can they eat too fast?

[lin7604]

i just changed my ds's nipples to stage 2 in platyex drop in's.  he was only eating 4oz before from his 6 so i thought it might be b/c the nipple is now too small for him.  well he eats a whole bottle now, even up to 7 oz now, is that ok?  the last 2 days he cleans out a 6oz bottle in 10-15 min,so today i am giving him 7 oz and he is eating it all every 3 hrs.  is there such a thing as eating too fast, etc.

[* Paula *]

I would say that as long as your lo is not bringing up too much of his feed after burping then it is fine.  If your lo is happy with the flow and does not splutter when feeding, then I would think it is fine to carry on.

Paula

[Lolly]

How old is your LO and what does he weigh? What is his daily routine like? How many oz is he taking over 24 hours? So many questions I know but it may help!

Babies don't generally overeat, if you are following his cues you will know when he has had enough. My LO closes his lips tight and is now pushing the bottle away when he is full. If he is taking too much he would probably be spitting up the excess I would think. The general rule I keep reading is that babies need 2/2.5 times their weight in oz over 24 hours, so my 16lber is having between 30 and 35oz per day at the moment. There will be exceptions to this of course!

HTH

Laura

[lin7604]

he is 6 months 6 days, weights 22lbs, he normally has een taking 30-40 oz except yesterday it was 45oz.  today i increased his bottles to 7 oz as he was draining his 6 oz ones, and he is drinking it all every time.
he was drinking over 50 oz so we started him on solids now.  so the ped told me that as long as he eats a min 24oz not to worry.  i just don't know if they can actually eat too fast, and if they do would that cause them to eat more often?  as he is eating every 3 hrs and he was going more 3-4 hrs before.

[Lolly]

Maybe he is going through a growth spurt which is why he is taking more oz more frequently. Do you wind him during a feed - maybe a little break would allow him to know his tummy is filling up and slow him down? That said if he is keeping it down he can handle that amount of liquid in his tummy, maybe he will settle down in a few days once he is used to the new teats.

Laura

[* Paula *]

I would say that it is definitley time to start some solids now.  Sounds like your little man is a hungry little boy.

That is correct that at this age as long as theya re getting 24oz + they are doing fine.  Remember though that at this age the first solids are just tasters and are not meant to replace their milk.  I definitly think that introducing some solids will help your lo go back to the 4 hours between bottle feeds.

With regards to eating too quickly, I would say that for his age 10-15 minutes to drink a bottle is perfectly normal.

Paula

[Lolly]

Oh! I missed the bit about 10/15 mins to drink 6oz If it makes you feel any better my LO can drain 7oz in way less than 10 mins if he is really hungry

Laura

[lin7604]

thanks both of you.  he is  on solids, we started cereal at 4 months as we had to cut down his intake, he was eating over 50 oz a day.  he was doing great when we started the cereal and his intake went to 35-40, it was just the last 2 weeks he was going from 6oz to 4oz and waking every 3 hrs at night to eat and he was also going throgh a growth spurt at that time as well.  SO i though it was time to upgrade.  just in that day he went to eating 6oz again and draining it so quickly i didn't know if he was too fast, so i upped it to 7oz and he is draining that too.  do you know when they go up to 8 oz bottles?  i guess if his tummy will hold it, i guess, hey.  i was hoping if he can take 8oz then h can go to 4 hrs between feeds with solids after his bottle as always.

[* Paula *]

My DS was on 8oz bottles by the time he was 4 months old.  He took 4 x 8 oz bottles during the day.

[jumblebox]

Our DS used to drink 1oz/minute, so an 8oz bottle in under 10 mins. And would pitch a fit if we tried to stop him halfway, to burp him.