How much should babies be eating?

Hello,
My girls will turn 3 months tomorrow and are only eating 2 ounces every 2 hours. Sometimes they will take 3 ounces and go 3 hours between feedings. They seem satisfied but since I have never formula fed any of my children I am not sure if this is normal for a 3 month old 8 pound baby? Is there a chart out there somewhere that shows how many ounces a day they should be taking in?

 

QUOTE(mamammbs2 @ May 23 2009, 07:26 PM) [snapback]1325707[/snapback]
Hello,
My girls will turn 3 months tomorrow and are only eating 2 ounces every 2 hours. Sometimes they will take 3 ounces and go 3 hours between feedings. They seem satisfied but since I have never formula fed any of my children I am not sure if this is normal for a 3 month old 8 pound baby? Is there a chart out there somewhere that shows how many ounces a day they should be taking in?


Look in the First year handbook sticky at the top of this page and scroll down to "feeding" there is a guide listed that should give you a rough idea. HTH

 

My pediatrician gave me this advice about how much formula fed babies should be eating, divide their weight in half and that is how many ounces they should be eating. She also said but it depends on the baby, they will only eat what they are hungry for. Mine never took as much, I don't remember how many ounces they were eating at 3 months, I want to say between 3-4 ounces at each feeding.

 

I had heard it should be ~2.5 ounces per pound of body weight. So 10 lb baby = 22.5 ounces/day. Not sure if this is accurate or not.

DD is doing 2.5-6 oz per feed getting about 24 oz/day. She's almost 10 lbs and is 6 weeks.

 

I have heard you take the baby's weight and times it by 2.5- that is how many ounces they need in a 24 hour period. For instance, if a baby weighs 13lbs, then it needs 32-34 ounces per day.

It is rather odd for your babies, at three months, to still be eating every 2-3 hours. I only fed my 36 weekers every 3 hours when they were first born. By 4 weeks old they were easily able to go 4 hours inbetween feedings. I think you may be letting them "snack". By allowing them to eat small, frequent meals their metablolisims are racing and making them even hungrier, even faster. This makes it hard for them to put weight on (because the metabloism is burning calories so quickly) and hard for you to have a life! I don't know how you're keeping up with that routine! I don't know if you're inquiring about what their sizes/weights should be, but what were they born at? Because 8lbs is exceptionally small for a 3 month old baby, unless they were rather premature. According to the online percentile chart, that would put them below the 5th percentile. Mine were born at 5lb12oz and 6lb5oz and by 3 months were 14lbs a piece.

I would encourage you to make them take larger feedings more spaced apart. At three months mine were able to take 6oz per feeding and feed every 4 hours. I'm not saying we have identical circumstances, but every 2 hours is insane...for you LOL. It may also help them gain weight faster...if that is an issue, I coulen't really tell from your question if you're concerned with that or not. Anywho, good luck

 

QUOTE
It is rather odd for your babies, at three months, to still be eating every 2-3 hours. I only fed my 36 weekers every 3 hours when they were first born. By 4 weeks old they were easily able to go 4 hours inbetween feedings. I think you may be letting them "snack". By allowing them to eat small, frequent meals their metablolisims are racing and making them even hungrier, even faster. This makes it hard for them to put weight on (because the metabloism is burning calories so quickly) and hard for you to have a life! I don't know how you're keeping up with that routine! I don't know if you're inquiring about what their sizes/weights should be, but what were they born at? Because 8lbs is exceptionally small for a 3 month old baby, unless they were rather premature. According to the online percentile chart, that would put them below the 5th percentile. Mine were born at 5lb12oz and 6lb5oz and by 3 months were 14lbs a piece.


In response to this....my babies were 4 lbs when they were born at 36 weeks and have doubled their weight. I am not concerned nor is their pediatrician. They are below the 5th percentile however, all but one of my other children were....and they were all full term. Neither myself or my husband are big people. My ped told us that if I was put on a scale of adults my age I would be less than the 5th percentile also. Someone has to be in that percenti, not everyone can be in the 90th percentile. My kids will just not likely to be big people. I also have taken a number of child development classes in college to acheive my bachelors degree and do remember learning that parents also put too much faith in those charts. What is most important is not what percentile your child is in but if the child stays consistent in their growing....such as they should double their weight by x amount of time and plateau at certain times. Just like adults some children are always going to be bigger and some smaller.

So I guess my concern does not lie in weather they are growing consistently or enough but rather the amount they are eating because I have never formula fed before. As you know with breast milk, unless you are pumping (which I never did) you do not see how much they are getting so this is a little new to me and I didn't know if they were eating a normal amount or not.

As far as the every 2 hours I should have clarified a little more. During the day it is every 2-3 hours and at night they tend to take 3 ounces and go 4-5 hour stretches. It is all temporary and doable for a short time so I am not too rattled by their schedule.

 

I have heard the 2.5 x baby's weight also, as a rule of thumb. However, my twins never took in as much as they were 'supposed to' due to reflux.

QUOTE
It is rather odd for your babies, at three months, to still be eating every 2-3 hours.


:huh: Really? My older 3 could go 4 hours earlier, but my twins were on a 3 hour schedule until they were 8 months old. I don't find it odd at all for a 3 month old to be on a 2-3 hour schedule.

To the OP, I think if they are gaining properly, the amount they are eating per feeding is fine. If they are draining those bottles with no problem, bump it up an oz.

 

I say you go with what they want. If they drain a 2-3 oz bottle and then fuss, give them more. Maybe try a 4 oz bottle for a day or two and see, if they consistently leave that extra oz behind, go back to 3 oz again.

My twins still eat every 3 hours or so, actually it's just the last week that they've eaten every 3-4 hours, it's been every 2-3 hours from birth. And my babes are around 14 lbs now. If yours are only 8 lbs then they will likely continue the 2-3 hour schedule until they are a bit bigger.

I really go by my babies cues rather than what they "should" be getting. They'll usually let you know if they are hungry unless there are other underlying medical issues!

 

QUOTE(mamammbs2 @ May 23 2009, 04:45 PM) [snapback]1325917[/snapback]
In response to this....my babies were 4 lbs when they were born at 36 weeks and have doubled their weight. I am not concerned nor is their pediatrician. They are below the 5th percentile however, all but one of my other children were....and they were all full term. Neither myself or my husband are big people. My ped told us that if I was put on a scale of adults my age I would be less than the 5th percentile also. Someone has to be in that percenti, not everyone can be in the 90th percentile. My kids will just not likely to be big people. I also have taken a number of child development classes in college to acheive my bachelors degree and do remember learning that parents also put too much faith in those charts. What is most important is not what percentile your child is in but if the child stays consistent in their growing....such as they should double their weight by x amount of time and plateau at certain times. Just like adults some children are always going to be bigger and some smaller.

So I guess my concern does not lie in weather they are growing consistently or enough but rather the amount they are eating because I have never formula fed before. As you know with breast milk, unless you are pumping (which I never did) you do not see how much they are getting so this is a little new to me and I didn't know if they were eating a normal amount or not.

As far as the every 2 hours I should have clarified a little more. During the day it is every 2-3 hours and at night they tend to take 3 ounces and go 4-5 hour stretches. It is all temporary and doable for a short time so I am not too rattled by their schedule.


Up until last week of weeks ago, my boys were eating 2-3oz every 2hrs or so....with one 6hr stretch at night. Then overnight, Rhys started taking 6oz and Owen 5oz and can go 3 hrs and almost 8hr at night, its like once they hit a certain weight, they can go longer and handle more. BTW my boys are runts ( they don't make the growth percentile charts either and pedi is not concerned) I know its a lot of work and you feel like you are always feeding somebody but it gets better and it should be soon for you!! And too your original question about ounces amount, my pedi was more concerned ( although she did ditto the 2.5x weight thing for a guideline) that they were pooping/peeing enough and that they didn't fall off the chart ever more....which they haven't.