Is he drinking too much?

[ENMS]

Hi everyone!

DS is 2 weeks old today.  He had a tongue tie so breastfeeding was difficult and we've been supplementing with a bottle for about a week.  On Monday he got his TT clipped and since, he will not breastfeed at all. So he's only drinking from the bottle - a mix of EBM and formula.

He drinks 3.5 - 4 oz per feeding, and has approximately 8-9 feeds per day.

He had lost quite a lot of weight at the beginning due to the TT causing breastfeeding difficulties but he has gained back nicely since we're supplementing him and he's now over his birth weight (9 lbs as of today).  He has gained 65 grams per day since last Thursday. 

Although I'm glad he's gained so well and want him to be healthy, since I've never bottle fed such a small baby I'm wondering if we're feeding him a good quantity or not?  He spits up once in a while, maybe once or twice per day.  He's also not very good at burping.

Thanks!

[babymunkey]

I Elise!!

I'm no expert - lets wait for one to reply! But that does seem alot! Our formula brand recommends between 150ml and 200ml per kg per day (divided by the number of feeds) So if he's about 9lbs that would be 4kg? So at the top end that would mean 800 ml per day which is roughly 100 ml
Per feed. It's approx 50ml to the ounce.

Having said that we gave B a bottle of formula today - have been testing for a few days - EbM first, then EBM mixed with formula, then today a full Formula feed - she flattened 90 ml in 10 minutes and still waned more - I topped her up with BF and she did another 15 mins.

So not sure but as I said who knows will be along soon!

[ENMS]

I agree with you H, it sounds like a lot.  Not sure what to do though, I try to stop often to burp him and wait and see if he shows signs he's still hungry.  On my bottles though 100 ml is the equivalent of approximately 3 1/4 oz which is not too far from what he's getting (between 3.5 and 4).

[Lolly]

To be honest it sounds fine and pretty much what my two were doing at that age!

 The guide amounts are just that - guides and the recs for bottle fed babies are the same - feed on demand and let them take what they want. You need to offer a bottle slightly bigger than they will drink so they can stop because they are full and not just because the bottle is empty like they would do at the breast. When they are consistently draining bottles over a day or so you need to put another oz in the bottle.

A 3oz bottle is about 90ml, 4oz is 120ml so if you follow his cues and he keeps the feed down it right!

Laura

[flutie]

Maybe he is making up for his earlier difficulties and things will slow down We bottle feed EBM due to a TT as well, and ds seems to have always averaged around 25 oz a day....more around growth spurts. From all the research I have done, their requirements if fed exclusively breast milk should not increase too much as the composition of the milk changes to meet their needs.  Not sure how this amount would change if mixing with formula though.  I was following your other post, and just wanted to say that I sympathize with you...tt babies and feeding are tough...you are doing a great job.

[Lolly]

Just as an aside - my two babies were formula fed because they both have significant tongue ties which don't get snipped in the early days here. {{HUGS}}.

Laura

[ENMS]

Thanks Flutie and Laura...  Mathieu's TT got snipped but it worsened our breastfeeding situation, so not sure that was the best thing to do (although I thought it was at the time obviously!)