were on high cal formula. The girls are well over 50% on weight, Gabi is in the 75% actually. Ian is my small baby. Always has been but is also the one that has been nursing since he was 5 mths old.

With all that said, my kids are 14 mths old & drink about 4-8 oz in their sippies of whole milk. I just ran out of frozen milk 10 days ago so no more BM for the girls. They have their bedtime bottle while Ian nurses & take about 7 oz of a whole milk/formula mix. We want them to have the vitamins in the formula besides the fact that we have quite a few cans left of it.

[Mommy of 2]

I think you would know what he can handle and what he can't. I know Sky will spit up if she has more than 4 ozs. But nurses don't always know our babies as well as we do. I think if he is gaining and growing, then you are doing fine!!

Skyla has 4 ozs every 3.5 - 4 hours. She also is eating solids 2 or 3 times a day.

[kerian]

you know your son better than anyone else. and i agree with the 25 oz thing.
Kyla nurses at 6am
has a 4 oz bottle at 9am and again at 12pm
then nurses at 3pm and again at 6pm.

[courtneytcu98]

Elliott will be 4 months old on Tuesday and his bottles range between 4 and 8 ounces depending on how he's feeling for the day.

He nurses at between 6:30-7am, bottles at 10ish, 1ish, 4ish and then I nurse again at 6pm, 11pm and 4am.

I think that as long as he is gaining and staying the same basic percentile range on the growth charts and not falling behind, he is fine. Our healthsystem tries too much to standardize things and children just don't always follow the 'standard' way. I would try not to worry, but that is difficult when it's your baby! I had a pedi force me into supplementing early on with DS due to slow weight gain and after a few visits I switched docs and the new doc wasn't concerned with is weight at all. If your doctor is rubbing you the wrong way, don't be afraid to change. They work for us and you should be comfortable with the health advice you receive.

[KrystalB]

I agree with the other ladies and you know your baby best!
Nathan is 4.5months and still eats small amounts. Usually 3 or 4ozs per feeding (although he's a frequent eater.. he likes to eat about every 2 hours). He also spits up if we try to give him more per feeding.
As long as he's gaining, try not to worry!

[Bella_Luna]

My baby was eating only about 2oz per feeding until she was 3.5 months old. Then she started eating 3 or 4 oz per bottle, but usually 3oz. Now that she's almost 6 months old she almost always takes 4oz per feeding, sometimes 5oz and has been doing so since she was 4 months. She eats every 2-3 hours. She sleeps through the night 10-12 hours so her morning bottle is usually 5oz, sometimes 6oz.

Ava's always been on the small side too. At 5 months she weighed 14 pounds 11 oz which was the 25% for weight so a little small for her age but she's still thriving. As long as there is an upward trend in their growth, there is no need to worry. Every baby grows at a different rate, and I am a firm believer that as long as they are healthy and able to eat and tell you when they need to eat, they will not let themselves starve. If he doesn't want to take 4 oz per feeding, it would be senseless to force him to take that much as he will probably just spit it up anyways.

[::MummyToThree::]

Summer has 5oz every 3 hours for a total of about 30oz a day, I am however trying to up her to 6oz bottles because she isn't on solids and I am worried she is losing weight :S

[shortlette]

I agree with the others ... go with your mummy instinct ... I'm sure it's right.

I have got to the point where I go to appointments for the boys and agree with everything I'm told but only follow the advice I want to.