2 month old formula intake

VPGIRL06

So my LO takes in anywhere from 22 to 26 oz a day...does this seem right? 2 weeks ago she was 10lbs 12 oz, so hopefully she's at least 11 if not 11.5 lbs when I go in tomorrow...she will be 8w4d...I feel like she should be taking more in? I often have to fight to get her to take some of it as it is...

She has reflux and tends to not be interested in drinking alot of the time if she's fully awake. Her bottles range from 3 to 5.5 oz...sometimes less even. I offer her a bottle every 2.5 to 3.5, depending on how much she has at the previous one. Alot of times she will power down the first 2 oz and then either choke or be disinterested. She'll act STARVING, the only take 2 oz.

I'll bring it up obviously with me ped...I'm also worried because between 4 weeks and 6 weeks 4 days she only put on about 8 oz. the doctor said its fine , but I'm worried its due to her small formula intake. She's on the higher end of the curve for weight...

Anyone else with a "bigger" LO who doesn't seem to take in that much formula?

InkedMegs

DD has just started religiously drinking 4oz at basically every feeding starting this past Tuesday.  It was like someone flipped a switch -- she was only eating 2oz per feeding almost all of last week and I was going to lose my mind.

She does not have reflux, though.  I did stop doing the diaper change mid-bottle during MOTN feedings.  When I'd get back to the bottle, she'd refuse.  She would even refuse sometimes after the mid-bottle burp.

ETA: She was 9lbs at birth... she is probably about 11lbs now.

egb+jaf

I'm sorry I don't have much of an answer for you but I'm interested to see what people say because this is my dd to the tee. Almost exactly everything you described..you're not alone!

Jessdanrod

What kind of formula are you using? My LO one has reflux and bad gas, we use gerber soothe. From this she hasn't been drinking as much as she used to. She was doing the same thing wanting the bottle desperately, I would just give it to her cause I felt like it would soothe the reflux. The doctor said I was overfeeding her, but I believe if she wants and it isn't coming back up then its okay. Good Luck!

khaze

My LO eats roughly the same amount in 5 5 ounce bottles per day. He was just below 11 lbs 3 weeks ago.

BigPoppa22

InkedMegs:

DD has just started religiously drinking 4oz at basically every feeding starting this past Tuesday.  It was like someone flipped a switch -- she was only eating 2oz per feeding almost all of last week and I was going to lose my mind.

She does not have reflux, though.  I did stop doing the diaper change mid-bottle during MOTN feedings.  When I'd get back to the bottle, she'd refuse.  She would even refuse sometimes after the mid-bottle burp.

ETA: She was 9lbs at birth... she is probably about 11lbs now.

This is very encouraging to me!  My DS is 5 weeks today and was in the NICU from birth (8 lbs 14 oz) until 30 days old.  He was intubated for 2 weeks and on the NG feeding tube the whole time until we took him off it Tuesday.  Past 3 weeks they tried bottle feeding first, getting from 0 to 1 to 2 oz down, and putting the rest down the tube.  Since bringing him home we are getting MUCH better results with the bottle feeding but it is still much lower than his recommended caloric intake.  He only drinks 2 - 2.5 oz, mostly 3 hours but sometimes 4 hours between feedings, and getting him to drink just that much is like pulling teeth, usually takes 1 hour, +/- 15 min.  He has reflux and we have him on 27 calorie formula.  The doctors said sometimes feeding is like flipping a switch and they suddenly "get it".  I am encouraged to see that was the case with your LO. 

Jenny935

Our 2 month old weighs just about 11 pounds and has been eating 24 ounces the last several days (six 4 ounce bottles). He totally does that "YOU PEOPLE ARE STARVING ME!" scream followed by falling asleep after less than an ounce. I guess it's all or nothing when you're a baby. We keep several ounces made in the fridge and then dole it out an ounce or two at a time if we're not convinced he's ready for a whole meal. We know he'll gulp down 4 ounces after waking up or a nap, but since we switched from BF recently, I think he likes to do his formula like he was nursing - with small cluster feeds in the evening. 

PipSqueak0313

BigPoppa22:

InkedMegs:

DD has just started religiously drinking 4oz at basically every feeding starting this past Tuesday.  It was like someone flipped a switch -- she was only eating 2oz per feeding almost all of last week and I was going to lose my mind.

She does not have reflux, though.  I did stop doing the diaper change mid-bottle during MOTN feedings.  When I'd get back to the bottle, she'd refuse.  She would even refuse sometimes after the mid-bottle burp.

ETA: She was 9lbs at birth... she is probably about 11lbs now.

This is very encouraging to me!  My DS is 5 weeks today and was in the NICU from birth (8 lbs 14 oz) until 30 days old.  He was intubated for 2 weeks and on the NG feeding tube the whole time until we took him off it Tuesday.  Past 3 weeks they tried bottle feeding first, getting from 0 to 1 to 2 oz down, and putting the rest down the tube.  Since bringing him home we are getting MUCH better results with the bottle feeding but it is still much lower than his recommended caloric intake.  He only drinks 2 - 2.5 oz, mostly 3 hours but sometimes 4 hours between feedings, and getting him to drink just that much is like pulling teeth, usually takes 1 hour, +/- 15 min.  He has reflux and we have him on 27 calorie formula.  The doctors said sometimes feeding is like flipping a switch and they suddenly "get it".  I am encouraged to see that was the case with your LO. 

This is similar to my LO, only mine was not in the NICU.  We found we had to play around with the nipple flow and shape.  He was on slow flow nipples (disposables from hospital) to begin with and I noticed some had great flow while others may as well have been "no flow" nipples. To test it, we used/reused just one nipple that he did good with - I think it was a medium flow nipple.  Then he started being able to eat his .5 oz -1oz bottles in 10-15 minutes instead of an hour. (feeding every 2-3 hours).  Then at 3 weeks old, I switched the formula I was supplementing with to a soy formula and suddenly he started eating 2-3oz bottles and gaining weight (started feeding every 3ish hours on demand).  Now at 9 weeks, he was being fed 4ish oz bottles every 4ish hours and he's spitting up more so this weekend I'm moving him back to 2oz bottles every 2 hours just to see if he tolerates smaller more frequent feeding better.

Back to the nipple thing, ds has a poor suck so to strengthen his mouth muscles we often start him off with a slow flow (or a Nuby variable flow) nipple that makes him have to suck harder then after a few minutes of that we will switch to a faster flow so he can eat.