How much does your baby eat?

sekenn0 · March 2014

My LO will be 5 months in a few days. He is cutting a tooth. So between that and the paci coming out at night he's waking up from 2-5 a.m. every 30-45 minutes and needs the paci put back in and he's good. But I'm exhausted and confused on how much he eats and want to make sure he's not getting up at night hungry.

I have exclusively breastfed until recently. Now he is bf at 5 a.m., gets 4 oz breast milk and formul in a bottle at 8:30 a.m., 6 oz at 11 a.m. and 6oz at 2 p.m. I nurse him when I get home from work at 5 (but that's probably just a couple oz) and just added a 4 oz bottle to that feeding. Then at 6 p.m. he gets a little cereal in a bowl and at 8 p.m. I breastfeed him again and added a 4 oz bottle. I started adding the 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. bottles b/c my supply is lowering and I think he was hungry. He seems fuller now but still waking up. So I just wanted to see how much/what/when others were feeding.

daisy19782011 · March 2014

My girls are 3.5 and eat 4 oz every 3 hours. Last bottle at 9PM and then if they wake up in the middle of the night, it is usually around 3AM, so they get a bottle then and then they start up again at 6AM with every 3 hours.

hawtness21 · March 2014

I feed my LO Gerber brown rice twice a day. I start with a tablespoon then if she is still hungry I do another tablespoon. She eats about 2-3 tablespoons per feeding. She gets two bottles before 10 AM, 2 before 3 PM and 2 before bedtime. She drinks about 6 ounces per bottle.

leahbarkley · March 2014

I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

Kfran84 · March 2014

leahbarkley said:
I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

What. The. Fuck.

You let him cry ALL night? Jesus, lady. That's shitty advice.

OP, I agree it sounds like 4 month wakeful. It lasted 7-8 days for is, for others it lasts longer. Just love and comfort your baby when he needs you. Put his paci back in without picking him up. I put my hand on DS's chest and the weight soothes him. I do one MOTN feeding and try other soothing methods before jumping to feeding if it's not close to his normal eating time (3 AM).

ETA posted too soon

cagoldi · March 2014

leahbarkley said:
I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

That is wrong. You put in earplugs and let your poor helpless baby cry literally all night long? I am so sad for him thinking about how scared and abandoned he must have felt.

This is horrible, awful, terrible advice. OP, please don't resort to CIO at this age.

DS eats anywhere from 25 - 40 ounces of formula a day. Most days it's around 30. On days when he has eaten a lot he still wakes up, so at least in our case he is not usually getting up wanting a bottle.

I agree it's probably the 4 MW. DS had been STTN but sleep went straight to hell around the time he was 13 weeks. He would sleep until 1 am then get up every 40 minutes to an hour. I *think* we have seen the end if that. But we're still up once or twice a night.

daniann333 · March 2014

leahbarkley said:

I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

I hope you have good insurance for therapy bills for LO. Right now they are developing who they can trust and who they cant. You just screwed that one up. He is STTN because he knows you won't help him.

jdb04d · March 2014

@leahbarkley‌ It is OK !! You did what was right for YOU and your baby. Do not let these mean bump girls make you feel like a bad mama.

GopherBaby13 · March 2014

leahbarkley said:
I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

@leahbarkley‌

You are disgusting. I have not said this to a single poster since I joined the bump in 2009 but I feel sorry for your poor baby. Your baby stopped crying because he gave up on you because he knew that you wouldn't attend to his needs, not because he learned to self soothe. You literally make me want to vomit.

OP, my baby girl eats 4-4.5 oz every 3 hours. When she isn't hungry, she will not take the bottle. Like, at all. When she wakes at night, every time its because she is hungry. She will always take 4oz then. She doesn't take a paci.

fitmama418 · March 2014

Sing2phins said:

@leahbarkley‌ It is OK !! You did what was right for YOU and your baby. Do not let these mean bump girls make you feel like a bad mama.
Well, you're half right. She did what was best for HER. In no universe is crying for 6 fucking hours what was best for her baby.

