I have a six month old daughter and she drinks both formula and breastmilk. I have been reading a lot of blogs and a lot of six month old eats 6 to 8 oz. of milk at a time and eat a total of 30 to 40 oz. of milk a day. My little girl drinks no where near that. She can only drink 4 oz. at a time and drinks about 24 to 28 oz. of milk a day. I also started her on baby food and baby cereal but she only takes a tablespoon at a time because I still want her to get her main nutrition from breastmilk and formula.
I have a son who is now 2 1/2 years old and he never took more than 4 oz. of milk at a time when he was a baby and I remembered feeding him through the night until he was 11 months old because I thought he was not taking enough since he eats so little during the day and I've read how much the other babies eat.
I just wanted to see if there are any babies out there that don't eat that much but still are healthy and happy?
Thanks.
My DD NEVER and I mean not a single time that I recall drank more than 4 oz. I would give her 4 oz bottles of pumped milk to daycare and they usually ended up dumping the last 1 oz, she rarely drank a full 4 oz.
She is now a perfectly happy and healthy 4 year old.
I say as long as she is having plenty of wet diapers and growing fine you don't need to worry.
Good luck.
As long as they are satisfied and gaining weight that's all you need to concern yourself about.
As long as she is gaining weight at each checkup and filling up her diapers, I wouldn't worry. My DD fluctuated... sometimes it seemed like she was starving herself, other times she seemed like she never stopped eating. :)
www.kellymom.com, has a lot of great info.
As long as she is full and content and gaining weight then she is fine. With my son I always gave him the formula first and then the solid foods after he was done with the formula. Some days he would take 32 oz in a day, some days only 20 oz. So as long as she's content and doesn't seem hungry, then she's fine. Also, I wouldn't wake her up to feed her. If she's sleeping then she's satisfied. When my son was having problems eating, he could not sleep for anymore then 30 minutes because he was so hungry.
none, their tummies are not ready for it. Wait till a year to introduce it.
My daughter was in the 99% of weight from week 3 until her 1 year check up. At 1.5 years in the 60% of weight. She never took more than 4oz of breastmilk at a time. She was breastfed while I was home after work and before work so I nursed 4 times a day and she had 2-3 bottles. So if she actually was only getting 4oz each bottle and feeding she would only have been taking in max 21oz. I think she was more efficient with nursing so she probably took in a little over 25oz a day. She only transitioned to more than 4 oz at a time around 11months. She went to 6oz now all she will take is 8oz of whole milk.
She also didn't really start to take in baby food until 7.5months. She wasn't that into it. I didn't push some days I offered some days I didn't. During the summer I did buy those mesh teether bags and she chewed on frozen fruit. She was teething most of the summer. She gets 4 at a time usually.
So the answer to your question is yes, she didn't eat much but was very healthy and happy. My ped actually wanted us to try and feed her more milk because of her hip dysplagia so she would have more calories to burn to heal but she ate when she was hungry.
She is actually giving me problems right now at 17months with wanting to eat and not wanting to eat. All you can do is offer and if they want it fine if not don't worry about it. Especially with the solid food at this time. DD actually at 7.5 months she really took to baby food at 9months only wanted table food for 2 weeks then went back to baby food until just after a year old.
Look for her ques and everything will be fine!
Oh, wow! You are right to question those blogs! 6-8 oz of breastmilk is way too much no matter what the child's age is and it's setting those poor kids up for potential obesity problems later in life!
Here's how to know how much to send with your baby: For each hour you are away, you give 1 oz of milk.
Here's what that might look like for an average mom and baby.
7 AM nurse baby
(leave for work)
10 AM 3 oz bottle
1 PM 3 oz bottle
4 PM 2 oz bottle
(return from work)
6 PM nurse
Nurse as normal through the evening and night
Do you see how that evens out over the course of the day?
This never ever changes no matter the age of the baby because breastmilk grows and changes with the baby.
Here is what my 8 month old daughter's routine looks like:
6:30 AM nurse
(leave for work)
(she takes a big morning nap)
11:15 nurse at daycare (I come from work to feed her at my lunch hour)
3 PM 4 oz bottle
5:15 nurse at daycare
6:30 nurse at home
nurse as normal through the evening and night
Here are some links to back up what I'm saying so you don't think I'm just making this up. :)
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/employed-moms/childcar...
And so you don't think this is just another internet blog, Kelly Bonyata who owns kellymom.com is an IBCLC and her website is one that other IBCLCs and LLL Leaders use as a reference. The info she gives is solid gold. :)
One guideline is 2.5oz per pound of body weight per day. But that is just a guideline. The most important things to watch are adequate output (6-8 wet diapers a day) and adequate growth. If she is growing and gaining and meeting milestones I don't think you have anything to worry about.
I would think that as long as your baby is growing healthy, gaining weight slowly and the doctors does not see a problem with her size, weight gain, moods and skin all should be good. Every baby grows at different speeds and you cannot judge what other babys eat or do....
Good luck!
What did your Pediatrician say at her 6 month well-baby check up?
Side note: at this age, "solids" is only an introduction to foods and is NOT a baby's "primary" intake nor primary source of nutrition.
Solids, is not even as nutritionally dense, as breastmilk or solids.
One useful tip is: give breastmilk/Formula BEFORE solids. If given with solids or after solids... a baby will be too full, to nurse or drink their Formula.
Also at this age, solids is only give once a day. A baby does not have to have solids 3 times a day.
dont restrict the childs milk intake..we decided to ignore an "experts" advice on strictly limiting our daughter milk intake .. supposedly because too much milk is dangerous..yeah, right. anyway, our daughter is a record breaking three feet tall at two.. and very healthy, by the way.
K. h.
This is a lactation consultant IN PERSON question.... Because oz reeeeeally vary. They need to really see your child, their physicality, and have your whole schedule of what they're eating to be looking at
My son from a few weeks to 10 mo drank 20oz of breast milk per feeding on average, and ate every 2 hours or so... For a total of over 200oz per day. Once I list my milk at 10mo he drank about 64?/128? Oz of formula per day (1 big premixed can per day).
He was 10lbs at birth, and comes from a family of 6'6 men, who are done growing by 14 (fast growing omg general). Height alone means needing to be well over 3' tall by age 2.
My goddaughter? Half Japanese, half Egyptian, with a family that is 5' flat, and are still growing in college (sloooow growers), with delicate bone structure. After MY family it looked like the tiny amount she could eat wouldn't keep a bird alive. She's 2 and only 2.5 feet tall, and weighs less than my son at 3 months old... And is pixie perfect.
Some kids are thriving & healthy at 200 or 20oz a day.
But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if MY kid is heathly if yours isn't.
Doctor & Lactation consultant
