stuck at 4 oz!

Ok, my little ladies seem to be stuck at 4 oz of milk! They have been at this amt since 2-3 mos. I can't remember the exact age, my mind is foggy. But anyway, according to the feeding guide, they should be drinking between 6-8 oz. They have 3-4 oz (usually 4), and they have 6 bottles a day usually. This is only 24 oz. I know that's not enough, but they refuse to take more. I have made 5 oz & thought I'll just see if they cont to drink, b/c once they stop it is very hard to get them to cont. But the dr. Brown bottles jump from 4 oz to 8 oz & those bottles are huge. So I bought the vent air bottles with the smaller nipple like the dr. brown nipple. The problem with those are the hole in the nipple. The vent air has a star like opening that allows alot more milk to come thru than what they are used to, so Sarah gets pretty bad gas. But if I try to switch bottles as soon as they finish the first 4 oz, they don't want to take it. So I've been trying the 8 oz bottles w/ 5 oz of milk in them. They still don't drink more than 4 oz usually. On a RARE occasion, they will drink 5-6. But this has only happened a few times.

I did start them on solids a few weeks ago. They have cereal in the mornings & veggies for dinner.

Any suggestions?
Thanks ladies!
Jessica & the girlies

 

Hello! I am going through the same thing right now. My one DD used to drink about 5 -6 oz. with 6 bottles a day. Then all of a sudden, she started refusing the bottle. No interest, she cries, pushes bottle away, etc. They are just over 4 months. Both girls should be drinking about 28 - 32 oz. a day and I am lucky if I get 27 in them!! They are not on anything other than formula. They also use Dr. Brown's bottles with the level 1 nipple. We thought it was their reflux acting up, so the ped switched meds, we tried switching nipple flow, we even have her on a different formula (Nutramigen). I am at a lose. Any suggestions??

THanks,
Jen

 

Hey Jen, the only thing i can think of would be the nipple size, but you said you had changed that as well. My girls started doing that around 4 mos, but as soon as we switched to the 3-6 mos nipple size, they picked back up. It took them a week or so to adjust to the new flow, but they did ok. I'm not sure. Hopefully someone will reply that might have suggestions for you as well.

Jess

 

I call my girls "my little ladies" too!

My ladies were stuck at 3 oz for a long time and then all of sudden they increased rapidly to 5oz. Now they take between 5 and 6 oz and drink 5 bottles a day (up until 2 weeks ago it was 6 bottles, but no more 4 am feeding woohoo!). My point is I was seriously stressing out about them not drinking more, but then they let me know when they wanted more. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to tell, but believe me, they let us know it!!! :lol:

I think because your girls are eating food now they amount they drink will change. If you are concerned though, call your pediatrician and make sure they are getting enough. My ped said that my girls should be drinking 2 to 2 1/2oz per pound of body weight. But thats without any solid food added (we are going to try cereal for the first time this weekend). Good luck!!! -Leighann

 

My babies never met the "required amount" of formula daily. We were stuck at 4 oz until 8 months! They never did get all the way up to drinking 8oz at a time before we switched to cups. Sounds like they are doing fine as long as they are gaining and happy!

 

My girls have been on 24 oz. since about 4 months and have never increased. Some babies just don't require as much. Our pedi never suggested we increased, because the girls were gaining fine. My girls were also at 4 oz. for a very long time. I believe they increased around 4.5 months when they started sleeping through the night. I then went to 4 bottles, 6 oz. per day. At around 9 mos. we went to 3 bottles - 8 oz. per day.

To increase the amount (if you really think they need it) I would do an ounce at a time. If they started drinking that extra ounce I would then increase the bottle size.

 

I have the exact same problem my boys! Sorry I can't help you as much but know that you are not alone in your frustration. :hug99:

 

My girls were also stuck at 4 oz. at what felt like forever...just recently they started 5 oz. They only get bottles 2 days/wk when I'm at work and I knew they had to be getting more when they were nursing but they seemed happy w/ the 4, so we let it go. As long as their gaining okay and not acting hungry, my pedi said that all was good!

 

We were at 4 oz for 2 months and now just recently they seemed hungrier so we've jumped to five (while I'm at work--breastfeeding other times) and they've been doing great. We use the bigger 8 oz bottles as well.

Haven't started solids yet. Just tried some rice cereal the other day and it did NOT go well! We'll try again in a week or so.