Is our baby gaining weight too quickly?

[Blueberry80]

Hi there,
This is the first time I've posted on here, so thank you in advance for reading!

Our baby Ethan was three and a half weeks premature, but was a healthy weight at 3050kg on 8th August. But he had low blood sugar and jaundice when he was born so we were told that we had to feed him formula. As we were in hospital for a while, he got used to the bottle and refused my breast so I decided (reluctantly) to bottle feed.

He was weighed 2 weeks ago and was 3110kg and for the last two weeks, I've been feeding Ethan every three hours (trying to do E.A.S.Y) 120ml of formula and he has between 100ml and 120ml. He wakes during the night every three hours too. So I had him weighed on Friday and he weighs 3810kg so he's put on 700g in 2 weeks and I read that normal weight gain is about 200g a week.The health visitor wasn't concerned but I wondered if this was normal or am I overfeeding him?

Thanks so much for any replies!

[michaeljacknnugg]

I may be wrong (it's a long time since I had a newborn) but I don't think you can over feed at this age.

I breast fed so no idea how much he took, but if you're encouraged to feed on demand until they are full, surely it's the same for bottle feeding at first?

My ds also put on weight really well in the first few weeks and then it tailed off.

[Lolly]

My two were bottle fed from birth more or less and both stacked the weight on in the initial weeks, they both gained anything from 0.5lb to 1lb - which is 200-500g. Gaining 700g in 2 weeks sounds totally fine to me!

Don't forget that if the previous weighing was on a different scale, at a different time of day and pre or post a poo or feed then it's really hard to have an accurate comparison.

The amounts he is taking at feeds sounds fine too, remember that if he is draining most of his feeds you need to increase the amount by 1oz so that he can stop because he is full up and not because the bottle is empty, there should be a bit left in the bottle at the end of a feed!

Laura

[Blueberry80]

Thank you both for your replies! My mind's at rest now! I need to buy some bigger bottles so I can add that extra ounce!

Thanks so much again, it's so easy to worry about every little thing isn't it!

Best wishes
Chrissy 

[Lolly]

Worrying is the part of the job they don't warn you about

It sounds like you are both doing doing well but any more questions just ask!

Laura

[Blueberry80]

Hi again,
I have another question!

In the evenings, Ethan will take a full bottle and then show hunger cues just an hour and a half later. Could these cues be cues that he wants to suck and if so am I right to just offer the dummy and not more food? The thing is sometimes the dummy isn't enough and he keeps spitting it out?

Thanks so much again!

Chrissy

[Lolly]

Some babies will naturally cluster feed in the evenings so if he is showing hunger cues and spitting the dummy out then I'[d say he does want milk so go ahead and feed him! If you were still breastfeeding and he was rooting the advice would be to feed him - same with bottle feeding really, if he is demanding food let him have it Babies are really good at self regulating and rarely overeat, so providing he isn't throwing his feeds back up he knows what he needs!

If my maths is right he's around 6 weeks old by now? If so there is a big growth spurt around 6 weeks so he may well be looking for extra calories.

Laura

[Blueberry80]

Sorry, I'm back again, this is such a learning curve!

So I was following his cues and feeding him till he was showing me he was full, but yesterday that got up to 160ml and he still wasn't pushing the bottle away or showing signs that he was full and he was fussing every time I took the bottle away and burped him. So I called the health visitor and she said it was too much and that I should go back to 120ml and try and soothe him after that if he's fussing. So I tried that today after he had had 130ml and was still fussing and it worked in a way as he soon fell asleep after being rocked. So my question is would a truly hungry baby fall asleep aftUer being rocked? So could his fussing be wind or colic rather than hunger?

Thank you so much for any advice!

x x

[Lolly]

I'm not sure what to suggest here - my HV's (I'm UK too!) have always said that you need to let them feed until they stop by themselves, if they are draining bottles you need to add another oz. I've never been told to limit feeds and the only reason to would be if he was taking big feeds and vomiting them back up again.

