Question About Food/Formula Intake

aggielauren · June 2010

I'm still a couple weeks away from joining this board, but I thought since y'all's LOs were a little older, you might have more advice for me. My DS is a big boy - about 20 pounds right now (he's also long, not just a chunk Smile ) - and I'm concerned about how much he's eating.

I was pumping up until about 2 weeks ago and I switched exclusively to formula. He has been eating 5 times a day and eats approximately 8 ounces at each sitting. He eats solids 3x per day (I just started at breakfast about 2 weeks ago, he's been eating solids since 4 1/2 months). He eats about 4 tablespoons at breakfast (banana), about 6 at lunch (usually two different vegetables), and about 8 tablespoons at dinner (again, two different vegetables). I make my own food so I'm not sure about how many jars that is, I just measured out the tablespoons this week to figure out how much he's eating. That amount is how much I put in his bowl when I feed him and he eats all of it, I don't offer more at that point. After he eats, he will still eat an entire 8 ounce bottle except occassionally he will eat only 4 to 6 ounces (usually after lunch he eats less).

The past couple days, he has been acting like he was still hungry after he would finish an entire 8 ounce bottle, so I tried giving him 9 ounces last night and again just now for his afternoon bottle and he drained the entire bottle. I'm concerned he is going to be getting too much formula since even just 8 ounces 5 times a day is 40 ounces. I am planning on calling the pedi but it's too late now to get a call back today so I thought I'd ask on here first. I read that they aren't supposed to get more than 40 ounces of formula a day is why I am concerned. Should I be offering more solids to him? I'm just unsure of what to do.

I'd appreciate any advice!

sgrl · June 2010

Is he maybe having a growth spurt? It seems like Sadie hit one around six months?

tiffanylaw06 · June 2010

I think 2 tablespoons are in one oz. So the small jars of food are one serving for babies under 6 months (usually) and that is 2oz, so 4T. The bigger jars are about double that amount and one serving around 6 months. Some doctors say to do 3 solid meals per day. So really, it sounds right about perfect. DS doesn't eat that much and he's a chunker too, but he's a light solid eater still.

jam1111 · June 2010

The formula seems like too much. My DS is in the 93rd percentile and was getting 36-40 oz and the dr said it was too much. She recommended watering it down to "trick" DS. (this is discouraged she said b/c lower income families will do it too much and not get their babies enough nutrients)...straight from her mouth!

DS gets 4 7 oz bottles (so 28 oz)---I EP. He used to get 4 8 oz bottles but we've scaled back a bit. I think 28-32 oz is normal.

He also gets 3 meals/day...equivalent to 3-4 stage 2 foods.

DS weights 22 1/2 pounds.

CBL · June 2010

This is similar to my post earlier this evening. I think the solids sound fine, but the formula sounds a bit much. At this point, he should probably be doing 4 8 ounce feeds. My little guy is about the same weight and long too and is eating about 5 oz at breakfast, 2 at lunch (just started lunch feedings) and about 5 at night with 28 oz of formula a day.

But to the other response that said the small jars are 2 oz - they're actually 4.5 and the larger jars are not quite double that.

aggielauren · June 2010

Thanks, y'all! I appreciate it.

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