is this normal for 2 months?

both of my girls are eating like little piggies--lol. i know that there is a growth spurt between 11 and 13 weeks but are they suppose to eat more than 8 ounces at each feeding?

Aubrey will eat up to 12 ounces for every feeding and Avarey will eat up to 11 ounces. is this normal and should i give cereal to them to make up for the extra formula? they act like they are starving when they eat.

any suggestions would be very welcome!
Meshell

 

How often are they taking in that much? It really does seem like a lot! How big are they? I guess the bigger they are the more they need to eat. I was thinking you were breastfeeding, though...or is this EBM in a bottle? I'm not really good with amounts since I do both nursing and formula, but I'm really curious to see what someone else will say. If they go super long in between feedings, maybe it's okay for right now? I don't think you should give them any cereal that young, though. Nutritionally, they just don't need it. Oh, and do they spit up a lot? That would make me think it's too much.

 

they are 11lbs 1ounce and 10lbs 1 ounce from 24th of last month. they burp really well and no spitting up or throwing up unless they don't burp. they eat about every 4 to 6 hours at night and about every 3 to 5 during the day. and are formula fed

Meshell

 

QUOTE(witmuch @ Sep 6 2007, 10:30 PM) [snapback]396473[/snapback]
both of my girls are eating like little piggies--lol. i know that there is a growth spurt between 11 and 13 weeks but are they suppose to eat more than 8 ounces at each feeding?

Aubrey will eat up to 12 ounces for every feeding and Avarey will eat up to 11 ounces. is this normal and should i give cereal to them to make up for the extra formula? they act like they are starving when they eat.

any suggestions would be very welcome!
Meshell



My guys are a little younger than yours and eat quite a bit less. Both eat 4 times a day and my son takes 6 ounces and my daughter 5. The doctor felt they were gaining too fast and asked me to give them 4oz. of water per day. THEY LOVE WATER!

My guys are mostly formula fed with some EBM.

 

Wow, that does seem like a lot! Have you asked the pedi about it? Doesn't necessarily sound like a problem, though it does seem unusual. A BIG bottle feeding for my guys is 8 oz. That's where they max out & will not take any more.

I'd hold off on giving cereal, though. Solids can be really bad for babies under 4mo, and ideally you should wait until 6mo. Formula or breastmilk has the nutrition they need; at this point cereal would fill them up, but their digestive systems are too immature to really get anything out of it, and it would take away "room" from the food they really do need.

Do you keep track of how much they get over the course of a whole day? Maybe they're just making up for going so long between feedings?

 

I would talk to your pediatrician. My guys are about 14lbs and still eat a little over 4oz every 3 hours during the day and can go as long as 8 hours at night and are very average in weight. Are they acting hungary after 3 hours and are they fussing a lot after 4 or 5oz. The only reason I would say that this is a little unusual is that my girlfriend had a singleton that weighed 8lbs at birth he was born 3 weeks before my little guys and at 2 months old she asked me how much mine were eating. Mine were eating about 2.5oz at 2 months and she was feeding him 6oz. Now obviously he was a lot bigger than mine but he started getting huge really fast and I think she was getting a little concerned so she ask her pedi and he said that she was definitly over feeding him. Now he is about 17lbs and she is still only feeding him 5-6oz at a time. I would maybe try a less and wait just a little after feeding them and then if they are still acting really hungary give them more. Ask your pedi and see, maybe they are just going through a growth spurt and they need it right now.

 

Yes, at first glance this does seem like alot to me. But as long as they are not throwing it all back up I would think they are tolerating it. I have not heard of "overfeeding" a baby. I could be wrong here but when my kids are hungry I feed them and if they want more I give it to them. But that is just me.

I am surprised they will go up to 5 hours between feedings during the day. My kids even before we started introducing solids would never go more than 3.5 hours between bottles and we started cereal at 5 months. So maybe during the day you can feed them more on a 3-4 hour schedule and see if that helps regulate it. Also I would not introduce cereal to "fill" them up. They need only formula or breastmilk at this point unless there is some medical reason to introduce early. I would just follow up with your Ped about the amount and see if they have any suggestions as well.

And I must say how jealous I am of a 4-6 hour stretch at night at that age!!

Rachel

 

Hi there. It sounds like your babies are happy and healthy, but it does sounds like they're taking a lot in one sitting. At 2 months old I think my guys were taking five ounces per bottle...hard to remember. My doctor advised me that a baby shouldn't really take more than 8 oz. in one bottle, since their tummies only have some much capacity - digestive issues could result from taking in too much in one feeding. It doesn't sound like your babies have digestive issues, though. What are you using to determine how much they need? Draining the bottle? Crying when a smaller bottle is empty? Or not being able to go long on a smaller bottle?

There is a huge range in terms of what a baby can drink - one baby can take twice as much as the next sometimes. I used to take their weight and multiply it by 2.5 and divide it by the number of bottles they took in a 24 hour period. So if they were 14 lbs at 2 months (I can't remember their exact weight but they have been on the heavy side since about 6 weeks old), I'd say they needed about 35 oz. per day divided by 8 bottles, so I'd put 4-5 ounces in each bottle. Some days they took less and some days they took more, of course. I had to be careful that I was feeding them when they were actually hungry, not just fussy/bored/tired/uncomfortable. It took me a while to understand their cries and cues - I think I did overfeed a little in the early days.

If I were you I'd probably talk to your doctor and see whether it's worth trying to minimize their bottles a little. If they're taking that much now how much will they be taking at 4 months?! But, don't be too concerned. If they were breast feeding you wouldn't even know how much they were taking each time - formula feeding causes us mums to over analyze sometimes.

Congrats on your happy, healthy babies!

 

maybe it was just a growth spurt or something. Avarey took 6 ounces this morning. she slept ALL NIGHT! from 11:30 to 7 this morning. maybe all the extra she had been drinking yesterday filled her up for the long night. she also ate 4 more ounces at 10am so maybe she is going to cut back on her own. i was just letting them tell me if they were hungry. if they acted hungry i would give them more.

Aubrey however slept from 11pm to 4am and ate 8 ounces and then ate another 8ounces at 7am then fell back to sleep. she is a little porker. should i give them water instead if they seem hungry still? and when should i have started giving them water? i never heard of that until this time around. i always fed formula until they started eating solids.

thanks for you replies everyone!
Meshell

 

12 oz is a lot! But they are going a long time between...I don't know. I had refluxers and there is no way they would tolerate that amount of formula! Shows how different babies needs are! I would not give water at two months, they need the nutrition from the formula.

 

I also would stay clear of water at this point. With my son, I mentioned to my ped that I had read a way to get rid of night feedings was to offer water instead of the breast (or bottle). Her response was a definitive no. She said it would make him feel full so he would take in less later that he needed. In the summer (Aidan was 4-6months), I asked about water and she also said no that if he got thirsty I should offer the breast to keep him hydrated but that there was no reason for him to have water.

 

At Cody's 2 month visit my Dr said no more than 6 oz at a time for him. He is taking 5 now. She said their stomachs are too little for all that liquid. I guess if they arn't spitting it back up than maybe they really are hungry. We only go about 3 hours between feedings during the day but can go 6-7 at night.