How do you know if you're overfeeding?

Meg_Meg

My kid spits up A LOT.  And actually vomits about once a day.  The 24 hour advice nurse said we may be overfeeding and to watch how much and how often we feed him.

However, if he's still showing signs of hunger after 3 or 4 oz - what do you do?  How do you know if he's really still hungry or if he's just pacifying himself on the bottle?

The Dr. called me back today and completely disagreed and said to feed until he's full. 

I certainly don't want to starve him, but is there any easy way to tell if we're overfeeding?

 

ETA: he's a formula baby.

fiasco

We asked my pedi the same thing on Monday.  He believes the baby won't take the bottle if he's not hungry. My little guy is so fussy and gassy he takes forever (up to an hour) to eat a bottle.  We often feel like we're force feeding him, but if we don't stick with it before he really acts "done" we're in for a lot of screaming before it's time for the next bottle.

KimandTravWed

At that age my lo didn't stop eating even though he probably had enough to eat. He would keep eating because I think he just liked to suck and then he spit up all over the place. I thought it was reflux but then realized that we were feeding him too much. I asked the pedi and she said there's no such thing as too much food for your baby. Then I called the lactation consultant and she said that I was feeding him too much and I cut back to how much she guessed he should be taking based on his weight and age. With the smaller amount he got fussy for a little bit afterwards but it takes them a bit to register that they are really full. Feeding him smaller amounts fixed the spitting up problem which was due to overfeeding.

Maybe if he doesn't take a paci try and pause to burp or take a break while feeding so that he realizes he is in fact full before he's taken in more than his tummy can handle.

ginanjason

My advice would be to try and burp after every 2 oz.  usually when they overeat they will throw up pretty much right after you fed them.  If he is actually vomiting he might have some reflux.  You could try switching formulas...something that may be more gentle on the belly.

When DD went through growth spurts though.  she would freak out after her bottle was done and nothing would soothe her until she had more.  So we would try something else but if it didn't work she'd get fed and most of the time that was the answer.  It's all trial and error. babies are hard to figure out! BTW your siggie pic is adorable!  I can't wait to have a little infant again!

missfire

My LC told us that if babies are underfed often, they "adjust" to drinking less than they need. I think it's better to risk overfeeding and let your baby learn to regulate this on their own. It may be inconvenient but it doesn't hurt them to spit up later.

I'm reaidng "Child of Mine" right now, and finding it really valuable in terms of how to bottle feed my baby! I don't know about you, but I found a wealth of information about breastfeeding, but had a hard time finding information about bottle feeding. How to feed, how much, how to switch, etc.

redleo_81

DD usually does this if she takes a really big bottle or if we don't get all her burps out.  She is a FF baby too.