If he was breastfeeding that's exactly what he would do - feed until he is full and stop - and you wouldn't know how much he had taken. 120ml is only 3oz, my DD was taking that much in her first week or so and then steadily increased so she was taking about 6oz (240ml) by the time she was 8/9 weeks old.

It is likely that he would fall asleep if he was hungry - he'd had some food and may not have been quite full but full enough to fall asleep because he was tired. I wouldn't want to get into the habit of rocking to sleep - it's a  hard prop to break, also if you are trying EASY he needs a bit of activity time (nappy change in your case!) before he goes to sleep not to go straight to sleep after a feed.

It's up to you - I've learnt from experience that all HV's will tell you something different so I nod politely and do what I think is right . I would be offering bigger bottles for a day or so and see how he copes with them, if he is keeping them down and is settled then that's what he needs. If he is vomiting back feeds then I would limit them to 160ml for now but he may then need feeding more frequently than 3 hourly.

I know he was a bit prem - has he had a clean bill of health since then? What week was he born - was he 36+ or 33+? If he was 36+ he was very close to full term so it's not such a consideration than if he was 33+. My good friend had both of her babies a few days shy of 37 weeks and neither had health problems or were considered prem.

What do you think?

Laura

[Blueberry80]

Thank you so much for coming back so quickly!

We've been discharged by the midwives and he's really healthy which is great. He was born 36+5 so premature ish.

My MIL thinks he's making up for being born a bit early...

I want to do the right thing! I don't want to over feed him or under feed him. I've tried the limiting thing today, I might try seeing how much he'll take tomorrow and look for signs of him being full (which I'm not really seeing at the moment). I think I've scared myself by reading that formula fed babies are more likely to be overweight and that some babies won't stop taking a bottle as they don't know they're full.

What are the signs that a baby has had enough food?

Thanks Laura for all your help!

x x

[Lolly]

Mine have just stopped feeding when they are full - they push the bottle out of their mouths or just stop sucking! Are you winding him every oz or so? That helps them to realise they are full as it gives a little break for the full message to get to their brains!

Formula fed babies do get over weight but that tends to be as toddlers/ young children when parents are feeding rubbish! It's really quite hard to overfeed a baby unless they start feeding for comfort because they are in pain from something like reflux. Follow his cues - fussing when you take the bottle away can be because of wind or just because he's not had enough.

Just as a comparison for you my two were born 8lb and 8lb 11oz - decent sized babies on the 50th ish centiles. Both were formula fed although DD had more breast milk than DS - now he is on the 9th centile for weight, she is just above the 50th but she was 91st centile for the first 2 years. Another friend was able to exclusively breastfeed her DD's, the second one was 10lb born and is 2.5 now and still has major rolls - she's a lovely chubby toddler - much bigger than my DD at the same age!

What bottles are you using too? If it's the Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles the vari flow teats are really good at helping them to self regulate as they control the flow of the milk rather than it constantly dripping into their mouths (not that I'm suggesting you buy new bottles if you aren't using these!).

Laura

[Blueberry80]

Thank you Laura!

I've got the aventis bottles with newborn teats on, I wonder if I should start using the 1 month + teats?

Thank you for telling me about your children! TomoRrow I'll feed until he pushes it away. My MIL also suggested giving him a little bit of cooled boiled water between feeds as she said my husband was really thirsty as a baby, could be the same thing?

Thank you again, I'll let you know how we do tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

x x

[Lolly]

Try the bigger teats it may be what he needs!

With regard to the water, it's fine for formula fed babies to have some but be careful how much you give - it should only be an oz or 2 (30-60ml) MAX over the course of a day. Their systems are so small it's very easy to give them too much when they are tiny.

Hope you have a good day today - let us know how it's going!

Laura

[*Kara*]

I agree with Laura - I would be very careful with extra water... we are told no extra water unless it is really hot before 4 months simply because you can water overdose them so easily...

My DD was a good eater too.. I have never limited her.  She was taking 4 ozs every 2-3 hrs at a week old.. born at 7 lbs 1 oz... she was 50th centile.  Now at 22 months, she is 45 centile and 22 lbs... she packed on the weight like a crazy person for the first few months, then leveled out