are my 6 mo drinking enough?

Since we started cereal (2x per day now) the babes seem to drink less milk and since they really can't take more than 5-6 oz in a bottle without throwing up I wonder if they are drinking enough liquid.

right now they are taking about 23 oz in bottles (16-18oz is EBM) and 3-4 oz mixed in the cereal. How much are other 6 month olds drinking?

 

Mine have been taking 6 ounce bottles, 4 - 5 times a day for what seems like forever!

I don't know if babies who are taking EBM take the same amount as babies who are FF though.

 

QUOTE(1stTimeMom26 @ Oct 6 2008, 06:29 PM) [snapback]1014652[/snapback]
Since we started cereal (2x per day now) the babes seem to drink less milk and since they really can't take more than 5-6 oz in a bottle without throwing up I wonder if they are drinking enough liquid.

right now they are taking about 23 oz in bottles (16-18oz is EBM) and 3-4 oz mixed in the cereal. How much are other 6 month olds drinking?


At six months my girls drank about 28 ounces of breast milk and had another ounce mixed into cereal. Sounds like you're pretty close to what we were doing. It does sound, though, like your babies might be getting a lot of cereal. Is there a reason why you're doing it twice a day? Perhaps you could replace one of the cereal meals with a fruit or veggie? That wouldn't fill them up as much and would expose them to different tastes and textures.

 

My girls are FF and take either 4 or 5 oz. 6 times a day. (They can't have solid foods at this time b/c of pooping issues and tears in their rectums.)

I think just feeding cereal is fine at this age though. I am never one to rush with the solids.

 

My sheet from the Peds office says 24-40 ounces from 4-6 months. But if they are gaining and growing appropriately, I would say the intake is fine. If you are concerned you can always run it by the nurse and see what she or he says about it. Or you can drop a solids feeding and see if that increases the amount of EBM they take.

 

My guys were taking about 32 oz a day at that time, but we were just starting solids at 6mo. A little late to the party, or right on track depending on your point of view. When we started solids the pedi said try to keep them at about 24oz. If they are drinking significantly more try to up the solids. If they go below 24 cut back on the solids a little. So, sounds like they are right where they should be!

FWIW... After months of stressing I am now firmly in the as long as they are gaining weight don't worry about it camp. My guys have gone through phases where they eat like piranha, or they drink a little and are done. In the end for the most part I think it all works out. One weighs 20lbs at 6mo. And the other despite horrible reflux weighs 17. So even when they IMO eat lousy they are still right on their curve so I try not worry about.

FYI.. the pedi also said between 6 & 9mo they start cutting back their overall intake.

 

Mine stopped drinking as much when we started solids also. I had to give their bottle first or they wouldn't drink it at all, and the second feeding (2.5 hours after solids) usually didn't go so well either. It took them about a month to start drinking better again, and then only I added a second meal... and it's after their last bottle so they still drink their formula. Then only did they start STTN again. They usually get 25oz a day or so, which is still less than before as they don't have night feedings anymore, but they were always small eaters and rarely had over 30oz.

 

My DD took 4 oz bottles FOREVER! She still does.. 4 oz every 4 hours.

 

We are now at 7-8 ounces 4 times a day. So 28 to 32 ounces. My boys haven't really taken to solids yet though.

 

QUOTE(idril @ Oct 6 2008, 08:39 PM) [snapback]1014673[/snapback]
It does sound, though, like your babies might be getting a lot of cereal. Is there a reason why you're doing it twice a day? Perhaps you could replace one of the cereal meals with a fruit or veggie? That wouldn't fill them up as much and would expose them to different tastes and textures.


we were waiting until they hit 6 months ( 5 corrected ) to start with other foods besides rice cereal so we just started barley, then oatmeal, and then on to banana's and sweet potatoes I'm really looking forward to starting foods other than cereal, they LOVE solids but we wanted to wait until they were older b/c I was worried about the risk of allergies (i have BAD allergies). this should be a fun month!

 

Mine are about 7 months adjusted. They eat solids twice a day. The doctor told us yesterday that they need 30 oz. of food a day - that includes formula and solid food. They were getting only EBM until they were 7.5 months old and took at least 30 ounces a day even with solids. Since switching to formula I am lucky to get 20-24 ounces a day into them. I don't know if they decreased intake because of the switch to formula, or because they started eating more solids, or what. I find the whole feeding thing to be stressful. :unsure: