Worried about 16 week olds feed intake

[ills84]

Hi everyone,

Iam just a bit worried about my 16 week old DD feeds. She has silent reflux, but is medicated and on Losec.

She has always been a small feeder. But after going to a mothers group the other day and seeing how much and how quickly other babies her age where drinking it has made me think she isn't getting enough.

She is on a 3.5hr feeds (Iam trying to stretch it to 4hrs). Lately she cries at about the 3.5hr mark and I try to stretch but can't, only to have her drink 120mls and I have to sometimes force the rest into her. She has 5 bottles a day at approx 150mls so over a 24hr period she is having about 24-25oz. Is this low? She is 6kgs.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs, I'm in the same boat with ds2. He has 6 bottles butowntdrink more than 120 mls. Sometimes 90 even causes lots of spills
Tbh if stretching her causes her issues I would stick with what's working. Some reflux babies do better with smaller frequent feeds.

Is she gaining weight?

[ills84]

She is gaining weight but is in the lower end

[yufeiisme]

Honey my lo is exactly the same. She is a refluxer too. She also went through a nursing strike at three mo. I was so paranoid that I would collect all her nappies to make sure she wasn't dehydrated. Now she is mo and she is taking about 24oz a day also. So don't worry, they will not starve themselves. You just gotta make sure she is having enough wet nappies in a day? My lo on a typical day would only eat 90ml 1st feed, then 140ml, 120ml, 90ml, 120ml, and sometimes another 70ml in the night.

Also some babies are born with smaller stomach compactly, so they can't last as long between feeds. I guess 4hr easy at 4mo is only a guideline. Some babies need to be fed more frequent and bigger babies less frequent.

[ills84]

The thing is is that she is doesn't seem hunger at all sometimes. Even when I do streach her to 4hrs she still won't eat. With this and her bad sleeping (back to short naps) we never have an EASY routine happening. Every day is different, different WU different nap times. Somedays it's 3 naps then 4naps then 2naps and a CN. Iam counting down the days when she has no naps lol.

[ZacsMumme]

This is exactly my boy too. 3 or 4 hrs between he still drinks the same. I found if I stretch too far though he gulps in too much air so I try to feed closer to 3-3.5 hrly to prevent dehydration. As pp mentioned wet nappies and weight gain are important. If she has those try not to worry too much.

I find I can get more in ds2 at NF too, as he is relaxed. You could try this to help get the volume in.

I have a post about dehydration vs food and the volume of milk. It's tough isn't it