How much should babies eat?

[amc80]

B is an eater. He just turned 6 months old. We started him on purees early, per the pediatrician's advice. Around 4 months, he was regularly eating 50oz of formula a day. The pedi recommended we skip the rice cereal (which B hated) and try to get him eating whatever we could. And he's not fat- He's in the 99th%+ for height and "only" the 96th for weight.

B took to it like a champ and was eating 2-3 3.5oz containers of baby food a day, plus around 40oz of formula (bottles were 5-6oz). Still a lot of food. Suddenly, he's just not eating as much. He will rarely finish a 6oz bottle. He woke up at 5am to eat, and took 4oz. He finally acted hungry again around 8. I gave him 4oz and he only at 3. He also only eats about half of a container of baby food at once. He's probably down to closer to 30oz a day and maybe 2 containers of food.

I know that what he is eating now is technically normal, but it's just so much less than what he had been eating. I know "normal" is sort of a loaded term...

Does growth slow down around the 6m mark? I think he had his 6m growth spurt a few weeks ago (he was waking every 2 hours to eat, ugh).

Any one else going through this? Any thoughts?

 

[amc80]

And, while I'm at it, I want to wean him off of his MOTN feedings. If I gradually give him less and less, should that do the trick? Most nights he does one 5-7 hour stretch, but sometimes is up more often. Last night he was up twice and I gave him 4oz at each feeding. What if I gave him 3oz tonight? I'm just wondering if the waking is more of a habit than an actual need to eat...

 

[mayerling]

Amc, we used to feed N every time he woke up in the night, unless it was really close to the previous time, i.e. less than 3 hours. Then one night he woke up and didn't really eat much which made us think that maybe he's not waking up because of hunger so we just started giving him pacifiers when he wakes up. It's really helped his sleep; he doesn't wake up as often (we've had some 10-hour stretches recently) and, more importantly, he only wakes up for a couple of minutes at a time (when we fed he used to be up for at least an hour).

 

[amc80]

Amc, we used to feed N every time he woke up in the night, unless it was really close to the previous time, i.e. less than 3 hours. Then one night he woke up and didn't really eat much which made us think that maybe he's not waking up because of hunger so we just started giving him pacifiers when he wakes up. It's really helped his sleep; he doesn't wake up as often (we've had some 10-hour stretches recently) and, more importantly, he only wakes up for a couple of minutes at a time (when we fed he used to be up for at least an hour).

Hmm, I will try a pacifier! Thanks!

 

[lliang_chi]

AMC, with B being so big, he most likely just wants Mommy when he wakes at night. If he's still taking a paci, I'd say give that to him before getting up to feed him. That might be all he needs. Otherwise for feeds we want to drop, we've been watering down the formula. Especially MOTN feeds. To make it "not worth" waking up & crying. Eventually he'll just be getting water and he'd be like, "Boo, this sucks. I woke up for this?"

Ethan also went through a dramatic decrease in his food consumption for a little while too. I think it was teething or something because a week or so later, he was back to his typical consumption amount. He was on breast milk until 10.5 months, so I can't speak about the bottle sizes. While he was on breast milk, he never took more than a 5oz bottle. Now that he's on formula though, he drinks 8 oz bottles.

 

[amc80]

AMC, with B being so big, he most likely just wants Mommy when he wakes at night. If he's still taking a paci, I'd say give that to him before getting up to feed him. That might be all he needs. Otherwise for feeds we want to drop, we've been watering down the formula. Especially MOTN feeds. To make it "not worth" waking up & crying. Eventually he'll just be getting water and he'd be like, "Boo, this sucks. I woke up for this?"

Ethan also went through a dramatic decrease in his food consumption for a little while too. I think it was teething or something because a week or so later, he was back to his typical consumption amount. He was on breast milk until 10.5 months, so I can't speak about the bottle sizes. While he was on breast milk, he never took more than a 5oz bottle. Now that he's on formula though, he drinks 8 oz bottles.

I think I'll try that.

I'm wondering if the eating this is teething related. Make sense with some of his other symptoms.

 

[mayerling]

I'm pretty confused too about how much they're supposed to it. I have the AAP manual and it recommends 24 ounces of formula once solids are established, but the formula I buy here recommends 600ml only which is about 100ml less than 24 ounces. So I don't know if the formula here is different or what?

 

[amc80]

I'm pretty confused too about how much they're supposed to it. I have the AAP manual and it recommends 24 ounces of formula once solids are established, but the formula I buy here recommends 600ml only which is about 100ml less than 24 ounces. So I don't know if the formula here is different or what?

What I do is offer him baby food 3x a day, and then if he is hungry any other time he gets formula.