Agreed. I rarely post on other boards but it HAD to be said on this post that this is the most deplorable mothering behavior I've ever read. I'm surprised your poor baby didn't make himself sick crying that long. You have to be a special kind of someone to be able to sleep through your baby crying for 6 hours. Shame on you.

fitmama418 · March 2014

I'm seriously concerned as to why more people aren't fired up about @leahbarkley's advice...

Is letting your child CIO for 6 hours a thing? Did I miss that in the baby books?

EandIMommy86 · March 2014

There have been studies that show when babies are that small and you let them cry like that, it can affect some things in brain development due to how much they have worked themselves up. Not sure how true that is, but I have heard it from several places. I do not care how tired you are, it is not about YOU anymore. There have been days where I was so sleepy I fell asleep making a bottle and dropped all the formula and such on the floor. Guess what? LO still got fed. To let them CIO that young is completely disgusting and part of motherhood is being self LESS not SELFISH. Smh.

My LO eats 4-6 oz every 3 hours or so. If he wants more then so be it. Also, when your pedi said they dont "need" MOTN feedings, all that means is that you do not have to worry about waking them up to feed them. It does NOT mean to not feed them if they wake up on their own crying for a bottle.

leahbarkley said:

I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

jennifertewart · March 2014

leahbarkley said:

I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

6 hours? 6 HOURS? I hope you are enjoying your heaven while your LO went through hell. Your baby isn't self soothing he has given up. He has given up because he realized he is helpless and no one is there for him. He goes into survival mode at night because his needs wont be met. Have you ever dealt with hunger pains in the middle of the night? I would cry too if I couldn't go make myself a bowl of cereal! I have read up on the CIO method and that is NOT how you do it!

amberrrjade · March 2014

@leahbarkley‌ @jdb04d‌ There is a name for what you did. It's called abandonment. Someone should've called CPS on you. Disgusting.

Eta: the word is actually neglect. My bad I was really when typing.

Smoby1231 · March 2014

This makes me sick! A baby will STTN when they are ready, NOT when you are ready!!!

Here is a little information on the damage you are doing to your child.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201112/dangers-crying-it-out

OP My LO is 20 weeks today. She eats between 30-36oz a day. She occasionally wakes up and wants a bottle in the middle of the night.

Chichigo · March 2014

OP: the amount of formula you are giving your LO is probably causing a dip in your supply. Unless you want to continue supplementing, you need to pump more. You shouldn't need to give bottles after nursing.

agentkitten75 · March 2014

Put in earplugs and let your LO cry for 6 hours?!(! What kind of cruel bitch are you!??!!! I feel sad for your baby.

EricaOO · March 2014

leahbarkley said:

I had the exact same problem! My son is 5 and half months now but at 4 months he was eating 8oz ever 3-4 hours plus was getting cereal from a bowl for dinner around 5:30pm. He would sleep from 8pm-11:30/12am. Then he would wake EVERY 30 MINUTES from 12am-6am. I would have to either stick his pacifier back in his mouth/feed him/rock him/nurse him/change him or something! I was SO exhausted.

My doctor told me at 4 months they are MORE then capable of sleeping through the night and DO NOT need night time feedings. As for the pacifier...throw that thing out!! My son grew attached to that and needed it to stay asleep. The first night after I took him to the doctor I threw out all the pacifiers and stopped all night time feedings and rocking sessions. IT WAS AWFUL. He cried non stop from 11pm-5am...the entire night! The 2nd night...he cried for 2 hours, slept for 1 hour, cried for 2 hours, then slept for 1 hour. The 3rd night....HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! It was heaven!

I sure tons of moms out there would say that is cruel and awful to not go to your crying baby. But I'm going to assume those moms aren't as ridiculously sleep deprived as I was. I went 4 months with no more then a 2 hours long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

So grab some ear plugs and let your little one learn to self soothe. I guarantee everybody in your family will be much happier!!!

