4 month old: 50-60oz per day??

[vadensmommy]

I have a friend who's baby is 4mo old and is now being formula fed.  He was breastfed for the 1st 3mo of life, and didn't gain ANY weight all 3mo.  I think he was around 7lbs at birth, and lost down to 6lbs before going home from the hospital, and according to my friend, never gained any of it back.  At 3mo her pediatrician was obviously concerned, and had her start supplementing formula.  In the last month she has completely swapped to formula, and her son has gained 12 pounds!!!!!!  She called me today and said that he was weighing in at 18 pounds - so in the last month he's gone from the 3rd percentile to the 98th percentile for weight!!!  My friend says he's been taking in between 45-60oz of formula a day.  He's draining 6oz bottles every 2-3 hours, and waking at least 3 times a night to do the same.  He was sleeping through the night before - even though he wasn't gaining weight.

We are in the US, and I think she is using a Similac formula if I remember right.  Her pediatrician told her today that she could start cereal AND solids -yellow and green fruits and veggies, and to try and limit his formula to around 30oz a day, and offer him water if he was still hungry. 

I am just wondering if anybody else had any experiences similar to this?  She is interested in getting him sleeping through the night again.  I gave her BWSAYP for a baby present, but they aren't really following it as her DH is staying home with the baby, and isn't really fond of following any sort of routine.  I don't really know what/if any advice I can offer her.  Interested in hearing any opinions on this matter

Thanks ladies!

[lilmonkey]

WOW that's a lot of milk.  I would think that the doctor would be concern if not a bit interested how the a baby gained 12 lbs in month.

[binxyboo]

That sounds a bit odd to me. The baby gained no weight while nursing (or not nursing it seems by that account). You would think the baby would be dehydrated at that stage. No ideas, but it sounds a bit

[grahamsmama]

Sounds like he might be comfort feeding.  Does your friend say he has any refluxy symptoms other than wanting to eat all the time?  Four months seems to be a time when a lot of babies have worsening reflux, that could explain the overeating as well as the waking at night.

[donna_issabella]

I would think comfort feeding as well. Or you get some metabolic illnesses.

I agree, how could the doctor not question 12 pound weight gain in 30 days.... That is more than excessive.

[*Mona*]

 

[linfran]

That does sound a bit odd.  My little boy was 9lbs 15oz at birth and was a real grubber - we started solids at four months because he was 18lbs and drinking over 40oz of milk a day, plus waking in the night - he was deemed an exceptional case for starting solids and we were told by hv to be very careful about doing so.

I must confess I am surprised by the amount of rapid weight gain but also that he put nothing on in 3 months but it seems it wasn't picked up in all that time, or have I got that wrong?  Its just where I live you see the hv every week at the start and then every two weeks and the baby is weighed each time to ensure there are no problems in that area.

[vadensmommy]

Hey linfran
We're in the US, and it's pretty standard to have a f/u after at like 2 weeks, 2mo, 4mo, 6,9, 12mo, and that is it.

Her pediatrician was concerned with his lack of weight gain, and was seeing him a bit more often, and actually once they started supplementing his feeds, he was still gaining pretty slowly, so they had a couple day hospital stay where the doctors and nurses could actually monitor her interactions with him, and make sure she was feeding him enough each time and often enough.  She was not happy about having to do that, but understood the reasons, and of course, they didn't find anything abnormal.  I think during that time was when she switched totally to formula feeding.

Lyn - I do think you are onto something here.  He seems to be a much fussier baby these days, just from hearing things on the other end of the phone    We're live about 6hrs away from each other, so the only interactions we have are by phone.  So some of this, very well may be reflux - esp. since he's finally taking more in, it may be lots worse now, but more silent before?  I'll ask her what she thinks too.

Another thing - according to my friend, her husband's metabolism is like a human furnace.  He eats everything in sight and is stick thin.  They are both very tall people, and so is their son.  Her MIL also reports that when her DH was a baby he was much the same - ate constantly, and was pretty much a porker.  In the beginning when he was eating so much so often when she switched to just formula, I didn't think much about it because he was so far behind normal growth, I figured he probably needed the calories because he was making up for lost time, but now he's obviously more than made up for it. 

I'll call her and talk to her about reflux Thanks ladies - you all always have good thoughts about things

[em_here]

  wow thats some weight gain!