 

[mayerling]

Amc, how much baby food?

 

[amc80]

Amc, how much baby food?

He is eating the Gerber Stage 2, and those are 3.5oz each. He will usually have 2 containers at daycare and another at night.

 

[lliang_chi]

Mayer, for what it's worth Ethan used to eat 5-6 oz of purees per meal. So that was 15-18oz per day. He was drinking 20 oz of breast milk at that point also.

~LC

 

[amc80]

Yet another food related question for all of you. Who knew eating could be so complicated?

I added up everything B ate yesterday- it came to 40oz of formula and three stage 2 tubs of baby food (3.5oz each). That comes to 905 calories.

Based on dr. google, it looks like babies need about 100 calories per kg. B is about 10kg, so that would mean 1000 calories...so we are pretty close.

He gets bottles that are either 4 or 6 oz, depending on when he last ate. A 6oz bottle will keep him happy for about 2 hours. An entire 3.5oz tub of food fills him for about 1 hour. That means I have an almost 7 month old who is still eating every 2 hours, all day long. We've tried putting rice in his formula but it makes no difference.

I mentioned this to day care and they sort of freaked out- "40oz is WAY too much formula for a 6 month old." How else is he supposed to get his calories? We are starting solids and he is slowly getting it. But he's young. His gag reflex is still in full force, so while he has no problem grasping and chewing, most of it ends up being spit out. So not a reliable source of calories.

Any ideas? I mean other than handing the kid a steak...

 

[Kunzite]

I wouldn't put any stock into what your DC's opinion is. If your pedi is happy and B is happy then you're fine. For what it's worth, eating every two hours once solids are started is pretty normal. We do bottle, 2 hours later breakfast (solids), 2 hours later bottle... etc.

 

[amc80]

I wouldn't put any stock into what your DC's opinion is. If your pedi is happy and B is happy then you're fine. For what it's worth, eating every two hours once solids are started is pretty normal. We do bottle, 2 hours later breakfast (solids), 2 hours later bottle... etc.

Thank you, that eased my mind. Every 2 hours just seems so often for a 6+ month old. B is getting his shots tomorrow so I'll talk to the doctor about it. I like the idea of him drinking less formula, but it's not very practical unless he's eating something else.

 

[JGator]

AMC, our pediatrician said our 4-month old should have up to 30/32 oz/day of formula now, and she's 14 lbs 10 oz. So, I think 40 oz is reasonable for a 6-month old. She also said in our case to feed larger bottles spaced out more - in our case going from 4 oz to 6 oz bottles. She was eating 4 oz every 2 hours. Can you try increasing the size of each bottle to see if that helps him eat less often?

 

[amc80]

AMC, our pediatrician said our 4-month old should have up to 30/32 oz/day of formula now, and she's 14 lbs 10 oz. So, I think 40 oz is reasonable for a 6-month old. She also said in our case to feed larger bottles spaced out more - in our case going from 4 oz to 6 oz bottles. She was eating 4 oz every 2 hours. Can you try increasing the size of each bottle to see if that helps him eat less often?

I've tried that, and anything over 7oz or so he spits up. Ha, and at 4m, B was eating 50oz a day, which is why we started him on purees a bit early

 

[monkeyprincess]

I always worry about how much Ev is eating. We sort of have the opposite problem from you amc, because Ev tends to not want to eat very much. He usually won't take more than 4 oz in a feeding, even though we offer him 5 oz. It is a struggle to get him to take 32 oz of formula a day. I asked our doctor about my concerns, and he was pretty adamant that there is a wide range of normal for kiddos and some are just light eaters and others are big eaters. I really don't think you have to worry about it. You've just got a good-sized boy with a large appetite.

 

[amc80]

I always worry about how much Ev is eating. We sort of have the opposite problem from you amc, because Ev tends to not want to eat very much. He usually won't take more than 4 oz in a feeding, even though we offer him 5 oz. It is a struggle to get him to take 32 oz of formula a day. I asked our doctor about my concerns, and he was pretty adamant that there is a wide range of normal for kiddos and some are just light eaters and others are big eaters. I really don't think you have to worry about it. You've just got a good-sized boy with a large appetite.

I agree with you. I mean the total amount he's eating is in line with what he should be eating based on his weight...I'm more worried (not worried...concerned? wondering about?) the composition of those calories and where they should be coming from.

 

[amc80]

Talked to the doctor. He said he would like to see B drinking less formula. By this age, most babies are drinking around 24oz a day. But seeing how B is the size of a 12 month old (and 23lbs, gosh), it's fine if he has a bit more. He said once we get to the 35-40oz range we should try giving him water or diluted juice.