Took my 2-month-old DS to the pedi today...he has silent reflux but is growing well. He only takes about 21 ounces of breast milk and formula per day. He sleeps through the night. Pedi says he needs around 28 oz. He was full term and in the 50th percentile. There is NO WAY he could eat that much...I realize that as long as he's growing, it doesn't matter, but am curious as to how much other babies eat at this age?
Thanks for all the replies! I definitely feed him on demand...and he mostly gets pumped breast milk, just a little formula if I haven't pumped enough the day before. As long as he's growing nicely, I'm not going to worry about it. Thanks again for helping me feel better!
My daughter ate 24 oz a day at 2 Mo, and now at 4 Mo eats 29 oz a day plus 2 oz of cereal. Every baby is different, and the important thing is that they continue to grow.
Hugs!
~T.
When my Dr asked me how much my baby eats, I just say "I don't know. I breastfeed."
For centuries, women have feed babies without regard for how many oz. You don't need to know. All you need to know is if the baby is flourishing. If he is growing, and seems happy, don't worry about it.
I can't speak to the formula, but a breastfed baby takes in an average of 25oz. per day. A normal range would be 19-30oz. per day, and your son is in that range. (You can check out www.kellymom.com for more breastfeeding info -- there's tons there, and it's a very reliable site.)
As long as he's growing well and is having plenty of wet/dirty diapers, he's doing fine. Obviously, if he seems hungrier on any given day, feed him a bit more, but I think it's best to follow his cues.
Well my kids were breast fed so I don't really know by oz's how much they ate. But around that age they seriously ate about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours and woke up and ate around every 3 hours during the night. So yeah they ate a ton. I think as long as he is gaining weight and is healthy/happy he should be fine. You really can't over feed just make sure you feed on demand and if he seems to want more to eat some days feed him extra. If not keep it the same.
my child never ate about 28 oz a day. my doc said between 24- and 32 oz, but the first three mnths he pry ate closer to 20-22 oz a day. just feed him when he is hugray. when u take him to his next appointment if he isnt growing well then discuss it with your doctor, but like I said my son never ate that much and he is growing fine
my oldest ate like a pig when He was little and then slowed way down my youngest is just a piglet and can out eat me. he is 2 1/2 and just starting to slow down on his eating. he has been eating like a bird for the last 2 months. my youngest at that age was eating 2 to 3 times what yours is eating. but like I said he was a piglet.
Mine aet apx 20oz per feeding from about the 2 week mark until the 9.5 month mark (we used the spiffy scale at the lactation dept to know that, and sure enough... apx 20oz each). That's essentially 200 ounces a day. When we switched to formula between 9 & 10 months, it dropped to 2 32oz premixed cans... or about 64 oz per day. He grew perfectly normally, just very very fast.
So your baby is on one end of the spectrum, and mine was on the other.
As long as you are feeding on demand (unlike the horrible advice of Summer Y's pediatrician who obviously doesn't know a thing about breastfeeding or a babies nutrition and it's no wonder she's having a milk supply issues. You should never, EVER with hold food from a tiny infant. If they are hungry then they NEED to eat! I'm sorry but I just couldn't read that post and not respond to it. My heart breaks for the poor mama and baby who's pediatrician has given them such medically inaccurate information. ) and until your LO is satisfied, he is having plenty of wet/poopy diapers, meeting all his milestone and gaining weight then don't stress how much he is taking in per day.
My two month old girl eats about 25 ounces a day- some days she eats less than that. She is around 11 pounds. I think the general rule is 2.5 ounces of breastmilk/formula per pound- but that is just an average. As long as he is gaining weight steadily, has wet/poop diapers, I don't see that there is a problem.
J had reflux and we fed him multiple small amounts daily. We did not allow him to overfeed, even if he was terribly hungry, we would wait a bit and let him have more. We would play with him and try to redirect his attention away from wanting his bottle and then he would calm down and the formula would stay in his tummy better. I was often hard, with him crying and wanting to be fed, but it was needed to help him eat enough and keep it down.
We also gave him liquid Reglan before each feeding, it relaxed the stomach muscle and caused the opening on the bottom to open and allow the food to go through the stomach more quickly, once it was out of the stomach he would digest it better.
We also put the Mylicon gas drops in every bottle then added the water then the powder formula. We tried to keep the shaking down and just swirled it until the powder was dissolved. We later discovered the premixed actually was easier for us since it did not require shaking or mixing. To me that would be like your breast milk, already mixed up and ready to serve...lol.
We also kept J in the reclining bouncy seat that we took everywhere. He slept in it at night time and during the day. He never fully laid down until he was much older and ready to turn over while sleeping. The partially sitting up really helped with the food staying down.
I breastfed, so it's more of an approximation, but they nursed every 2-4 hours and took 3-4 ounces at a time most the time. So...around 24-32 ounces? I wouldn't worry about it too much. If he's getting a majority of breastmilk, then you don't need to count ounces anyhow.
Are you pumping or nursing? If you're pumping, you can thicken it with "Simply Thick" which will help the reflux. It's the only fully-digestible, tasteless thickener approved for breastmilk. Might help:)
Estimating, I would say mine takes in about 24-28 per day of breast milk. If your child stays on the growth curve, he should be fine. The easiest thing to do to be sure is to get a baby scale and weigh him daily. Plot his weight on graph paper (you can even print graph paper http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/ .
