Is he over-eating??

[missyb]

My LO os 3.5months and has weird feeding habits.

He is fully formula feed and has 4 (3.5-4hrly) good feeds a day with a smaller top up feed just before bed and then he sleeps right through with no over night feed or DF.

He has anywhere between190ml-260mls depending on how long it is from his last feed and how much he took the feed before.

He has always been a comfort sucker and will not stop sucking on the bottle when he is full, so i find it hard to know when he has had enough. I generally stop when he starts to play around with it, but if you stop leave him a minute and give it back he will start intentionally drinking again.

The problem is that when he has a big feed he brings alot of it back up.  He has reflux but this is a vomit opposed to a spill and I think it is more volume related. It doesnt bother him bringing it up it isn't burp related.

Do you think it is just him self regulating cause he has eaten too much or do you think there could be a problem??

I am just worried about him over eating as the tin recommends approximately 1000mls per 24hrs for his age, but some days he can have as much as 300mls over this. I obviuosly can't stop him feeding cause the tin says he can't ahve any more but I just don't want him to turn into a porker!!

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
I would not worry to be honest. My LO is the same - he drinks vast amounts of milk and does occasionally throw up but it is just that he does not know when to stop! I was told by my health visitor that babies cannot over-eat i.e. they just throw up what they do not need. I would only worry if he is throwing up a lot i.e. a large amount of feed and frequently. My baby is 6 and a half months and he def drinks more than the tin says but all bubs are different and as long as he is growing and healthy it should be fine. Maybe get him weighed and check he is doing ok?
Maybe it is a boy thing!
Hope that helps.
Becky x

[iluvmymatthew]

I worried about that with my son, too.  He drinks 7 bottles per day, 5-6oz per bottle, at 6 weeks old.  He weighs about 12 lbs, though, and is a big boy.

[LizzieN]

Really I think the weight gain is the key, if your child health nurse thinks your LO is gaining too fast then perhaps you should cut down a little bit, but if he is gaining within the curve then he should be fine.  I agree that LOs don't really know when to stop.  I think that when your DS starts playing with the bottle, remove it and then re-offer it about 5-10 minutes later (this will give his tummy time to tell his head if he is full)...this is what I do with our 6yo.  If I think she has had enough, I stop her and tell her to go and play for a few minutes then come back if she is still hungry...

You may find that you can introduce a sippy cup with boiled cooled water early (not yet obviously) and he may like to suck and chew on that too   We introduced one at about 6 months and he picked up on it quickly!  Loves it!!

As an older baby (my LO is nearly 14 months - geeze where does the time go) pretty much every meal is finger food, so I'm not forcing him to over eat (he eats a LOT) and I find that works really well!  He has been very coordinated with hand mouth, so this has worked very well for us (may be something useful for the future!)

If he is vomiting the extra out (and it's not causing pain) I wouldn't be too worried, if it's really forceful and frequent get your doc to check for pyloric stenosis (a thickening of the oesophageal sphincter), but otherwise just feed him and love him....you will be buying truck loads of food for at least the next 20 years, may as well start now LOL...gotta love boys!!!

Take care
Lizzie