Qustion for a friend, how much is too much?

[lilybug25]

My bff son is almost 4 months old. He does start each feed with the breast but she is only producing 4oz ( 2oz each breast) total. She tops up with formula after each feed. Now she asked me how much my daughter eat at 4 months and I told her 30-35oz in 24 hrs. She then tells me her son has the breast (4oz) plus a bottle (6oz) at each feed so 10oz . He does six feeds during the day and one at 5 am so 7, 10 oz feeding in 24 hrs. I didn't want to say anything as I have no idea if thats too much but 70oz in 24 hrs just seems like a heck of a alot. He doesn't throw up after eating, doesn't have tummy ache after eating she told me, he is a happy baby but is she over feeding him? He has a check up tomorrow and he's getting weighed as well, her home scale says he's 20 pounds already . He was 6pounds and 5 ozs at birth so he wasn't a big baby by any means. Is he just a big eater or is she way way over feeding? Should I say anything?

[Lolly]

Ummm - I'd say way over feeding - that's probably what my two took in 3 days!

Breastfed babies do take more from the bottle because it's easy and they don't have to work on it! It's also very possible that he is getting more at the breast than she thinks, babies get more than a pump does so pumping to see what she is producing is very unreliable. I would think that overfeeding has made him a big eater but I really don't know what I'd do. She needs to be honest with her pead and see what they suggest - I'm sure cutting down the formula after a breastfeed would be a first step.

Laura

[Ima shel Alon]

Laura is totally the expert here , so I'll go with what she says.
But, just an idea: It could be that her supply is actually less than what she thinks or maybe less in certain times of the day, therefore he is not getting the 4oz on the breast.

[lilybug25]

Thanks ladies, when she phones me after her doc appt. I'll talk to her about it.

[Lolly]

He could well be getting less at the breast at some times of course! Even if he was only taking the formula,  7x 6oz feeds is a pretty normal intake, and even if you assume only 2oz per feeding at the breast that still takes him over 40oz per day!

It will be interesting to see what her pead thinks - let us know

Laura

[*Kara*]

That's crazy!  Alexandra was 7 lbs 1 oz at birth and has never taken more than 34 ozs in a day (and that was during her 6 week GS).  She has averaged 25-29 ozs for quite some time now... back to 3 months of age.

I read somewhere that babies should max out somewhere around 32 ozs a day... and that was with just formula, not BM as well!