I don't post a lot but thinking of this poor baby lying alone in his crib, screaming for hours, makes me physically ill. I tear up imagining my own baby girl like this.

jfelea01 · March 2014

First of all, there's a lot of judging going around in this thread. Many mothers like myself may not agree with @leahbarkley but that does not mean she is a bad mother. Shame on those who labeled and judged her parenting style. No one here is a perfect mom, but we must all strive to be in OUR OWN WAY.

(rant over)

I am blessed to have a baby that eats and sleeps well but motherhood didn't start well for me. My baby lost 10% of her birth weight while I was exclusively breast feeding with the help of a lactation consultant during my week stay at the hospital post c-section (with complications). My doctor recommended that I supplement with formula. At first I was very very upset (plenty of ugly cries) because formula was not my plan and not producing enough milk made me feel like an unworthy mom. After a while, I accepted that my production was low and as long as my baby is happy and healthy then life is good.

Now at 4.5 months, Baby G is breastfed in the morning and at night plus 4 oz formula bottles. While at daycare she drinks 6 oz bottles every 3 hours. We also started rice cereal (mixed with 2 oz formula) for her breakfast.

Baby G has 1-3 30 minute naps during the day and she sleep 6-9 hours straight at night. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 weeks old (4-6 hours straight). I refused to wake her up in the middle of the night to feed.

Every baby is unique and so are their mothers. We should all be happy that our babies are happy and healthy

cagoldi · March 2014

First of all, there's a lot of judging going around in this thread. Many mothers like myself may not agree with @leahbarkley but that does not mean she is a bad mother. Shame on those who labeled and judged her parenting style. No one here is a perfect mom, but we must all strive to be in OUR OWN WAY.

(rant over)

I am blessed to have a baby that eats and sleeps well but motherhood didn't start well for me. My baby lost 10% of her birth weight while I was exclusively breast feeding with the help of a lactation consultant during my week stay at the hospital post c-section (with complications). My doctor recommended that I supplement with formula. At first I was very very upset (plenty of ugly cries) because formula was not my plan and not producing enough milk made me feel like an unworthy mom. After a while, I accepted that my production was low and as long as my baby is happy and healthy then life is good.

Now at 4.5 months, Baby G is breastfed in the morning and at night plus 4 oz formula bottles. While at daycare she drinks 6 oz bottles every 3 hours. We also started rice cereal (mixed with 2 oz formula) for her breakfast.

Baby G has 1-3 30 minute naps during the day and she sleep 6-9 hours straight at night. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 weeks old (4-6 hours straight). I refused to wake her up in the middle of the night to feed.

Every baby is unique and so are their mothers. We should all be happy that our babies are happy and healthy

No one here claims to be a perfect Mom; I certainly don't. But I don't let my baby cry for hours out of a need I can easily fill and doing so at such a young age does make someone a bad parent, at least while that is going on. You are just not a gentle, empathetic person if you can put in earplugs and happily go to sleep while your helpless infant cries all night long. That's cruel. Enough with this nonsense platitude about not judging. I am judging her, and you for defending the indefensible.

I don't quit being his parent at night and he doesn't stop needing his Mom just because the sun goes down.

Every baby is unique, but they aren't so different that letting one cry for 6 or 7 hours without any comfort measures is a good idea for one and not for others. If she was desperate to do sleep training she could have at least done her baby a favor and read up on the matter. What if he was getting teeth, had thrown up, was running a fever, coughing, anything? She would have never known. That's nothing short of neglect.

Also, babies have rights. In my opinion, they have a right to be comforted and feel secure that their caregivers are going to respond to their cries. It's too bad @leahbarkley doesn't feel that way.

https://www.phdinparenting.com/blog/2008/7/5/cry-it-out-cio-10-reasons-why-it-is-not-for-us.html

EandIMommy86 · March 2014

I'm definitely judging bc she let a baby cry for 6 hours and refused to feed them when the average around this age is every 3 hours to eat. What she did is disgusting and is actually child neglect and she can get in trouble for that. A baby is not an accessory, they are human beings, and once you have them, thinking of yourself is put on the back burner. No one is perfect but not many let their infant cry 6 hours.

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